Cuba
 

Overview
Island country, West Indies.

Located 90 mi (145 km) south of Florida, it comprises the island of Cuba and surrounding small islands. Area: 42,427 sq mi (109,886 sq km). Population (2007 est.): 11,238,000. Capital: Havana. The population is largely of African-European or African descent; most of the rest are of European ancestry. Language: Spanish (official). Religions: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant), Santería (both formerly discouraged). Currency: Cuban peso. The main island of Cuba is 777 mi (1,250 km) long and 19–119 mi (31–191 km) wide. About one-quarter is mountainous, with Turquino Peak at an elevation of 6,476 ft (1,974 m) the highest peak; the remainder is extensive plains and basins. The climate is semitropical. Cuba was the first communist republic in the Western Hemisphere. It has a centrally planned economy that depends on the export of sugar and, to a much lesser extent, tobacco and nickel. Its cigars are considered the world’s best. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Several Indian groups, including the Ciboney and the Arawak, inhabited Cuba at the time of the first Spanish contact. Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain in 1492, and the Spanish conquest began in 1511, when the settlement of Baracoa was founded. The native Indians were eradicated over the succeeding centuries, and African slaves, from the 18th century until slavery was abolished in 1886, were imported to work the sugar plantations. Cuba revolted unsuccessfully against Spain in the Ten Years’ War (1868–78); a second war of independence began in 1895. In 1898 the U.S. entered the war (see Spanish-American War); Spain relinquished its claim to Cuba, which was occupied by the U.S. for three years before gaining its independence in 1902. The U.S. invested heavily in the Cuban sugar industry in the first half of the 20th century, and this, combined with tourism and gambling, caused the economy to prosper. Inequalities in the distribution of wealth persisted, however, as did political corruption. In 1958–59 the communist revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista and established a socialist state aligned with the Soviet Union, abolishing capitalism and nationalizing foreign-owned enterprises. Relations with the U.S. deteriorated, reaching a low point with the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In 1980 about 125,000 Cubans, including many officially labeled “undesirables,” were shipped to the U.S. With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba lost important financial backing, and its economy suffered greatly. The economy gradually began improving later in the 1990s with the encouragement of tourism and the legalization of small businesses and private employment, though diplomatic relations with the U.S. were not resumed. In the early 21st century, Cuba benefited from a petroleum-trade agreement with Venezuela and eased some of its restrictive economic and social policies. Castro officially stepped down as president in 2008, ending his 49-year rule of Cuba; his younger brother Raúl replaced him as Cuba’s leader.

Profile
Official name República de Cuba (Republic of Cuba)
Form of government unitary socialist republic with one legislative house (National Assembly of the People’s Power [614])
Head of state and government President
Capital Havana
Official language Spanish
Official religion none
Monetary unit Cuban peso (CUP)
Population estimate (2008) 11,236,000
Total area (sq mi) 42,427
Total area (sq km) 109,886

Main

country of the West Indies, the largest single island of the archipelago, and one of the more influential states of the Caribbean region.

The domain of Taino-speaking American Indians who had displaced even earlier inhabitants, Cuba was claimed by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It became the Spanish empire’s most important source of raw sugar in the 18th century and later earned the sobriquet “Pearl of the Antilles.” Though Spain had to fight several difficult and costly campaigns against independence movements, it retained rule of Cuba until 1898, when it was defeated by the United States and Cuban forces in the Spanish-American War. Cuba soon gained formal independence, though it remained overshadowed by the nearby United States.

On New Year’s Day, 1959, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Two years later Castro proclaimed the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution. Cuba became economically isolated from its northern neighbour as it developed close links to the Soviet Union. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s isolated Cuba still further, bringing on what Cubans euphemistically call the período económico especial (“special economic period”), a time of widespread shortages and financial uncertainty. By the early 21st century, Cuba had loosened some of its more restrictive economic and social policies, but the United States continued its decades-long economic embargo against the Castro regime, assuring that economic hardships would persist.

Life in contemporary Cuba is thus challenging, given the limited access to food, transportation, electrical power, and other necessities. Even so, many Cubans show a fierce pride in their revolutionary society, the only one of its kind in Latin America. The protagonist of anthropologist Miguel Barnet’s novel Canción de Rachel (1969; Rachel’s Song, 1991) describes it thus:

This island is something special. The strangest, most tragic things have happened here. And it will always be that way. The earth, like human kind, has its destiny. And Cuba’s is a mysterious destiny.

Cuba is a largely urban nation, although it has only one major city: Havana (La Habana), the capital and commercial hub of the country, on the northwestern coast. Handsome if rather run-down, Havana has a scenic waterfront and is surrounded by fine beaches, an attraction for increasing numbers of visitors from abroad. Cuba’s other cities—including Santiago, Camagüey, Holguín, and, especially, Trinidad—offer a rich legacy of colonial Spanish architecture to complement contemporary buildings.

 

Land
Cuba is situated just south of the Tropic of Cancer at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean (north and east), the Gulf of Mexico (west), and the Caribbean Sea (south). Haiti, the nearest neighbouring country, is 48 miles (77 km) to the east, across the Windward Passage; Jamaica is 87 miles (140 km) to the south; The Bahamas archipelago extends to within 50 miles (80 km) of the northern coast; and the United States is about 90 miles (150 km) to the north across the Straits of Florida.

The country comprises an archipelago of about 1,600 islands, islets, and cays with a combined area three-fourths as large as the U.S. state of Florida. The islands form an important segment of the Antilles (West Indies) island chain, which continues east and then south in a great arc enclosing the Caribbean Sea. The island of Cuba itself is by far the largest in the chain and constitutes one of the four islands of the Greater Antilles. In general, the island runs from northwest to southeast and is long and narrow—777 miles (1,250 km) long and 119 miles (191 km) across at its widest and 19 miles (31 km) at its narrowest point.

Relief
Groups of mountains and hills cover about one-fourth of the island of Cuba. The most rugged range is the Sierra Maestra, which stretches approximately 150 miles (240 km) along the southeastern coast and reaches the island’s highest elevations—6,476 feet (1,974 metres) at Turquino Peak and 5,676 feet (1,730 metres) at Bayamesa Peak. Near the centre of the island are the Santa Clara Highlands, the Sierra de Escambray (Guamuhaya), and the Sierra de Trinidad. The Cordillera de Guaniguanico in the far west stretches from southwest to northeast for 110 miles (180 km) and comprises the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra del Rosario, the latter attaining 2,270 feet (692 metres) at Guajaibón Peak. Much of central-western Cuba is punctuated by spectacularly shaped, vegetation-clad hillocks called mogotes. Serpentine highlands distinguish northern and central La Habana and Matanzas provinces, as well as the central parts of Camagüey and Las Tunas.

The plains covering about two-thirds of the main island have been used extensively for sugarcane and tobacco cultivation and livestock raising. The coastal basins of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo and the extensive Cauto River valley lie in the southeast. The Cauto lowland adjoins a series of coastal plains that continue across the island from east to west, including the Southern Plain, Júcaro-Morón Plain, Zapata Peninsula (Zapata Swamp), Southern Karst and Colón Plain, and Southern Alluvial Plain. Cuba’s most extensive swamps cover the Zapata Peninsula and surround the Bay of Pigs (Bahía de Cochinos). The Las Villas Plain of the North, Las Villas Plain of the Northeast, and Northern Plain stretch across much of the opposite coast.

Cuba’s approximately 3,570 miles (5,745 km) of irregular, picturesque coastline are characterized by many bays, sandy beaches, mangrove swamps, coral reefs, and rugged cliffs. There are also some spectacular caverns in the interior, notably the 16-mile- (26-km-) long Cave of Santo Tomás in the Sierra Quemado of western Cuba. The main island is surrounded by a submerged platform covering an additional 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km).

Among the extensive cays and archipelagoes ringing the main island are Los Colorados, to the northwest; Sabana and Camagüey, both off the north-central coast; the Jardines de la Reina (“Queen’s Gardens”), near the south-central coast; and Canarreos, near the southwest coast. Juventud Island (Isla de la Juventud; “Isle of Youth”), formerly called Pinos Island (Isla de los Pinos; “Isle of Pines”), is the second largest of the Cuban islands, covering 850 square miles (2,200 square km). It is technically a part of the Canarreos Archipelago. Hills, dotted with groves of pine and palm, characterize much of the island’s northwest and southeast. Sand and clay plains cover parts of the north, a gravel bed takes up most of the southern part of the island, and bogs dominate the coasts and sparsely inhabited interior.

Drainage
Cuban rivers are generally short, with meagre flow; of the nearly 600 rivers and streams, two-fifths discharge to the north, the remainder to the south. The Zapata Peninsula is the most extensive of Cuba’s many coastal wetlands.

The main island’s heaviest precipitation and largest rivers are in the southeast, where the Cauto, at 230 miles (370 km) the country’s longest river, lies between the Sierra Maestra and the smaller Sierra del Cristal. The Cauto and its tributaries, notably the Salado, drain the Sierra Maestra and lesser uplands in the provinces of Holguín and Las Tunas. Other rivers in this region include the Guantánamo, Sagua de Tánamo, Toa, and Mayarí. To the west the most important southward-flowing rivers are the Sevilla, Najasa, San Pedro, Jatibonico del Sur, Zaza, Agabama, Arimao, Hondo, and Cuyaguateje. Northward-flowing rivers include the Saramaguacán, Caonao, Sagua la Grande, and La Palma.

Cuban lakes are small and more properly classified as freshwater or saltwater lagoons. The latter include Leche (“Milk”) Lagoon, which has a surface area of 26 square miles (67 square km). It is technically a sound because several natural channels connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. Sea movements generate disturbances in the calcium carbonate deposits at the bottom of the lake to produce the milky appearance of its waters.

Soils
The complicated Cuban topography and geology have produced at least 13 distinct groups of soils, the majority of which are fertile and cultivated throughout the year. Highly fertile red limestone soil extends from west of Havana to near Cienfuegos on the southern coast and lies in extensive patches in western Camagüey province, providing the basis for Cuba’s main agricultural output. Another area of fertile soil is north of Cienfuegos between the Sierra de Sancti Spíritus and the Caribbean coast. Camagüey province and the Guantánamo basin have some arable land, although of lower fertility. Areas of sandy soil in Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, and portions of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey provinces cannot hold moisture and are marginally fertile, as are the soils of the mangrove-dotted coastal swamps and cays.

Climate
Cuba lies in the tropics. Because it is located on the southwestern periphery of the North Atlantic high atmospheric pressure zone, its climate is influenced by the northeast trade winds in winter and by east-northeast winds in summer. The warm currents that form the Gulf Stream have a moderating influence along the coasts.

The annual mean temperature is 79 °F (26 °C), with little variation between January, the coolest month, at 73 °F (23 °C) and August, the warmest month, at 82 °F (28 °C). The November–April dry season abruptly changes to the May–October rainy season. Annual precipitation averages 54 inches (1,380 mm). From June to November the country is often exposed to hurricanes, whose strong winds and heavy rains can cause widespread damage and suffering.

Plant and animal life
Cuba’s lush tropical plant life includes thousands of flowering plant species, half of which may be endemic to the archipelago. Much of the original vegetation has been replaced by sugarcane, coffee, and rice plantations, made possible by the wide-scale and indiscriminate destruction of forests. However, the government has replanted many areas since the 1960s, and forests now cover about one-fourth of the surface area. The most extensive forests in Cuba are in the Sagua-Baracoa highlands, which adjoin the easternmost portion of the Cauto River valley. Among the native trees is the ceiba (kapok) tree, which plays a role in many local legends. The extremely rare cork palms (Microcycas calocoma) of the western regions are “living fossils”—representatives of a genus of cycads thought to have existed for more than 100 million years. The abundant royal palm, reaching heights of 50 to 75 feet (15 to 23 metres), is the national tree and a characteristic element of the rural landscape. Mangrove swamps cover the lower coasts and shoals of the archipelago. Cuba’s national flower is the mariposa (“butterfly”; Hedychium coronarium Koenig), whose long, green stems can grow higher than 5 feet (1.5 metres) and produce fragrant, white, butterfly-like petals.

Animal life is abundant and varied in Cuba, which is the habitat of numerous small mammals and reptiles, more than 7,000 insect species, and 4,000 species of land, river, and sea mollusks. Sponges are found off the southwestern coast, and crustaceans abound. Tarantulas, scorpions, and other arachnids are similarly profuse. There are more than 500 fish species and numerous types of sharks. Freshwater fishes are less abundant. About 300 bird species are found on the island, some two-thirds of which are migratory; notable indigenous birds include flamingos, royal thrushes, and nightingales. The endemic forest-dwelling tocororo (Trogon temnurus, or Priotelus temnurus), which is similar in appearance to the Guatemalan quetzal, was designated the national bird of Cuba because its bright plumes of red, white, and blue correspond to the colours of the Cuban flag; the tocororo is reputed to survive only in the wild. Reptiles are distributed equally among sea, river, and land species. Marine species include tortoises and hawkbill turtles; mud turtles inhabit the rivers; and the marshes contain two types of rare crocodiles. Land reptiles include the iguana and the majá de Santa María (Epicrates angulifer), the largest of Cuba’s snakes, none of which is venomous. Amphibians are similarly varied, with 60 types of frogs and toads, including plantain frogs (Hyla septentrionalis) and bullfrogs. Solenodons (Atopogale cubana), which are nearly extinct ratlike insectivores, are found only in the remotest eastern regions. Other mammals include hutias (edible rodents) and manatees, or sea cows, which inhabit river mouths. Several types of bats prey on mosquitoes and insects harmful to agriculture, and in their roosting caves the bats leave droppings (guano) that are valued as fertilizer.

Cuba has numerous protected areas, including national parks at Turquino Peak, Cristal Peak, Romano Caye, part of Juventud Island, and the Viñales valley. Desembarco del Granma National Park features a series of verdant limestone terraces that range from 1,180 feet (360 metres) above sea level to 590 feet (180 metres) below. Both Desembarco del Granma and Viñales were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1999.

People

Ethnic groups
The Guanahatabey and Ciboney peoples were among the original hunter-gatherer societies to inhabit Cuba by about 4000 bc, the former living in the extreme west of the island and the latter mainly on the cays to the south, with limited numbers in other places. The Taino (Arawakan Indians) arrived later, probably about ad 500, and spread throughout Cuba, the rest of the Greater Antilles, and the Bahamas. They developed rudimentary agriculture and pottery and established villages that were unevenly distributed but mainly concentrated in the western part of the island. By the time of the Spanish conquest, the Taino constituted nine-tenths of Cuba’s inhabitants. Estimates of the total indigenous population at the beginning of the 16th century vary widely and range as high as 600,000; however, the most likely total was about 75,000. By the 1550s only some 3,000 scattered individuals remained, their communities having been wiped out by European diseases, severe treatment and unhealthy working conditions (particularly in the Spanish gold mines), starvation resulting from low agricultural productivity, and suicides. Their only surviving descendants today may be a few families based in the Sierra del Purial of easternmost Cuba.

Diverse ethnic groups have been settling in Cuba since the time of European contact—including Spaniards and Africans and smaller groups of Chinese, Jews, and Yucatecan Indians (from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico)—who have created a heterogeneous society by superimposing their cultural and social characteristics on those of earlier settlers.

More than half of Cubans are mulattoes (of mixed European and African lineage), and nearly two-fifths are descendants of white Europeans, mainly from Spain. Whites have been the dominant ethnic group for centuries, monopolizing the direction of the economy as well as access to education and other government services. Although mulattoes have become increasingly prominent since the mid-20th century, some mulattoes and blacks (of African heritage) still face racial discrimination.

Blacks make up about one-ninth of the population. In the early 16th century, Spaniards began to import African slaves as a substitute for the drastically reduced supply of Indian labourers. As many as 800,000 Africans eventually arrived to work on sugar plantations, the vast majority during the late 18th and 19th centuries. They were shipped mainly from Senegal and the Guinea Coast but originated in such diverse groups as the Yoruba and Bantu peoples. During the period 1906–31 tens of thousands of black Antillean labourers, nine-tenths of whom were Haitian or Jamaican, arrived as contract labourers. However, many returned home or were expelled by 1931. Blacks and mulattoes have had a considerable influence on Cuban culture, especially in music and dance.

Cubans of Asian descent now account for only a tiny fraction of the population and are largely concentrated in Havana’s small Chinatown district. When Great Britain disrupted the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century, Hispano-Cuban landholders imported indentured Chinese labourers, nearly all of them Cantonese. Some 125,000 arrived during the period 1847–74, but, because of harsh living conditions, many left for the United States or other Latin American countries or returned to China after their contracts expired; by 1899 only 14,000 remained in Cuba. In the 1920s an additional 30,000 Cantonese and small groups of Japanese also arrived. The immigrants, who were overwhelmingly male, readily intermarried with white, black, and mulatto populations. Significant Chinese immigration continued until 1945; however, many middle- and upper-class Asians left the country after the revolution of 1959, as did other relatively affluent people.

Languages
Spanish is the principal language of Cuba. Although there are no local dialects, the island’s diverse ethnic groups have influenced speech patterns. Africans, in particular, have greatly enriched the vocabulary and contributed the soft, somewhat nasal accent and rhythmic intonation that distinguish contemporary Cuban speech. Some words are of native Indian origin, and a few of these—such as hamaca (“hammock”)—have passed into other languages. Many practitioners of the Santería religion also speak Lucumí, a “secret” Yoruboid language of the Niger-Congo family.

Religion
An unspecified number of Cubans are nonreligious. The total number of adherents to Santería—Cuba’s main religious movement—is also unknown but may include between half and two-thirds of the population. The Santería religion includes many traditions of West African (mainly Yoruba) origin, notably praying to orishas (divine emissaries), many of which have been formally identified with Roman Catholic saints. The Cuban government is not known to have placed extraordinary restrictions on Santería, perhaps because of the religion’s apolitical focus and its organization in small groups rather than large congregations.

About two-fifths of Cubans are Roman Catholics, at least nominally; although only a limited number actively practice the religion, there has been a resurgence of interest in Catholicism since the late 1990s. Protestants represent a small but rapidly growing fraction of the population. Only a handful of Jews and Muslims remain.

Prior to the revolution, Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion; however, it was permeated by Santería and held little influence in rural areas. In the early 1960s the revolutionary government and religious organizations openly confronted one another: the state was accused of being antireligious, partly because it had nationalized all parochial schools, whereas churches—with their mass followings—were feared as repositories of counterrevolution. During that period about 70 percent of Roman Catholic priests, 90 percent of the nuns, some Protestant clergy, and all rabbis left the country or were deported. The government removed Christmas from its list of national holidays in 1969. The constitution of 1976 guaranteed limited religious freedoms, although it proclaimed scientific materialism as the basis of the state and of the educational system.

Religious groups and the government entered a period of rapprochement in the mid-1980s. The constitution was amended in 1992 to remove references to scientific materialism, to ban many forms of religious discrimination, and to allow Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. Subsequently an increasing number of Cubans have participated in major Catholic rites, such as baptism and communion; however, the government has denied charters and construction permits to select churches, barred practitioners from military service, and closely monitored religious events. Christmas was restored as a national holiday in 1997, in anticipation of a highly publicized visit by Pope John Paul II the following year.

Settlement patterns
Native American villages and farms were scattered throughout the island before Europeans arrived in 1492. The first Spanish settlements, founded primarily to export gold and to organize expeditions to the mainland, were the ports of Baracoa, Havana, Puerto Príncipe, Santiago de Cuba, and Sancti Spíritus. The ports grew slowly, however, because the island’s few profitable mines were quickly exhausted. Within a few years the indigenous population was decimated by European diseases and maltreatment. The number of Europeans (notably Spaniards) and African slaves slowly increased as sugar plantations grew in number and size. Although small, independently owned farms dotted the landscape throughout much of the colonial period, many were incorporated in slave-based plantations. By the mid-18th century, roughly one-fourth of the island’s 150,000 people were African slaves; a century later, slaves made up one-third of a population of about 1,300,000. By the late 19th century, when slavery was abolished, Cuba’s numerous plantations relied on seasonal labourers and large mechanized ingenios (sugar mills). The city of Havana, which had become Cuba’s major port in the 16th century, grew further as Cuba’s agricultural exports increased. The island’s population surpassed 5,800,000 in the 1950s and approached twice that number in the early 21st century, by which time three-fourths of the people lived in towns and cities. One in five Cubans lived in Havana—more than in Cuba’s next 11 cities combined, including Santiago de Cuba (Cuba’s second largest city), Camagüey, Holguín, Guantánamo, Santa Clara, and Bayamo.

Demographic trends
The size of the Cuban population has been relatively stable since the late 20th century. Immigration historically contributed to the island’s population growth, but after 1960 the number of people leaving the country outnumbered new arrivals. Many migrated to Miami, Florida, or elsewhere because of political or economic pressures in Cuba. In 1980 alone about 125,000 escaped to the United States in small craft during the “Mariel boatlift,” and in the 1990s roughly 200,000 Cubans became legal U.S. immigrants. Large numbers have also migrated illegally to the United States, Canada, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Spain, and Mexico.

The birth rate rose steadily from 1958 to 1963, attributable to higher standards of living and expectations among low-income groups, greater sexual freedom of females, and larger numbers of women marrying at younger ages. However, mortality rates rose because, after physicians left the country en masse, medicines became scarce and contagion from diseases increased. From the mid-1960s the high birth rate declined as more women entered the labour force, the market for new houses and other goods diminished, sex education was required in schools, and military service was made compulsory for males 16 years and older. By 1978 the birth rate had dropped to less than half of its 1960s peak of 35 births per 1,000 people, and by the late 1990s it was markedly lower than the regional average. The mortality rate also dropped from the 1970s, as more physicians completed their training, the supply of medicines increased, and vaccinations controlled the spread of diseases. However, the mortality rate subsequently increased slightly as the population aged. The rates of birth and natural increase were about half the world average at the beginning of the 21st century.

Economy
Cuba has a centrally planned economy with limited opportunities for self-employed workers and foreign investment. The Cuban government has had rigidly controlled wages and prices and enforced quota systems since the 1960s, but in 2008, after power changed hands from longtime leader Fidel Castro to his brother Raúl, some of those restrictions were lifted. The main economic institutions are the Central Planning Board, headed by the economics minister; the ministries and national organizations that control the economic sectors and basic activities; the various state and mixed enterprises; and the provincial delegations that direct the work of the factories and related services.

Cuba received substantial economic aid from the Soviet Union prior to the latter’s breakup in 1991, an event that had disastrous effects on the island’s economy. During the 1980s the Cuban government refused to alter its economic plan, even as the Soviet Union experimented with market mechanisms. Economic growth remained sluggish, and salaries were limited. However, the government kept unemployment low, albeit largely by overstaffing state enterprises. Sugar accounted for more than three-fourths of export earnings—and the largest source of the government’s currency reserves—until the 1990s, when tourism began to grow in importance. By 1997 sugar accounted for less than half of the value of exports. Remittances from relatives living abroad have become a major economic asset since 1993, when the government allowed U.S. dollars to circulate as legal tender. By the late 1990s, remittances accounted for much of the national income. In the early 21st century, the U.S. government drastically reduced the amount of money that authorized travelers could carry into Cuba. It also allowed remittances to be sent only to immediate family members.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Arable land covers nearly one-third of Cuba. The soil is highly fertile, allowing up to two crops per year, but the highly variable nature of annual precipitation has historically plagued agriculture. Subterranean waters are important for irrigation. A small but increasing share of crops is produced on private land or by cooperatives that are not owned by the state. Under Raúl Castro’s rule, some private farmers have been permitted to cultivate unused government land to increase food production.

The Cuban economy has depended heavily on the sugarcane crop since the 18th century. Vast areas have been leveled, irrigated, and planted in sugarcane, and yields per acre have increased with the application of fertilizers. Sugar output, except in years of drought or sugarcane blight, increased after the introduction of mechanized harvesters in the early 1970s but plunged after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many of the island’s sugar mills closed, and sugar production continued to decline in the early 2000s.

Apart from sugarcane, the chief crops are rice (the main source of calories in the traditional diet), citrus fruits (which are also an important export), potatoes, plantains and bananas, cassava (manioc), tomatoes, and corn (maize). Fruit trees include such citrus varieties as lemon, orange, and grapefruit; some species of the genus Annona, including the guanábana (soursop) and anón (sweetsop); and avocados and papayas. Tobacco, traditionally the country’s second most important export crop, is grown mainly in the Pinar del Río area in the west and also in the centre of the main island. Coffee grows mainly in the east, where Guantánamo city is known as the “coffee capital” of Cuba. Other products include cacao and beans. Cuba imports large amounts of rice and other foodstuffs, oilseeds, and cotton.

Cattle, pigs, and chickens are the main livestock. The number of cattle increased in the 1960s, as veterinary services advanced and irrigation systems improved, but decreased over subsequent decades. Brahman (zebu) cattle, the dominant breed, thrive in the tropical climate but yield low amounts of milk. Holstein cattle are more productive but prone to illness in the Cuban environment. Cuban farmers raise approximately half as many pigs as cattle.

The supply of Cuban timber is limited. Pine trees are found throughout the country, and durable mahogany is of potential economic importance, while ebony (Diospyros) and granadilla (cocus, or West Indian ebony; Brya ebenus) provide beautiful and valuable wood.

Fishing resources are significant on the coast and at sea. Among the types of fish caught locally are tuna, hake, and needlefish. The overall volume of fish, crustaceans, and other seafood landed increased sevenfold during the period 1959–79, largely because the government, with the help of Soviet financing, invested heavily in fishing vessels and processing plants. Landings subsequently decreased from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, after the breakup of the Soviet Union caused reduced funding. By the early 21st century, Cuba had diversified its fishing activities to include aquaculture (sea bream, sea bass, tilapia, and carp). It also increased the number of processing plants, especially for shrimp and lobster, with foreign investment from Canada and European Union countries.

Resources and power
Because the supply of river water is limited, wells in La Habana province and elsewhere draw heavily on groundwater supplies. The main hydroelectric power plants are located in southeastern Cuba.

Domestic petroleum and natural gas deposits supply a growing portion of the country’s needs, but the majority is met by imports from Mexico and Venezuela. In fact, since the 1990s Cuba has received free oil from Venezuela in exchange for sending thousands of its doctors to treat Venezuela’s poor. In the mid-2000s Venezuela funded the renovation of a dilapidated oil refinery in the Cienfuegos area of Cuba. The refinery has the capacity to refine hundreds of thousands of barrels of the oil imported from Venezuela. Peat, concentrated in the Zapata Peninsula, is still the most extensive fuel reserve. Nickel, chromite, and copper mines are important to Cuba, and beds of laterite (an iron ore) in the Holguín region have considerable potential. Nickel ore, which also yields cobalt, is processed in several large plants, and Cuba is a world leader in nickel production. There are also major reserves of magnetite and manganese and lesser amounts of lead, zinc, gold, silver, and tungsten. Abundant reserves of limestone, rock salt, gypsum, kaolin (china clay), and marble are found on Juventud Island.

Manufacturing
Industrial production accounts for slightly more than one-tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP). Tobacco, processed foods (including sugar), and beverages are the most valuable products. Chemical products, transport equipment, and machinery are also important.

Finance
The banking system has been operated by the state since 1966 through the National Bank of Cuba, which sets interest rates, regulates foreign exchange, and issues currency (the Cuban peso and the convertible peso). There are no stock exchanges. Foreign investment was prohibited until 1982, when a joint-venture law was enacted. The government has had increasing success at attracting private capital and foreign-owned commercial banks since the 1990s, especially with European and Canadian investors; however, U.S. investment has been withheld because it violates the Helms-Burton law enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996.

Trade
Sugar is the main export, followed by nickel and other minerals, fish products, tobacco (notably cigars), and citrus fruits. Among the most important imports are mineral fuels and lubricants, foods, machinery and transport equipment, and chemicals. Cuba’s main trading partners include Venezuela, Spain, Russia, China, Canada, and the United States.

In the 1950s more than two-thirds of Cuban foreign trade was with the United States. By 1961 Cuban-U.S. trade was down to 4 percent, and it soon ceased entirely under U.S. government embargo policies. Trade shifted to the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and in 1972 Cuba became a full member of the Eastern-bloc Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance; disbanded in 1991). By the end of the 1980s almost three-fourths of Cuba’s trade was with the Soviet Union, on extremely beneficial terms for Cuba. Cuba’s overall trade declined sharply after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. The United States again became a top trading partner beginning in 2002 when it began to sell food to Cuba under an amendment to the embargo legislation.

Services
Tourism, government services, education, health care, entertainment, and other services account for about two-fifths of the employment in Cuba. In the 1990s Cuba made great efforts to modernize and expand its tourist business, and several new hotels and resorts were built, notably by Spanish and Canadian investors. Tourists are drawn to Cuba’s white sand beaches and vibrant nightclubs, as well as to the many historic buildings in central Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Trinidad that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. The country’s extensive coral reefs, forested highlands, and lush mangrove swamps are additional attractions. However, the increased dependence on foreign tourism has been accompanied by growing concern over illegal activities (notably prostitution and drug trafficking) and socioeconomic inequalities, wherein tourist areas are provided with many comforts and conveniences that are unavailable to the general public—a situation sometimes described as a “tourism apartheid.”

Labour and taxation
The rate of unemployment in Cuba is lower than in many Latin American countries. However, numerous jobs were lost in the 1990s as the economy was hit by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Underemployment is a persistent concern among industrial workers. The State Committee for Work and Social Security sets all wages for the government, which is the dominant employer. Moreover, many jobs must be arranged through state agencies. The standard workweek is 44 hours.

The constitution places the needs of the “economy and society” over the demands of individual workers. However, the document also guarantees an eight-hour workday and one month of paid vacation per year. Strikes are illegal, and independent labour unions are discouraged; no known strike has ever been staged under communist rule. The only legally recognized labour organization is the Confederation of Cuban Workers, which is designed to support the government, raise the political consciousness of workers, and improve managerial performance and labour discipline.

Few Cuban workers pay income taxes, although self-employed workers are heavily taxed. Many Cubans make in-kind contributions to the government by participating in mass organizations, volunteering for agricultural work, or meeting production quotas through overtime. Most teenagers are expected to spend several weeks each summer doing agricultural work. The social security program is financed by an enterprise tax.

Transportation and telecommunications
The most important highway is the Central Highway, built in the 1920s; it runs almost the entire length of the main island. Other major routes link Havana with the Playa Varadero and Baracoa with other eastern cities. A national busing company and several provincial companies handle most passenger traffic. Cuban professionals are less likely to own automobiles than are their counterparts in other Latin American countries, and many of the cars and trucks on the roads date from the 1950s and ’60s. However, the number and variety of automobiles have been expanding, primarily to serve the tourist industry. Road safety is a major concern, partly because of the mixture of automobiles, pedestrians (including numerous hitchhikers), bicycles, and horse-drawn wagons on both urban and rural roads.

A railway constructed between Havana and Bejucal in 1837 was the first in the Americas after those of the United States. The railway system deteriorated in the first years after the 1959 revolution, but much of it has been restored and has continued to serve the sugar industry. Cuba’s merchant fleet can handle only a small percentage of the country’s shipping, and foreign fleets carry out the bulk of trade. The major ports are Havana (which primarily handles fuels, grains, and other commodities), Cienfuegos (sugar exports), Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, and Nuevitas; in addition, the United States maintains a naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

The Cuban Aviation Enterprise (Empresa Cubana de Aviación), or Cubana, is the state-run airline. International airports operate at Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, and Varadero, and domestic airports serve Guantánamo, Holguín, Las Tunas, La Colonia (in Pinar del Río), Nueva Gerona, and several other locations.

The number of cellular phones in use has increased dramatically since the early 1990s. Use of the Internet has also increased. The government regulates and controls access to the country’s Internet service providers.

Government and society
Constitutional framework
Cuba is a unitary socialist republic. The government is totalitarian, exercising direct control or influence over most facets of Cuban life. From 1959 to 2008, Fidel Castro was the chief of state and head of government. He also served as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and commander in chief of the armed forces. In February 2008 he formally relinquished power to his brother, Raúl Castro. The country is governed under the constitution of 1976, which superseded revolutionary legislation that was enacted after the constitution of 1940 had been suspended. The 1976 constitution was slightly amended in 1992 and 2002.

Under the constitution, legislative authority rests with the National Assembly of People’s Power, whose more than 600 members serve five-year terms. The number of seats in the assembly has grown steadily, corresponding to the population of the provinces and municipalities. The National Assembly in its brief, twice-yearly sessions appoints a 31-member Council of State, which is headed by the president. The Council of State remains in session throughout the year and issues laws in the form of decrees. The president also appoints and presides over a Council of Ministers (cabinet), which carries on the daily administration of the country.

Local government
Cuba is divided into 14 provincias, one municipio especial (“special municipality”; Juventud Island), and, within the 14 provinces, about 170 municipios (“municipalities”). Delegates to municipal assemblies are elected to terms of two and one-half years by universal suffrage. They, in turn, select representatives to the provincial assemblies, who also serve for two and one-half years. The national government and the Communist Party heavily influence municipal and provincial affairs. Local governments lack independent funding and have little capacity to implement proposals autonomously. In most cases their areas of responsibility overlap those of the national ministries.

Justice
The justice system is subordinate to the legislative and executive branches of government. It is headed by the People’s Supreme Court, which includes a president, vice president, and other judges elected to terms of two and one-half years by the National Assembly. Its jurisdiction includes theft, violent crime, and offenses involving state security, the military, and the workplace (including labour practices). The provincial courts deal with cases that warrant sentences of up to six years’ imprisonment. Below the provincial courts are municipal courts, which are usually the courts of first appeal. The National Assembly may recall judges at any time.

Most trials are public, except for many military tribunals and cases involving political dissent. There are no trials by jury. The police often detain political dissenters, and those who are deemed “counterrevolutionary” or antisocialist may be denied due process. Prison conditions in Cuba are as harsh as in most other countries in the region, and many prisoners suffer from malnutrition and disease. There are separate prisons for women and youths, but political prisoners are often grouped with violent offenders. Cuba has carried out the death penalty for some offenses, including drug trafficking.

Security
The dividing lines between state security, national (military) defense, and criminal matters have long been blurred in Cuba. The Ministry of the Interior oversees state security, including the Border Guard, regular police forces, and agencies concerned with political dissent. The Cuban police force is nationally organized into principal, municipal, and barrio (neighbourhood) divisions. In addition, there are special security forces assigned to diplomats and tourist areas. Several professional firms also provide security for hotels and other businesses. Human rights activists and other dissenters are often arrested arbitrarily. Groups of party loyalists, who are organized into so-called Rapid Response Brigades, occasionally intimidate, beat, or publicly humiliate dissenters.

Cuba has one of the better-trained and better-equipped military forces in the West Indies, though many of its troops are assigned to the Youth Labour Army, which assists with the sugarcane harvest and other agricultural work during much of the year. Two years of military service are obligatory for men between the ages of 16 and 50 but voluntary for women. Among Cuba’s paramilitary organizations are the local militias (Milicias de Tropas Territoriales), consisting of about one million people.

After Cuba repelled the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, it developed strong ties with the Soviet Union, which provided technical and financial support and most of Cuba’s military equipment, including ships, dozens of fighter jets, helicopters, and hundreds of tanks. The Soviets also constructed missile bases in Cuba, which precipitated the Cuban missile crisis of 1962; a few thousand Soviet and, later, Russian troops remained in Cuba until the late 1990s. For its part, Cuba sent large numbers of troops abroad to support Marxist revolutionary groups and governments. During the 1980s it fielded as many as 50,000 troops in Angola and 15,000 in Ethiopia. The Cuban government also sent smaller numbers of troops, advisers, and technicians to such African countries as Mozambique, Algeria, and Libya and to the small Caribbean country of Grenada, where they briefly resisted a U.S. invasion in 1983. The Russian government closed its espionage base at Lourdes, Cuba, in 2001.

Shipments of cocaine and heroin from South America to the United States and Europe are sometimes intercepted by the Border Guard, which often coordinates antinarcotics operations with the U.S. Coast Guard. Cuba is not a major narcotics destination, and the island has had fewer drug-related problems than The Bahamas. The U.S. Navy has maintained its base at Guantánamo Bay since the early 20th century despite protests from the Cuban government. The United States considers the base a strategic asset to its forces in the Caribbean; the base has also served as a holding and processing area for Haitian, Dominican, and Cuban refugees and more recently has been used by the United States to house prisoners from Afghanistan.

Political process
Suffrage is universal for Cubans age 16 years and older, excluding citizens who have applied for emigration. Voting in elections in Cuba is legally mandatory, as it is throughout Latin America, and voter participation is invariably high. The government usually admits to a small proportion of spoiled ballots. Women’s suffrage was instituted in 1934, and women have taken on major roles in the political process since the revolution. A sizable minority of women are members of the National Assembly, and some occupy policymaking positions in the government, although men dominate the highest government and party offices.

In the early 1960s the government dissolved political parties and transformed three revolutionary organizations (the 26th of July Movement, Popular Socialist Party, and 13th of March Revolutionary Directorate) into a single national party, which was officially designated the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965.

The government also created several mass organizations, notably the ubiquitous Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which maintain vigilance against ideological “enemies” and intimidate dissenters and are organized in every city, factory, and workplace and in many rural counties. Other organizations include the Federation of Cuban Women and the National Association of Small Farmers, which is composed of independent farmers, outside the system of collectivized state farms, who own a fraction of the total cultivated land. An important task of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution is to choose municipal delegates who, in turn, select provisional delegates and members of the National Assembly.

In 1992 modifications in the electoral law permitted direct elections of members of the National Assembly. About half of the elected members now also serve on municipal councils, while the remainder serve at large and are therefore not beholden to a designated constituency. There is no party slate and candidates need not belong to the official Cuban Communist Party. Delegates receive no compensation for their political service. There is considerable competition for elected office, despite the low opinion that many Cubans hold for delegates and government in general.

Health and welfare
Cuba has one of the more successful health care programs in the developing world. Health care is state-operated through the Ministry of Public Health and is available free, or at nominal cost, to the entire population. The availability of hospital beds and physicians has greatly increased since the 1960s, when most physicians left the country, and infant mortality and mortality rates overall have declined. Social security (old age, disability, and survivor pensions, and other monetary benefits) covers the vast majority of the labour force.

The government controls (and rations) the distribution and pricing of foodstuffs, medicines, and other goods, although there are some independently operated markets (especially farmers’ markets) and state-operated stores where merchandise can be obtained using hard currency. Homes for the aged (nursing homes) are under the direction of the Ministry of Public Health, but the círculos infantiles, institutions for the day care of children under seven years of age, are run by the Federation of Cuban Women. The institutions are intended to free women to work. Physical education and sports, under a national body, are an integral part of Cuban education.

Housing
The government closely oversees home ownership and real estate transactions. Few people can easily change their places of residence because the government’s system of enforced home “exchanges,” or trading, prevents housing sales. The Urban Reform Law of 1960 prohibited landlords from renting urban real estate, and families soon began buying homes by paying the current rental sum for between 5 and 20 years. Many families have acquired titles to houses and apartments in this fashion, and the rest pay a small percentage of their salary as rent to the state. Many rural families have achieved free use of formerly rented lands, and traditional rural bohíos (“huts”) are being slowly replaced by more modern housing units. However, a decline in home building during the 1960s and ’70s, combined with the destruction of old housing through neglect, induced a severe housing shortage. The government later experimented with housing brigades, but the shortage has continued.

Education
Education is nominally free at all levels, with supplementary scholarships to cover living expenses and medical assistance. Primary education is compulsory for children between 6 and 11 years of age. Courses involving technology, agriculture, and teacher training are emphasized. Only a small minority of Cubans are illiterate. In 1961 the government nationalized all private schools and introduced a state-directed education system. It includes a combination of programs in preschool, 12 or 13 grades, higher education, teacher training, adult education (notably literacy campaigns and continued study by working people), technical education (which is parallel to secondary education), language instruction, and specialized education. Women are guaranteed equal educational opportunities and account for more than half of university graduates. Education expenditures receive high priority, and the number of students enrolled has increased sharply from prerevolutionary days. Nevertheless, the economic upheaval after 1991 strained the state’s long-standing efforts to ensure access to quality educational services.

Cultural life
Cuban culture has undergone a major transformation since the revolution, and the government has come to play a leading role in it. Since the creation of the Ministry of Culture in 1976, this role has expanded to include a network of professional and amateur cultural organizations throughout the country. Cultural institutions before 1959 were generally limited to Havana (and, to a lesser extent, the provincial capitals) and were almost entirely privately endowed. Before 1959 Cuba had some 100 libraries and a half-dozen museums; today it has approximately 2,000 libraries and 250 museums located throughout the country. The Ministry of Culture directs a program of education in music, visual arts, ballet, dramatic arts, and modern dance, culminating in the university-level Higher Institute of Art. More than 200 neighbourhood cultural centres (casas de cultura) offer workshops in all branches of the arts.

Daily life and social customs
In general, Cuba is a country short of everything, though its people exhibit extraordinary resilience and inventiveness in the face of hardship. So skilled are they, for example, at keeping automobiles from the 1950s in good running and cosmetic condition that Cuba has become a destination of choice for vintage-car collectors from the United States and Europe. Still, the constant food shortages, electricity blackouts, and telephone breakdowns affect people in different ways. Most problems and opportunities are relative and constantly changing, except for the staples of life in Cuba—the inescapable control of the government, the Saturday-night movies on one of the two local television channels, the Monday-night telenovelas (soap operas) imported from Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, or Colombia, and the unavoidable preoccupations of work, home, and family. Socialist ideologies notwithstanding, lifestyles are not equal for everyone, and how one perceives Cuba varies considerably depending on one’s individual situation.

Groups with access to hard currency—mainly U.S. dollars—enjoy a level of comfort not markedly different from that of middle-class residents elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. From two-fifths to half of Cubans have access to dollars. This is a varied group indeed, comprising recipients of foreign remittances from their families, workers in service industries who receive gratuities, tourist enterprises catering to foreigners, members of the armed services, workers in some industries who are paid partly in dollars, and even those working in the sex trade. There is also a group, locally called mayimbes (bosses), who appear to enjoy a good life without the benefit of obvious employment. These people form the faithful local clientele at the upscale paladares, the family-style restaurants officially licensed since 1994; they also frequent elegant state-run restaurants and the international dining rooms, expensive boutiques, and disco clubs of some first-class hotels, as well as the Caracol and Cubalse “dollar stores” scattered throughout Havana and other resort towns. Dollars also enable ordinary Cubans to ameliorate, however slightly, the monotonous routine of their lives. They can supplement the inadequate supplies of their ration books—not only in quality but also in quantity and variety—from purchases in the mercados agropecuarios (general food markets) and creative private sources (including the black market).

The typical cuisine makes wide use of pork, fowl, and rice—cooked with a scarcity of spices—and tropical fruits. Popular dishes include moros y cristianos (black beans and rice), ajicao (a stew of meat and vegetables), and lechón asado (roast pig), consumed with dark coffee and locally produced lager.

For family and personal entertainment, the cinema remains extremely popular, and Havana hosts one of the largest film festivals in Latin America each year. In Havana and Santiago drama groups have regular performances. A small number of clubs, like the Casa de Amistad (“Friendship House”) in Havana, cater to tourists and Cubans of modest means by supplying good food and a lively ambiance. Music and dance remain an important part of Cuban life. A variety of classical and popular musical groups offer weekend performances, and many kinds of music are heard on the streets, especially along the Malecón, Havana’s seaside promenade that remains a magnet for youths, especially in the evenings and on weekends. Music is also an integral part of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería, which has contributed much to the culture of the island.

Franklin W. Knight

The arts
Literature
A recognizably Cuban literature first began to emerge after the end of the 18th century. In the early 19th century several writers gained prominence espousing intellectualism and the concept of freedom. These ideas gained perhaps their greatest intensity in the writings of José Martí, a Cuban of modest Spanish background who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. He inspired an entire school of writing devoted to winning freedom from Spain. Writers whose works reflected social protest in the pre-Castro period include Nicolás Guillén, a leader in founding the Afro-Cuban school of literature, and Jose Z. Tallet, both activist poets. In the 20th century short stories became the predominant prose form, but exceptional novels were also produced, such as Alejo Carpentier’s ¡Ecué-Yamba-Ó! (1933; “Lord, May You Be Praised!”), which is a tribute to Afro-Cuban life and culture, and El siglo de las luces (1962; Explosion in a Cathedral, 1963), which portrays the violence and chaos wrought on the Caribbean during the French Revolution. The works of the poet, novelist, and essayist José Lezama Lima have also been influential. In addition, the works of the American writer Ernest Hemingway are deeply admired on the island, which was his home for many years and the setting for The Old Man and the Sea (1952) and Islands in the Stream (1970). Cuban writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabera Infante, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, and Ronaldo Menedez have earned international attention in the postrevolutionary era; however, many such writers have been exiled after falling afoul of government censors. By the early 21st century, Cuban writers had published large numbers of major novels and literary magazines.

Visual arts
Cuba has galleries, art museums, and community cultural centres that regularly display the works of Cuban painters. The most important (all in Havana) are the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Haydée Santamaría Gallery of the House of the Americas, the Gallery of Havana, and the Fortress Castle. There Cuba’s foremost contemporary artists—Wifredo Lam, René Portocarrero, Mariano Rodríguez, Servando Cabrera Moreno, Raúl Martínez—share space with younger artists. The Ministry of Culture provides most of the materials needed by artists and also guarantees jobs to graduates of the Higher Institute of Art. Painters in Cuba tend to work in many genres: they design fabrics (called by the trade name Telarte), sets for movies and theatre, and posters for films, books, cultural events, and community campaigns. Posters are one of Cuba’s best-known cultural exports. The Ministry of Culture promotes numerous art exchanges and sends exhibits of Cuban art throughout the world. The government works to promote art from the countries of the developing world, primarily through the Havana Biennial, which started in 1984.

Music and dance
Cuban music has Spanish and African roots, a blend that has contributed to a unique sound in both traditional and popular music. The Cuban rumba, son, guaracha, habanera, bolero, danzón, conga, and cha-cha, as well as salsa and the Nueva Trova (“New Song”) movement, have influenced much of the hemisphere. The Cuban folk anthem Guantanamera, which derives from a nostalgic poem by José Martí, is frequently heard throughout Latin America, as are the popular love songs Habanera Tú and Siboney. Composer-singers Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez, among the founders of the Nueva Trova movement, are acclaimed throughout Latin America for their lyric social criticism. Festivals of Cuban music and song are held throughout the year, encompassing works of every genre from every period, including the internationally popular Afro-Cuban jazz. The worldwide success of the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997) and concert series, as well as the subsequent film documentary (1999), introduced listeners throughout the world to those genres and revived the careers of such once-popular artists as Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, and Omara Portuondo. Classical music is of relatively minor importance in Cuba, but there is a National Symphony Orchestra that also has a chamber orchestra and instrumental ensembles.

One of Cuba’s foremost artistic figures is Alicia Alonso—a dancer of international acclaim, the prima ballerina and founder (1948) of the company that would become the National Ballet of Cuba, and the head of its school. The Ballet of Camagüey, under the direction of Fernando Alonso, was established in 1971, and a second Havana company was founded in the mid-1980s. Besides classical ballet, there is the Modern Dance Company in Havana, the Tumba Francesa (a black folk group) in Santiago de Cuba, and dozens of smaller troupes.

Theatre
Cuban theatre has been state-supported since 1959, mostly under the direction of the Ministry of Culture. There are several national dramatic groups, such as the Studio Theatre, whose directing councils create their own repertoire. Provincial theatre groups are also well established. Cuban theatre reached a new maturity in the 1980s, producing plays focusing on contemporary social problems as well as developing efforts to integrate music and dance. However, like most aspects of Cuban life, theatre suffered during the “special period” of the 1990s. National and international theatre festivals feature Cuban companies and troupes from the rest of the Americas. The National Theatre has an excellent library, and House of the Americas (Casa de las Américas), an international cultural institution, sponsors regular encuentros (meetings) with theatre professionals. Increasingly, Cuban theatre troupes travel abroad as part of an active exchange program.

Film
Cuban filmmaking since 1959 has been supported by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, which has produced feature and documentary films. The institute also has an extensive film library, and its movie house, the Charles Chaplin Theatre, regularly shows the best of both world and Cuban cinema. The institute provides a variety of support services throughout the hemisphere and sponsors the prestigious annual International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. The Foundation for New Latin American Cinema was established in Havana under the direction of the Colombian writer and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. Long popular in Latin America, Cuban films have enjoyed wider international audiences since the 1990s, especially after the critical and commercial success of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s film Fresa y chocolate (1994; Strawberry and Chocolate), which won the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize and was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign language film. Tabío’s Lista de espera (2000; Waiting List) and Fernando Pérez’s La vida es silbar (1999; Life is to Whistle) were also well received.

Cultural institutions
Havana is Cuba’s cultural hub and the home of most of its museums, libraries, professional associations, and performing troupes. The Cuban Academy of Sciences (1962) and the Cuban Academy of Language (1926) are among the leading learned societies. The José Martí National Library (1901) and the National Archive of Cuba (1840) have significant holdings. Among the major institutions supporting the performing arts are the National Theatre, the National Ballet of Cuba, the House of the Americas, and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. The National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists has a large membership that promotes literature and the arts. In 1959 the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore was created within the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, with the aim of collecting and classifying the Cuban cultural heritage. It formed the National Folklore Group, which performs Afro-Cuban dances throughout Cuba and abroad and gives international folklore laboratories each year. The activities of the folklore group are complemented by the Institute of Literature and Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences. The revolutionary government has made a special effort to promote study of the African roots of Cuban culture. The Guanabacoa and Regla museums are the main repositories of Afro-Cuban artifacts.

Sandra H. Levinson
Franklin W. Knight

Sports and recreation
Sports in Cuba are generally under the direction of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation. They are almost a national obsession, and sports figures are treated as national heroes.

Baseball is the national sport and is widely played throughout the country, with leagues organized at national and provincial scales. Fidel Castro himself has been passionately attracted to the sport since his youth. Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 19th century, and until 1959 the island provided the major league clubs of the United States with a constant supply of quality players, a tradition revived with the defection, over the years, of many of the country’s top baseball stars, such as Danys Baez and the brothers Orlando and Livan Hernandez. Cuban baseball teams have consistently captured gold medals in the Pan American Games and the Summer Olympic Games.

In various other international competitions, Cubans have also competed strongly with—and often outperformed—teams from every American country. At the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, for example, Cuban athletes won 29 medals. Eliecer Urrutía set a world mark in the triple jump in 1997, and Javier Sotomayor posted world records in the high jump in 1988 and 1993. Female athletes have also been outstanding in Cuba, with world-class teams in track and field as well as in volleyball. The heavyweight boxer Teófilo Stevenson is representative of another field in which Cubans have consistently excelled. Sport fishing, especially for blue marlin, has a long tradition, Ernest Hemingway being one of the enthusiastic participants. More recently, successful international competitions in sailing, yachting, and powerboat racing have taken place in Cuba. The government provides opportunities for most Cubans to participate in sports and recreational programs.

Cuba celebrates Carnival in late July, most flamboyantly in Santiago de Cuba. During that period Cuba also celebrates what is perhaps its most significant holiday, commemorating Castro’s attack on Fort Moncada on July 26, 1953.

Media and publishing
The mass media in Cuba are government organs. Freedom of speech is severely curtailed, and several independent journalists have been imprisoned for allegedly insulting the president.

The three main newspapers are Granma, the Communist Party daily; Juventud Rebelde, the paper of the Communist Youth; and Trabajadores, published by the Cuban Federation of Workers. These are supplemented by provincial newspapers, such as the Tribuna de la Habana and Sierra Maestra in Santiago de Cuba, that focus on local issues. Among the most widely read magazines are the weekly Bohemia, which covers all aspects of the news and is the oldest periodical in Cuba; the monthly Opina, aimed at a younger audience, with information on available consumer goods; and Mujeres, published by the Federation of Cuban Women. A number of specialized cultural magazines and newspapers also have wide readerships.

Two television stations broadcast nationally, and there are several national radio networks and one international; all of these are administered by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. Programming generally includes news, sports, educational programs, and serials.

History
The following discussion focuses on Cuba since European contact. For additional treatment in a regional context, see Latin America, history of.

Cuba has been heavily influenced by imperial Spain (from 1492 to 1898), the Soviet Union (from the 1960s to 1991), and the United States (from the 19th century to the present).

Early period
In the late 15th century the indigenous Ciboney and Guanahatabey peoples occupied western Cuba, and the more numerous Taino inhabited the rest of the island. Estimates of the total population range as high as 600,000; however, the actual total was probably about 75,000. The Taino were a peaceful people and were highly proficient agriculturalists, related to the Arawakan peoples of South America who migrated to the Greater Antilles. Their houses, called bohíos, formed villages ranging from single families to communities of 3,000 persons. They made pottery, polished stone implements, and idols of religious spirits called zemis. The Taino diet included potatoes, manioc, fruits, and fish. The name Cuba is pre-Hispanic in origin and its exact derivation unknown.

Spanish rule
Conquest and colonial life
Christopher Columbus sighted the northern coast of Cuba on October 27, 1492, and made landfall there the following day. The Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar began permanent settlement in 1511, founding Baracoa on the northeastern coast with 300 Spaniards and their African slaves.

Within five years Spanish authorities had divided the island into seven municipal divisions, including Havana (La Habana), Puerto Príncipe, Santiago de Cuba, and Sancti Spíritus. Each municipality had its own cabildo, or town council, governing its legal, administrative, and commercial affairs. From 1515, elected representatives of each cabildo formed a body that defended local interests before the royal council, especially on such matters as slave trading and the semifeudal encomienda system, which granted conquistadors control over the Indians in specified areas and the right to exact tribute from them. A bishopric, subordinate to Santo Domingo, was founded at Baracoa in 1518 but later moved to Santiago de Cuba.

The island’s limited gold deposits discouraged early settlement. However, the colony became a staging ground for the exploration of the North American mainland. Such expeditions as that of Hernán Cortés, which attracted 400 Spaniards and 3,000 Indians, depleted the colonial population. The remaining Spanish colonists continued to exploit Indians through the encomienda, but by 1550 the system was no longer feasible because the Indian population had been decimated by European diseases, ongoing social dislocation, maltreatment, and emigration.

By 1570 most residents of the Spanish towns in Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Indian heritages, largely because of the paucity of Spanish females among the immigrants and the military nature of the conquest. Colonial society reflected the stratification of the metropolis, although no sharp divisions had yet developed between Spanish-born and American-born citizens, as would later become commonplace. Until the end of the 16th century, African slaves seemed to enjoy a higher social standing than the indigenous people, probably owing to their cultural affinity to the conquerors.

Throughout the 17th century, colonial life was made more difficult by the ravages of hurricanes, epidemics, pirates, and attacks by rival European countries trying to establish bases in the Caribbean. By 1700, however, peace had returned, and the population reached about 50,000. Havana’s status grew commercially and strategically because of the flota (“fleet”) system of regularly scheduled maritime trade between Spain and its American colonies. In addition, ranching, smuggling, and tobacco farming occupied the colonists. The colony’s administrative costs depended, however, on irregular subsidies from New Spain until 1808.

Sugarcane and the growth of slavery
During the 18th century Cuba depended increasingly on the sugarcane crop and on the expansive, slave-based plantations that produced it. In 1740 the Havana Company was formed to stimulate agricultural development by increasing slave imports and regulating agricultural exports. The company was unsuccessful, selling fewer slaves in 21 years than the British sold during a 10-month occupation of Havana in 1762. The reforms of Charles III of Spain during the latter part of the century further stimulated the Cuban sugar industry.

Between 1763 and 1860 the island’s population increased from less than 150,000 to more than 1,300,000. The number of slaves also increased dramatically, from 39,000 in the 1770s to some 400,000 in the 1840s—roughly one-third of the island’s population. In the 19th century Cuba imported more than 600,000 African slaves, most of whom arrived after 1820, the date that Spain and Great Britain had agreed would mark the end of slave trading in the Spanish colonies. Cuban plantation owners were among those who insisted on continuing the slave trade, despite the controversies raised between the Spanish and British governments.

During the period 1838–80 the Cuban sugar industry became the most mechanized in the world, utilizing steam-powered mills (ingenios) and narrow-gauge railroads. Expanding sugar mills dominated the landscape from Havana to Puerto Príncipe, expelling small farmers and destroying the island’s extensive hardwood forests. By 1850 the sugar industry accounted for four-fifths of all exports, and in 1860 Cuba produced nearly one-third of the world’s sugar. The phenomenal growth of the sugar industry propelled a new class of wealthy plantation owners to political prominence. Mexican Indians and Chinese contract workers augmented the labour force, although the conditions under which they toiled were nearly as degrading and dangerous as slavery. Meanwhile, African slaves became more costly as the British navy attacked slave traders on the high seas and the United States abolished its own system of slavery. In 1865 the African slave trade ended, although slavery was not abolished in Cuba until 1886.

Rural life in Cuba was patently patriarchal, especially on the plantations. Lifestyles were more varied in urban areas, which were characterized by substantial free nonwhite populations and considerable occupational and economic diversification. Families tended to be large, augmented by extended kin and fictive kin relations. Women of the upper classes did not work, but many attained high levels of general education. Nevertheless, life was difficult, even in the largest of Cuban cities. Most visitors to Havana found it unclean and a dangerous place to walk about. In addition, the island was plagued by recurring waves of disease: cholera, malaria, and influenza, especially during the summer months. On the other hand, the social and cultural life of the city continued to develop to serve its residents’ needs.

Filibustering and the struggle for independence
The demands of sugar—labourers, capital, machines, technical skills, and markets—strained ethnic relations, aggravated political and economic differences between metropolis and colony, and laid the foundation for the break with Spain in 1898. Spanish colonial administration was corrupt, inefficient, and inflexible. People in the United States, especially in the southern slave states, showed a lively and growing interest in the island and supported a series of filibustering expeditions led by Narciso López (1849–51) and others. (The red, white, and blue battle flag that López flew was designated the Cuban national flag in 1902.) After the 1860s the United States tried many times to purchase the island.

Spain precipitated the first war of Cuban independence—the Ten Years’ War (1868–78)—by increasing taxes and refusing to grant Cubans political autonomy. The eastern planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, now known as the “father of the revolution,” freed his slaves in October 1868 and issued the Grito de Yara (“Cry of Yara”) decree, in which he declared Cuban independence. Céspedes had the support of some landowners and of numerous farmers and labourers who wanted to increase their share of political power and abolish slavery. However, many Cubans, including the wealthy sugar producers of the western region and the vast majority of slaves, did not join the revolt. Many questioned Céspedes’s plans for manumission, notably the rate at which slaves were to be freed, or disagreed with his call for U.S. annexation of Cuba. Spain promised to reform the island’s political and economic system at the Convention of Zanjón (1878), which ended the war. However, the nationalist leader Antonio Maceo and several others refused to accept the Spanish conditions. In August 1879 Calixto García started a second uprising, called La Guerra Chiquita (“The Little War”), which Spanish forces put down the following year.

The political and economic crisis grew more severe. The Spanish government failed to carry out most of the promised reforms, although it allowed Cubans to send representatives to the Cortes (parliament) and abolished slavery in 1886. Annual trade between Cuba and the United States had reached about $100 million, but in 1894 Spain canceled a Cuban-U.S. trade pact. In addition, the central government imposed more taxes and trade restrictions. Cubans increasingly resisted colonial authority, and the poet, ideological spokesman, and propagandist José Martí coordinated and mobilized political organizations in exile. War broke out again on February 24, 1895, and Martí and the revolutionary leader Máximo Gómez landed with an invasion force in April.

Gómez and Maceo led a force that quickly conquered the eastern region and began to spread westward. The Republic of Cuba was declared in September 1895. The following year Spain placed General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau at the head of more than 200,000 troops, who brutally “reconcentrated” rural residents into camps in the towns and cities, where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease. Both sides killed civilians and burned estates and towns, with the rebels concentrating on destroying Cuba’s sugarcane crop.

The Spanish government recalled Weyler in 1897 and offered autonomy to Cuba, and the following year it ended the “reconcentration” program. However, the vast majority of Cubans had come to sympathize with the rebels, who held most of the countryside. Meanwhile, commercial activity ground to a standstill, and news of Spanish atrocities spread to the United States, where yellow journalism (notably in newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst) stirred up anti-Spanish sentiment. Following a mysterious explosion aboard the USS Maine that sank it in Havana’s harbour in February 1898, the United States and Spain fought the brief, one-sided Spanish-American War, during which U.S. forces captured Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines by mid-August.

Occupation by the United States
Although Cuban independence was granted by the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898), U.S. forces continued to occupy the country, and General John R. Brooke, who was designated the military governor on January 1, 1899, tried to exclude Cubans from government. He disbanded the Cuban army and conducted a census before being replaced by General Leonard Wood, who had previously governed the city of Santiago. Wood increased the role of Cubans in government and supervised elections that gave Cuba its first elected president, Tomás Estrada Palma.

U.S. forces modernized Havana, deepened its harbour, and built a number of schools, roads, and bridges. But they were primarily interested in importing U.S. economic, cultural, and educational systems to the island. In addition, the U.S.-supervised electoral system was effectively racist and eliminated Afro-Cubans from politics. The Platt Amendment (1901) gave the United States the right to oversee Cuba’s international commitments, economy, and internal affairs and to establish a naval station at Guantánamo Bay on the island’s southeastern coast. Most of its provisions were repealed in 1934, but the naval base remained.

The Republic of Cuba
A republican administration that began on May 20, 1902, under Estrada Palma was subject to heavy U.S. influence. Estrada Palma tried to retain power in the 1905 and 1906 elections, which were contested by the Liberals, leading to rebellion and a second U.S. occupation in September 1906. U.S. secretary of war William Howard Taft failed to resolve the dispute, and Estrada Palma resigned. The U.S. government then made Charles Magoon provisional governor. An advisory commission revised electoral procedures, and in January 1909 Magoon handed over the government to the Liberal president, José Miguel Gómez. Meanwhile, Cuba’s economy grew steadily, and sugar prices rose continually until the 1920s.

The Gómez administration (1909–13) set a pattern of graft, corruption, maladministration, fiscal irresponsibility, and social insensitivity—especially toward Afro-Cubans—that characterized Cuban politics until 1959. Afro-Cubans, led by Evaristo Estenoz and Pedro Ivonet, organized to secure better jobs and more political patronage. In 1912 government troops put down large demonstrations in Oriente province.

The pattern of corruption continued under the subsequent administrations of Mario García Menocal (1913–21), Alfredo Zayas (1921–25), Gerardo Machado y Morales (1925–33), Fulgencio Batista (through puppets 1934–39 and himself 1940–44 and 1952–59), Ramón Grau San Martín (1944–48), and Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948–52). Machado was one of the more notorious presidents, holding power through manipulation, troops, and assassins. The U.S. government helped leftist groups overthrow him in the so-called Revolution of 1933, which brought Batista to power. Batista, however, was cut from the same mold as Machado.

Cuba’s income from sugar, which still accounted for four-fifths of export earnings, was augmented by a vigorous tourist trade based on Havana’s hotels, casinos, and brothels, especially during the years of Prohibition (1919–33) in the United States. By the end of the 1950s, Cuba had developed one of the leading economies in Latin America, with an annual income of $353 per capita in 1958—among the highest in the region. Yet economic disparities grew, and most rural workers earned only about one-fourth the average per year. Although the thriving economy enriched a few Cubans, the majority experienced poverty (especially in the countryside), an appalling lack of public services, and unemployment and underemployment. U.S. and other foreign investors controlled the economy, owning about 75 percent of the arable land, 90 percent of the essential services, and 40 percent of the sugar production. And for much of the 1950s, Batista exercised absolute control over the political system.

The Castro regime
Revolution
Batista’s fall resulted as much from internal decay as from the challenges of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement (commemorating Castro’s failed attack on the Moncada military base in Santiago on July 26, 1953) or from the Federation of University Students and other groups opposed to Batista’s rule. Castro had been a legislative candidate for elections in 1952 that were aborted by Batista. His defense of his part in the Moncada attack, edited and published as “History Will Absolve Me,” was a political manifesto. Released from prison in 1955, Castro and some friends went to Mexico to prepare for the overthrow of the Cuban government. In December 1956 the small yacht Granma landed Castro and a band of rebels in southeastern Cuba, where they were routed and almost annihilated by security forces. A dozen survivors, including Castro, his brother Raúl, and the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, retreated to the Sierra Maestra and began a guerrilla campaign. Over the next two years they attracted hundreds of Cuban volunteers, won several battles over Batista’s increasingly demoralized armed forces, and advanced westward across the island. Meanwhile, communist groups and radical members of the Federation of University Students, a noncommunist organization, staged strikes and attacks in urban areas. In 1958 the United States isolated Batista’s government with an arms embargo, and several Cuban military commanders sympathized with the rebellion or joined it. Batista fled the country on the morning of January 1, 1959, and on his heels about 800 of Castro’s supporters marched into Havana, having defeated an army of some 30,000.

The 26th of July Movement had vague political plans, relatively insignificant support, and totally untested governing skills. They quickly forged a following among poor peasants, urban workers, youths, and idealists. The Communist Party of Cuba, dating to 1925, assumed the dominant political role, and the state modeled itself on the Soviet-bloc countries of eastern Europe, becoming the first socialist country in the Americas.

The regime progressively dissolved the capitalist system in Cuba by establishing a centrally planned economy, collectivizing agricultural production (except for a small percentage of farmland), forming close economic ties with the Soviet Union, and developing a range of social services, particularly in rural areas. It also eliminated the remnants of Batista’s army and created new institutions to replace the former labour unions, political parties, and associations of professional workers and farmers. The regime nationalized hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. property and private businesses, which provoked retaliatory measures by the U.S. government, including a trade embargo, an unsuccessful invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in south-central Cuba (April 1961), and unexecuted plots to assassinate Castro. However, the U.S. stance only solidified Castro’s popular support and further pushed him toward the Soviet Union. In December he declared himself a communist.

National evolution and Soviet influence
Cuba’s erratic drift toward socialism and its growing dependence on the Soviet Union divided both the leadership and the country at large. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans, especially skilled workers and wealthy investors, emigrated to the United States (principally to Miami, Florida), Spain, and other countries. Soviet economic and military support was crucial in the early years of Castro’s regime, and Soviet maneuvers often aroused strong antagonism from the United States. The Cuban missile crisis (October 1962) was an especially serious incident. After the Soviet Union installed nuclear missile bases in Cuba, the world stood at the brink of war as the U.S. government set up a naval blockade of the island and demanded that the missiles be removed.

Cuba became plagued by shortages of foods, fuel, and other necessities. A second agrarian reform in the mid-1960s ended attempts to diversify the economy, which remained dependent on sugarcane. At the same time, Cuba renewed its efforts to export revolution by organizing a meeting of Latin American communists in Havana (1964) and stoking a civil war in the Dominican Republic in April 1965 that prompted the U.S. military to intervene there. Guevara engaged in covert activities in Congo (Kinshasa) and was killed in 1967 while attempting to start a revolution in Bolivia. Most Latin American and Caribbean states alienated Cuba for its attempts to foment unrest.

The government during the late 1960s renewed its attack on private property by nationalizing hundreds of small businesses. Military officers moved into the highest ranks of government, industry, and the Cuban Communist Party. The regime attempted to boost production and foster nationalism by offering moral incentives (nonmonetary awards such as medals and titles) and mobilizing labour organizations. When that approach failed to bring about desired results, the government returned to Soviet-type central planning and an orthodox system of socialist incentives. In 1976 a new constitution and a new electoral code reorganized the political system. Castro became president of the Council of Ministers and of the Council of State, thereby effectively combining the roles of president and prime minister.

Material conditions improved slightly during the 1970s. Bottlenecks and shortages were substantially eliminated, and diplomatic isolation gave way to a significant leadership role among developing countries and nonaligned nations (i.e., those not associated with either the Eastern or Western bloc). Cubans, who had been redefining themselves as an “Afro-Latin American people” since the late 1960s, offered technical, commercial, and military assistance to several states in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean region. However, Cuba lost considerable influence among the nonaligned nations when it supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In addition, that year the United States objected to the presence of Soviet combat troops on the island. Cuban military assistance in the 1980s influenced civil wars in Angola and Ethiopia, and civilian personnel made contributions in Asia and Latin America. The United States invaded the island of Grenada in 1983, killing more than two dozen Cubans and expelling the remainder of the Cuban aid force from the island. Cuba gradually withdrew its troops from Angola in 1989–91.

Although there has been some improvement in relations between Cuba and the United States since the revolution, the U.S. trade embargo imposed in the early 1960s remains essentially in force. U.S. activities such as the invasion of Grenada, investigations concerning the condition of political prisoners in Cuba, and propaganda radio broadcasts beamed toward Cuba since 1985 perpetuated bilateral antagonism. Emigration from Cuba to the United States has been a major issue since 1980, when some 125,000 Cubans crossed the Florida Straits to the United States during what became known as the “Mariel boatlift” (so named because many of the boats departed from Mariel, a small port west of Havana). In 1987 the two countries signed an agreement allowing 20,000 Cubans to emigrate annually to the United States. Tens of thousands have also migrated illegally to the United States and elsewhere.

Soviet aid to Cuba in loans, petroleum, war matériel, and technical advice was crucial and amounted to a significant portion of Cuba’s annual budget. The Soviet Union also bought the major portion of the Cuban sugar crop, generally at a price above that of the free world market. Cuban-Soviet relations deteriorated as Soviet political, economic, and social policies were liberalized in the late 1980s. The Cuban government, however, refused to modify its approach to social and economic policy.

Cuba since 1991
Soviet troops began to withdraw from Cuba in September 1991 over the latter’s objections that the withdrawal would compromise the island’s security. When the Soviet Union dissolved later that year, the already troubled Cuban economy suffered further from the loss of vital military and economic support that had, in effect, constituted subsidies. Amid severe internal shortages, and with unrest and dissatisfaction growing, Castro declared a “special period in peacetime” of food rationing, energy conservation, and reduced public services. Unemployment increased, and shortages of food, medical supplies, raw materials, and fuel were exacerbated by the ongoing U.S. trade embargo.

In 1993 the government legalized small businesses such as paladares (family restaurants), private employment, and the use of U.S. dollars (notably remittances from abroad) in Cuba. The following year independent farms and farmers’ markets were encouraged. The government also attracted foreign capitalists, including Canadian and Spanish hoteliers. Christmas was restored as a national holiday in 1997, in anticipation of what turned out to be a highly successful visit by Pope John Paul II the following year. The economy improved markedly, led by the tourist sector, but many Cubans began to question the future of socialism.

In 1996, after Cuba shot down two small aircraft piloted by a Florida-based anti-Castro group, the U.S. Congress passed the Helms-Burton law, which threatened sanctions against foreign-owned companies investing in Cuba. In 1999 prominent dissidents in Cuba were jailed and repressive laws enacted, prompting further international criticism. In the early 21st century, Cuba benefited from a petroleum-trade agreement with Venezuela and eased some of its more restrictive economic and social policies.

Franklin W. Knight

Although Castro maintained a firm grip on power, speculation grew outside Cuba on the state of his health, especially given his advancing age. Increasing attention was focused on his brother and designated successor, Raúl Castro Ruz, who was also the head of the armed forces, and Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, the influential president of the National Assembly. Indeed, on July 31, 2006, while recovering from surgery, Fidel Castro passed power on a provisional basis to Raúl. In February 2008 Fidel Castro officially announced that he would not accept another term as the president and commander in chief of Cuba, a position that he had held for 49 years; Cuba’s National Assembly chose Raúl as Cuba’s new leader.

Soon after the transfer of power to Raúl Castro, Cuba abolished its equal pay system, removing wage restraints that had been in place since the early 1960s. Other reforms were implemented as well, with Cubans being allowed to purchase cellular phones and personal computers and to stay at hotels formerly reserved for foreigners. The European Union, which had imposed sanctions against Cuba in 2003 for its repression of dissidents, lifted sanctions in June, a move that was criticized by the United States.

Ed.