Cuba

PRINTEMAILSAVETEXT

Republic, Greater Antilles, in the West Indies comprised of the island of Cuba and various adjacent islands. Situated S of the U.S. state of Florida and E of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Cuba commands the two entrances to the Gulf of Mexico--the Straits of Florida and the Yucatán Channel. The S coast is washed by the Caribbean Sea, the N coast by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and on the E, Cuba is separated from the island of Hispaniola by the Windward Passage, a shipping route between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. maintains a naval base at Guantánamo Bay in the SE.

The island of Cuba, the largest and westernmost of the West Indies, extends about 1225 km (about 760 mi) from Cabo de San Antonio to Cabo Maisí, the W and E extremities, respectively. The average width is about 80 km (about 50 mi), with extremes ranging from 35 to 257 km (22 to 160 mi). The total area is 110,860 sq km (42,803 mi) including the area of the republic's second largest island, the Isla de la Juventud, or Isle of Youth (formerly called Isle of Pines), and of other islands of the republic. See also World Almanac: Nations of the World - Cuba.

LAND AND RESOURCES

About one-fourth of the surface of Cuba is mountainous or hilly, the remainder consisting of flat or rolling terrain. The mountainous areas are scattered throughout the island and do not branch out from a central mass. The principal ranges of Cuba are the Sierra de los Órganos, in the W; the Sierra de Trinidad, in the central part of the island; and the Sierra Maestra, in the SE. The first two ranges are under 914 m (3000 ft) in height; the Sierra Maestra, which includes the Sierra del Cobre and Macaca ranges, is the greatest in altitude, mass, and extent, and contains Pico Turquino (2000 m/6561 ft), the highest point on the island. Most of the soil of Cuba is relatively fertile.

One of the extraordinary natural features of the island is the large number of subsurface limestone caverns, notably the caves of Cotilla, situated near Havana. Most of the numerous rivers of Cuba are short and unnavigable. The chief stream is the Cauto, located in the SE. The coast of Cuba is extremely irregular and is indented by numerous gulfs and bays; the total length is about 4025 km (about 2500 mi). The island has a large number of excellent harbors, the majority of which are almost entirely landlocked. Notable harbors are those of Havana, Cárdenas, Bahia Honda, Matanzas, and Nuevitas, on the N coast, and Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad, on the S coast.

Climate

The climate of Cuba is semitropical, the mean annual temperature being 25° C (77° F). Extremes of heat and relative humidity, which average 27.2° C (81° F) and 80%, respectively, during the summer season, are tempered by the prevailing NE trade winds. The annual rainfall averages about 1320 mm (about 52 in). More than 60% of the rain falls during the wet season, which extends from May to October. The island lies in a region that is occasionally traversed by violent tropical hurricanes during August, September, and October.

Natural Resources

The land and climate of Cuba favor agriculture, and the country also has significant mineral reserves. Nickel, chrome, copper, iron, and manganese deposits are the most important. Sulfur, cobalt, pyrites, gypsum, asbestos, petroleum, salt, sand, clay, and limestone reserves are also exploited. All subsurface deposits are the property of the Cuban government.

Plants and Animals

Cuba has a wide variety of tropical vegetation. Extensive tracts in the E portion of the island are heavily forested. The most predominant species of trees are the palms, of which Cuba has more than 30 types, including the royal palms. Other indigenous flora are mahogany, ebony, lignum vitae, cottonwood, logwood, rosewood, cedar pine, majagua, granadilla, jaguery, tobacco, and citrus trees.

Only two land mammals, the hutia, or cane rat, and the solenodon, a rare insectivore, are known to be indigenous. The island has numerous bats and nearly 300 species of birds, including the vulture, wild turkey, quail, finch, gull, macaw, parakeet, and hummingbird. Among the few reptiles are tortoises, the cayman, and a species of boa that may attain a length of 3.7 m (12 ft). More than 700 species of fish and crustaceans are found in Cuban waters. Notable among these are land crabs, sharks, garfish, robalo, ronco, eel, mangua, and tuna. Numerous species of insects exist, the most harmful of which are the chigoe and the anopheles mosquito, bearer of the malaria parasite.

POPULATION

The revolutionary government, which has been in power since 1959, has generally destroyed the rigid social stratification of the population inherited from Spanish colonial rule.

Population Characteristics

The Cuban population is made up mainly of three groups. Approximately 37% of the population are white, mainly of Spanish descent, 51% are of mixed racial ancestry, and 11% are black. There is a small Chinese minority (under 1%). Almost all of the people are native-born.

The population according to the 2002 census was 11,177,743; in 2007 it was estimated at 11,394,043, giving the country a population density of about 103 persons per sq km (266 per sq mi). More than 75% of the population is classified as urban. See also World Almanac: Current Population and Projections for All Countries.

Political Divisions and Principal Cities

Cuba consists of 14 provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth). The capital, largest city, and chief port of Cuba is Havana (pop., est.2005, 2,201,610). Marianao is a suburb of Havana and a beach resort. Other important cities and towns and their estimated (2005) populations include Santiago de Cuba (424,000), Camagüey (302,000), Holguín (270,000), Santa Clara (210,000), and Guantánamo (208,000).

Language and Religion

The official and dominant language of Cuba is Spanish. Lucumi, an ethnic language with African roots, is also spoken.

Before the country came under Communist rule, about 85% of the population was at least nominally Roman Catholic, with small minorities of Protestants and a small Jewish community. The Communist state declared itself atheistic at first, then officially secular. Religious practice declined, and restrictions were imposed on religious freedom, but enforced mainly for unregistered religious groups. The number of Protestant (chiefly Pentecostal) congregations increased substantially in the late 1990s, and the Lucumi rite of Santeria continued to be practiced widely, regardless of religious affiliation and despite state attempts to suppress it. Roman Catholicism remained the largest organized religion. In anticipation of Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in January 1998, Christmas was celebrated as a public holiday in 1997 for the first time in about three decades. See also World Almanac: Languages Spoken by at Least 2 Million People.

Education

School attendance is compulsory and free between the ages of 6 and 11. During the late 1960s all parochial schools were nationalized. About 10,000 new classrooms were added in rural areas, and traveling libraries were introduced. In the early 2000s some 925,000 pupils attended primary schools and about 940,000 were enrolled in general secondary schools. Enrollment in technical schools in the late 1990s was about 245,000. In 2002-03 about 314,200 students attended vocational or technical schools. In 2002 there were 64 higher educational institutions enrolling 236,000 students; the largest university was the University of Havana (1728). Virtually the entire adult population is literate.

Culture

Cuban culture is a combination of Spanish and African traditions. The blending of the Spanish guitar and the African drum gives Cuban music its most distinctive forms, the rumba and the son. Some of its folk music, however, such as the punto, the zapateo, and the guajira, has been greatly influenced by European music. See Latin American Music.

Noted Cuban writers include the 19th-century poets Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (1814-73) and Julián del Casal (1863-93) and the contemporary novelists Alejo Carpentier and José Lezama Lima (1912-76). See also African-Americans; Latin American Literature.

The National Library (1901) in Havana is the largest in Cuba and contains some 2.2 million volumes. Municipal libraries operate in Havana and the provincial capitals. The National Museum (1913) in Havana houses collections of both classical and modern art and relics of native cultures. Other important museums include the Colonial and Anthropological museums in Havana, the Emilio Bacardi Moreau Museum (1899) of natural history and art in Santiago, and the Oscar M. de Rojas Municipal Museum (1903) in Cárdenas; also of note is Hemingway Museum (1962), dedicated to Ernest Hemingway who lived in Havana from 1939 to 1960. All of Cuba's libraries and museums are under the supervision of the national government. In addition, Cuban cities support a variety of cultural activities, such as theater and ballet.

ECONOMY

The revolutionary government that gained power in 1959 nationalized about 90% of the production industries and some 70% of the farmland of Cuba. Formerly about 16% of the land was individually owned, while the remainder was held in large estates or by large sugar companies. Under Communist rule the economy was state controlled except for a small open-market sector. The government maintained a large bureaucracy not conducive to innovation and productivity. An informal second economy included farmers' markets and some illegal activities such as unauthorized use of government resources and informal markets in the exchange of homes.

Credits and subsidies from the USSR to Cuba totaled some $38 billion between 1961 and 1984 and up to $4 billion annually in the late 1980s. The collapse of the Soviet bloc, depriving Cuba of its leading aid donors and trade partners, dealt a crippling blow to the nation's economy, also seriously damaged by continuing U.S. trade sanctions. The sugar industry, a traditional mainstay of the island's economy, declined sharply. But there was slow recovery in the economy as a whole, aided by growth in tourism, new financing from China, and trade agreements with Venezuela that provide crude oil at discounted rates. In the early 2000s the annual gross domestic product was about $4000 per capita. The annual government budget included an estimated $35 billion in revenue and $36 billion in expenditure.

Labor

Almost all Cuban workers are organized under the administration of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), which has close to 5 million members.

Agriculture

After sugar output fell dramatically in the 1990s, a restructuring of the sugar industry was undertaken. In 2004 the sugarcane harvest was about 24 million metric tons.

Tobacco is grown especially in Pinar del Río Province; production amounted to about 35,000 metric tons annually in the early 2000s. A substantial portion of the crop is manufactured into Havana cigars, an internationally popular product. Among other important agricultural products are coffee, citrus fruit, mangoes, rice, bananas, plantains, cassava, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. Cattle, which numbered about 4.1 million head in the early 2000s, are valuable livestock, and hogs, horses, poultry, sheep, and goats are also raised in significant numbers. See also World Almanac: World Wheat, Rice, and Corn Production.

Forestry and Fishing

Indiscriminate cutting reduced forest areas from more than 40% to less than 10% of the total land area of Cuba during 1945-60. The government undertook a reforestation program in the mid-1960s; in the early 2000s forests covered about 20% of the island. The roundwood cut in 2003 was 3.6 million cu m; about 80% of the wood is used for fuel.

The fishing industry traditionally comprised small independent operators banded into cooperatives. The government, however, has developed a large deep-sea fleet. In 2004 the total catch was approximately 65,000 metric tons.

Mining, Manufacturing, and Industry

Minerals were among the most valuable exports of Cuba before the revolution of 1959. Production, however, has since declined. The minerals recovered in Cuba include nickel (Cuba's primary mineral) and copper ores, chromium, salt, cobalt, stone, natural gas, and manganese. Higher oil prices have increased interest in Cuba's petroleum, despite its high sulfur content, and new areas in its territorial waters have been opened up for foreign exploration.

Power cuts and contraction in sugar-related industries have hindered growth in manufacturing, except for a few industries, such as nickel and steel, which are not dependent on the electricity grid. Other major manufactures include cement, rubber and tobacco products, processed food, textiles, clothing, footwear, chemicals, and fertilizer, as well as refined petroleum. Manufacturing accounted for about 15% of gross domestic product in 2005; construction for another 7%. Construction has grown rapidly, aided by major government housing programs.

Energy

Except for the small output of its hydroelectric facilities, the electricity of Cuba is generated by thermal plants using petroleum products, coal, or sugarcane wastes. Cuba began modernizing its electricity distribution system after chronic system failures in the early 1990s. In 2005 electricity production totaled 15.3 billion kwh, down 2% from the year before. New generating stations were installed, and generation capacity has been on the increase.

Currency and Trade

The official monetary unit of Cuba is the Cuban peso (CUP), issued by the National Bank and composed of 100 centavos (26.5 pesos equal U.S.$1; Sept. 2008). However, this currency is not used outside of Cuba and is used by tourists in Cuba only for nonluxury goods. The convertible peso (CUP), used by tourists in Cuba for luxury goods, is effectively worth somewhat less than 1 U.S. dollar. All Cuban banks were nationalized in 1960.

With the decline of sugar production, nickel became Cuba's biggest export, earning $1.2 billion in 2005. Sugar and sugar products remained important, along with tobacco products. Fruits, fish products, medical products, and coffee are other major export commodities. Major imports include fuel, foodstuffs, raw industrial materials, motor vehicles, machinery, chemicals, and consumer goods.

Before 1959 most Cuban trade was with the U.S. In 1960, however, the U.S. declared a complete embargo on trade between the two countries. For the next three decades, most of Cuba's trade was with the USSR and its allies. When the Soviet bloc collapsed, Cuban trade suffered a severe setback. In 2007, the nation's imports were estimated at $10.9 billion, while exports were estimated at $3.2 billion. China, Canada, the Netherlands, and Spain are leading trade partners.

Transportation and Communications

In the early 2000s Cuba had about 113,000 km (70,000 mi) of roads. The nationalized railroad system operates on about 12,000 km (7500 mi)) of track, almost two-thirds of which serves sugar plantations and factories. Cubana, the national airline, flies both international and domestic routes.

In the early 2000s about 850,000 main line and 135,000 cellular telephones were in use in Cuba. The country also had extensive broadcasting facilities and about 4 million radios and 2.6 million televisions.

GOVERNMENT

Cuba is governed under a constitution adopted in 1976, as subsequently amended. It defines the country as a socialist state in which all power belongs to the working people. In effect the country is governed by the leadership of the Communist party, which is Cuba's only legal political party and controls the media.

Central Government

The central legislature of Cuba is the National Assembly of People's Power, whose 614 members are elected unopposed to 5-year terms by popular vote, from slates approved by special candidacy commissions. The National Assembly, which regularly meets twice during the year, elects a Council of State of about 30 members to carry out its functions when it is not in session. The Council of State includes a president, who is both chief of state and head of government; a first vice-president; and five other vice-presidents. The National Assembly also chooses a Council of Ministers, which is Cuba's chief administrative body.

Judiciary

Cuba's highest court is the People's Supreme Court. Other judicial bodies include people's provincial courts and people's municipal courts. Military tribunals deal with certain cases involving state security.

Local Government

Cuba is divided into 169 municipalities and 14 provinces; the Isla de la Juventud municipality is not part of any province, and its affairs are overseen directly by the central government. Each municipality has an assembly composed of delegates elected to terms of two and one-half years. Nominations for legislative office are controlled by the Communist party, as are administrative functions at all levels of government.

Health and Welfare

In 1959 the revolutionary government revised Cuba's health and welfare system. By combining the more than 50 retirement and disability plans that had been administered in various industries and professions under previous regimes, the government was able to provide a single program that extended coverage to additional segments of the population. The entire plan is administered by the State Social Security System.

In the early 2000s Cuba had some 70,000 physicians, many of whom were graduates of Eastern European medical schools. Recently graduated doctors have been required to serve in rural areas where medical attention was previously unavailable; many also have been deployed in Venezuela and other foreign countries. In the early 2000s Cuba had an infant mortality rate of only 6 deaths per 1000 live births; the average life expectancy at birth was 79 years for women and 75 for men. Despite universal health coverage and impressive health indicators, many health facilities did continue to face shortages of bed space and supplies, and standard drugs were often unavailable or scarce.

Defense

The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces in 2006 had about 50,000 active members and 40,000 reservists, a substantial decline from the Soviet era, but it remained well equipped, with strong defensive capability. Military service is by conscription for a two-year period, and conscripts are also required to perform agricultural labor.

Until the end of the 1980s, the USSR supplied Cuba with Soviet-built aircraft and missiles; when the Communist bloc collapsed, however, military aid to Cuba was slashed by the new administration. The last remaining Russian troops were pulled out of Cuba in 1993. Cuban forces were deployed in several African countries during the 1970s and ’80s.

International Organizations

Cuba is a member of the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization. The country was admitted as an African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) state of the European Union in December 2000 but has not yet signed the Cotonou Agreement, the ACP's basic trade and cooperation accord.

HISTORY

Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Cuba on Oct. 28, 1492, during his initial westward voyage. In honor of the daughter of Ferdinand V and Isabella I of Spain, his benefactors, Columbus named it Juana, the first of several names he successively applied to the island. It eventually became known as Cuba, from its aboriginal name, Cubanascan.

Colonization by Spain

When Columbus first landed on Cuba it was inhabited by the Ciboney, a friendly tribe related to the Arawak. Colonization of the island began in 1511, when the Spanish soldier Diego Velázquez established the town of Baracoa. Velázquez subsequently founded several other settlements, including Santiago de Cuba (1514) and Havana (1515). The Spanish transformed Cuba into a supply base for their expeditions to Mexico and Florida. As a result of savage treatment and exploitation, the aborigines became, by the middle of the 16th century, nearly extinct, forcing the colonists to depend on imported black slaves for the operation of the mines and plantations.

Despite frequent raids by buccaneers and naval units of rival and enemy powers, the island prospered throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Restrictions imposed by the Spanish authorities on commercial activities were generally disregarded by the colonists, who resorted to illicit trade with privateers and neighboring colonies. Following the conclusion (1763) of the Seven Years' War, during which the English captured Havana, the Spanish government liberalized its Cuban policy, encouraging colonization, expansion of commerce, and development of agriculture. Between 1774 and 1817 the population increased from about 161,000 to more than 550,000. The remaining restrictions on trade were officially eliminated in 1818, further promoting material and cultural advancement.

During the third decade of the 19th century, however, Spanish rule became increasingly repressive, provoking a widespread movement among the colonists for independence. This movement attained particular momentum between 1834 and 1838, during the despotic governorship of the captain general Miguel de Tacón (1777-1855). Revolts and conspiracies against the Spanish regime dominated Cuban political life throughout the remainder of the century. An uprising in 1844 of black slaves was brutally suppressed. A movement during the years 1848-51 for annexation of the island to the U.S. ended with the capture and execution of its leader, the Spanish-American general Narciso López (1798?-1851). Offers by the U.S. government to purchase the island were repeatedly rejected by Spain. In 1868 revolutionaries under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (1819-74) proclaimed Cuban independence. The ensuing Ten Years' War, a costly struggle to both Spain and Cuba, was terminated in 1878 by a truce granting many important concessions to the Cubans.

In 1886 slavery was abolished. Importation of cheap labor from China was ended by 1871. In 1893 the equal civil status of blacks and whites was proclaimed.

Independence

Although certain reforms were inaugurated after the successful revolt, the Spanish government continued to oppress the populace. On Feb. 23, 1895, mounting discontent culminated in a resumption of the Cuban revolution, under the leadership of the writer and patriot José Martí and Gen. Máximo Gómez y Báez (1826-1905). The U.S. government intervened on behalf of the revolutionists in April 1898, precipitating the Spanish-American War. Intervention was spurred by the sinking of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana on Feb. 15, 1898, for which Spain was blamed. By the terms of the treaty signed Dec. 10, 1898, terminating the conflict, Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba. An American military government ruled the island until May 20, 1902, when the Cuban republic was formally instituted, under the presidency of the former postmaster general Tomás Estrada Palma. The Cuban constitution, adopted in 1901, incorporated the provisions of the Platt Amendment, U.S. legislation that established conditions for American intervention in Cuba.

Certain improvements, notably the eradication of yellow fever, had been accomplished in Cuba during the U.S. occupation. Simultaneously, U.S. corporate interests invested heavily in the Cuban economy, acquiring control of many of its resources, especially the sugar-growing industry. Popular dissatisfaction with this state of affairs was aggravated by recurring instances of fraud and corruption in Cuban politics. The first of several serious insurrections against conservative control of the republic occurred in August 1906. In the next month the U.S. government dispatched troops to the island, which remained under U.S. control until 1909. Another uprising took place in 1912 in Oriente Province, resulting again in U.S. intervention. With the election of Mario García Menocal (1866-1941) to the presidency later in the same year, the Conservative party returned to power. On April 7, 1917, Cuba entered World War I on the side of the Allies.

Growing Instability

Mounting economic difficulties, caused by complete U.S. domination of Cuban finance, agriculture, and industry, marked the period following World War I. In an atmosphere of crisis, the Liberal party leader, Gerardo Machado y Morales, campaigned on a reform platform and was elected president in November 1924. Economic conditions deteriorated rapidly during his administration, the chief accomplishment of which, an ambitious public-works program, was achieved by floating huge loans abroad. Before the end of his second term, he succeeded in acquiring dictatorial control of the government. All opposition was brutally suppressed during his administration, which lasted until a general uprising in August 1933, supported by the Cuban army, forced him into exile. A protracted period of violence and unrest followed Machado's overthrow, with frequent changes of government. During this period the U.S. instituted various measures, including abrogation of the Platt Amendment, in an effort to quiet popular unrest on the island. A degree of stability was accomplished following the impeachment of President Miguel Mariano Gómez (1890-1950) by the senate, which was controlled by Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, in 1936. With the support of Batista, the head of the Cuban army and unofficial dictator of Cuba, the new president, the former political leader and soldier Federico Laredo Brú (1875-1946), put into operation a program of social and economic reform. Batista won the presidential contest of 1940, defeating Ramón Grau San Martín, the opposition candidate. The promulgation in 1940 of a new constitution contributed further to the lessening of political tension.

In December 1941 the Cuban government declared war on Germany, Japan, and Italy; consequently it became a charter member of the UN in 1945. The presidential election of 1944 resulted in victory for Grau San Martín, the candidate of a broad coalition of parties. The first year of his administration was one of recurring crises caused by various factors, including widespread food shortages, but he regained popularity the following year by obtaining an agreement with the U.S. government for an increase in the price of sugar. In 1948 Cuba joined the Organization of American States (OAS).

Fluctuations in world sugar prices and a continuing inflationary spiral kept the political situation unstable in the postwar era. Carlos Prío Socarrás (1903-77), a member of the Auténtico party and a cabinet minister under Grau San Martín, was elected president in June 1948. Shortly after his inauguration a 10 percent reduction in retail prices was decreed in an attempt to offset inflation. Living costs continued to rise, however, leading to unrest and political violence.

The Batista Regime

AFP

Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar in 1952.

In March 1952 former president Batista, supported by the army, seized power. Batista suspended the constitution, dissolved the congress, and instituted a provisional government, promising elections the following year. After crushing an uprising in Oriente Province led by a young lawyer named Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953, the regime seemed secure, and when the political situation had been calmed, the Batista government announced that elections would be held in the fall of 1954. Batista's opponent, Grau San Martín, withdrew from the campaign just before the election, charging that his supporters had been terrorized. Batista was thus reelected without opposition, and on his inauguration Feb. 24, 1955, he restored constitutional rule and granted amnesty to political prisoners, including Castro. The latter chose exile in the U.S. and later in Mexico.

In the mid-1950s the Batista government instituted an economic development program that, together with a stabilization of the world sugar price, improved the economic and political outlook in Cuba. On Dec. 2, 1956, however, Castro, with some 80 insurgents, invaded. The force was crushed by the army, but Castro escaped into the mountains, where he organized the 26th of July Movement, so called to commemorate the 1953 uprising. For the next year Castro's forces, using guerrilla tactics, opposed the Batista government and won considerable popular support. On March 17, 1958, Castro called for a general revolt. His forces made steady gains through the remainder of the year, and on Jan. 1, 1959, Batista resigned and fled the country. A provisional government was established. Castro, although he initially renounced office, became premier in mid-February. In the early weeks of the regime military tribunals tried many former Batista associates, and some 550 were executed.

Cuba Under Castro

AFP

Fidel Castro Ruz (l) and Ernesto (Che) Guevara (r) in Havana, Cuba, during the early 1960s.

The Castro regime soon exhibited a leftist tendency that worried U.S. interests in the island. The agrarian reform laws promulgated in its first years mainly affected U.S. sugar interests; the operation of plantations by companies controlled by non-Cuban stockholders was prohibited, and the Castro regime initially de-emphasized sugar production in favor of food crops.

Break with the U.S.

When the Castro government expropriated an estimated $1 billion in U.S.-owned properties in 1960, Washington responded by imposing a trade embargo. A complete break in diplomatic relations occurred in January 1961, and on April 17 of that year U.S.-supported and -trained anti-Castro exiles landed an invasion force in the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. Ninety of the invaders were killed, and some 1200 were captured (see Bay of Pigs Invasion). The captives were ransomed, with the tacit aid of the U.S. government, in 1962, at a cost of about $53 million in food and medicines.

Reuters/Daniel Merle/Archive Photos

Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz in 1992.

American-Cuban relations grew still more perilous in the fall of 1962, when the U.S. discovered Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. U.S. President John F. Kennedy then announced a naval blockade of the island to prevent further Soviet shipments of arms from reaching it. After several days of negotiations during which nuclear war was feared by many to be a possibility, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed, on October 28, to dismantle and remove the weapons, and this was subsequently accomplished. For the rest of the 1960s U.S.-Cuban relations remained hostile, although, through the cooperation of the Swiss embassy in Cuba, the U.S. and Cuban governments in 1965 agreed to permit Cuban nationals who desired to leave the island to immigrate to the U.S. More than 260,000 people left before the airlift was officially terminated in April 1973.

Despite several efforts by Cuba in the UN to oust the U.S. from its naval base at Guantánamo Bay, leased in 1903, the base continues to be garrisoned by U.S. Marines.

Period of isolation

Many of Castro's policies alienated Cuba from the rest of Latin America. The country was expelled from the OAS in 1962, and through most of the 1960s it was persistently accused of attempting to foment rebellions in Venezuela, Guatemala, and Bolivia. In fact, Che Guevara a key Castro aide, was captured and summarily executed while leading a guerrilla group in Bolivia in 1967. Meanwhile, Cuba continued to depend heavily on economic aid from the Soviet Union and Soviet-bloc countries. In 1972 it signed several pacts with the USSR covering financial aid, trade, and deferment of Cuban debt payments, and also became a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).

The first congress of the Cuban Communist party was held in late 1975. The following year a new national constitution was adopted. Among other provisions, it increased the number of provinces from 6 to 14 and created an indirectly elected National Assembly. The assembly held its first session in December 1976 and chose Castro as head of state and of government.

International role

In the mid-1970s Cuba emerged from diplomatic isolation. At a meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in July 1975, the OAS passed a "freedom of action" resolution that in effect lifted the trade embargo and other sanctions imposed by the organization against Cuba in 1964. Relations with the U.S. also began to improve; U.S. travel restrictions were lifted, and in September 1977 the two nations opened offices in each other's capitals. The U.S., however, warned Cuba that relations could not be normalized until U.S. claims for nationalized property had been settled and Cuba reduced or terminated its activities in Africa.

Cuban presence in Africa had begun inconspicuously in the mid-1960s, when Castro provided personal guards to such figures as President Alphonse Massamba-Débat (1921-77) of the Congo Republic. It was not until 1975, however, that Cuban combat forces were actively engaged on the continent, fighting for the Marxist faction in Angola. Cuban troops later shored up the Marxist regime in Ethiopia, providing the winning edge in its war with Somalia over the Ogaden region. By 1980 Cuban activities had expanded into the Middle East (Southern Yemen). In both regions the Cuban presence was generally seen by the West as the spearhead of a growing Soviet thrust. In return, the Cuban economy continued to be supplemented by some $3 million in daily Soviet aid. Despite its relationship with the USSR, Cuba in 1979 played host to a meeting of the so-called nonaligned nations, at which Castro was chosen the group's leader for the following three years.

In 1980, some 125,000 refugees fled to the U.S. when Castro temporarily lifted exit restrictions. The U.S. complained against Cuba's aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Cuban construction workers and military personnel were forced from Grenada by the U.S.-led invasion in October 1983. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Havana in April 1989, when the USSR and Cuba signed a 25-year friendship treaty, but Castro rejected the applicability of Soviet-style reforms to Cuba. In July four army officers were executed and ten others sentenced to prison for smuggling and drug trafficking.

Post-Soviet period

With the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, Soviet-bloc aid to Cuba ended, and Russian military forces withdrew. In November 1992 the UN called for an end to the U.S. embargo. As Cuba's economy worsened in 1993, the government introduced limited economic reforms, including an end to the ban on self-employment. In August 1994 Castro eased emigration again; to curb the ensuing exodus of Cubans to the U.S., the two countries signed an emigration agreement in September, after more than 30,000 had left Cuba; in the following year the U.S. announced it would admit 20,000 Cuban refugees held at Guantánamo, but would send further boat people back to Cuba. Castro made a goodwill trip to Europe in spring 1995 to gain economic support, mainly from the European Union (EU).

Relations with the U.S. deteriorated sharply in February 1996 when Cuba shot down two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an anti-Castro exile group based in Miami. Through the Helms-Burton Act, which became law in March, the U.S. toughened its own sanctions on Cuba and on non-U.S. companies doing business there. The EU challenged the U.S. measure before the World Trade Organization, and Canada signed its own cooperation agreement with Cuba in January 1997.

On a five-day visit to Cuba in January 1998, Pope John Paul II met with Castro and conducted open-air religious services covered extensively by the state-controlled media. The pope denounced U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba but called for the Castro government to release political prisoners and broaden political and religious liberties.

The 2000s

In January 2002 the U.S. began using its base at Guantánamo Bay to hold prisoners captured in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. In May of that same year, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter visited Havana, calling for democratic reforms in Cuba and for the U.S. to lift its trade embargo.

In spring 2003 Cuban authorities mounted a new campaign against pro-democracy activists. Some 75 dissidents arrested in this crackdown were sentenced to up to 27 years in prison and 3 Cubans who had hijacked a ferry in an attempt to escape the country were executed. These moves provoked condemnation from human rights groups and governments, and in May 2004 the U.S. introduced new restrictions, limiting Cuban exiles' visits and remittances to the island. At the same time, most governments continued to oppose the U.S. trade embargo, which also faced opposition from many U.S. manufacturers and farmers seeking to develop trade ties with Havana.

In a letter made public on July 31, 2006, an ailing Castro ceded major powers to his brother and designated successor, Raúl Castro Ruz (1931-   ), before undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. Fidel Castro did not make public appearances after that and on Feb. 18, 2008, in another letter, he announced his official resignation as president, though he was presumed to retain strong influence. Raúl Castro was confirmed as his successor by the National Assembly, and familiar, mostly aging figures were confirmed for key positions in the Council of State, including Jose Ramos Machado (1930-   ) as first vice president. During his first year in office the new president made changes to improve efficiency in education and health care, and some modest policy changes, including a loosening of rules (which, however, had not always been enforced) barring Cubans from access to cell phones and from staying in luxury tourist hotels. Restrictions on travel abroad and ownership of homes and cars were not lifted. After a year in office, Raúl Castro instituted a cabinet shakeup; while retaining Machado he dismissed some of his brother's close aides, including younger figures who had been considered top candidates for roles in a post-Castro government.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike that hit Cuba in August and September 2008 devastated the sugar crop and damaged about 450,000 homes, causing an estimated $5 billion in losses.

In foreign affairs, Cuba continued its support to leftist governments in South America, including those of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Evo Morales (1959-    ) of Bolivia. Venezuela provides oil to Cuba on preferential terms. China has also emerged as a major source of aid since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In November 2008 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Cuba as part of a Latin American tour.

Upon coming to office in January 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered that the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay be closed within a year. A few months later, he ended restrictions on Cuban Americans in visiting and sending money to relatives in Cuba. The Obama administration also ended a U.S. policy banning telecommunications companies from seeking licenses in Cuba. The wider trade embargo instituted by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 remained in place, and its abolition would require congressional action.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections Latin American music, Latin American literature, Cuba, The Caribbean.