CaribNation Television

One People - One Culture - One Caribbean - One Nation

Navigate the Site

Latest News from
Cuba

CaribNation Shows Featuring
Cuba

#103 A Critical Look at Cuba
and the Man, Fidel Castro

#135 The Move to Isolate
Fidel Castro via Cuba

Santiago de Cuba

La Habana

National Flag of Cuba.

The Flag of Cuba was designed in 1850 by rebels that wanted independence form Spain. The 3 blue stripes represent the divisions of the Island at the time, while the white stripes represent freedom. The equilateral triangle stands for freedom, equality and brotherhood. The red color represents the bloodstain necessary to achieve independence. The star represents absolute freedom of the people. Map of Cuba

Coat Of Arms.

The Cuban Coat of Arms is another national symbol that represents the Island and its people. The heart shaped form is divided into three sections. The top horizontal section depicts the geographic location of the Island in the Gulf of Mexico, between North and South America. The white and blue stripes symbolize the departmental status of Cuba in the colonial days. The final section stands for the Cuban people and their unyielding nature. This is accomplished by showing the country's landscape with the sturdy royal palm in the center.

Butterfly Jasmine is the official Flower of Cuba. It represents purity, rebelliousness and independence. It flourishes in humidity. It can be found in the wild along river banks and lagoons. It is also a favorite garden flower.

The national Bird of Cuba is the Tocororo, or the Cuban Trogon. The colorful climbing bird's red white and blue plumage matches the colors of the flag.

The National tree of Cuba is the Royal Palm. Again reflective of the Cuban People it is a strong tropical tree, able to survive the storm force winds of hurricanes

Facts at a Glance

Full country name: Republic of Cuba
Area: 110,860 sq km
Population: 11 million
Capital city: Havana (pop 2,200,000)
People: 60% Spanish descent, 22% mulatto, 11% African descent, 1% Chinese
Language: Spanish
Religion: 47% Catholic, 4% Protestant, 2% Afro-American Spiritist
Government: Communist republic
Head of State: Fidel Castro

Economic Profile

GDP: US$20.3 billion
World GDP ranking: 64th
GDP per head: US$1880
Major industries: Sugar, minerals, tobacco, agricultural, medicine & tourism
Major trading partners: Western Europe, Latin America, Russia, China, Iran & North Korea

History

It's thought that humans first came to the Cuban island from South America in around 3500 BC. These people were fishers and hunter-gatherers, and were joined some time later by agriculturalist Arawak Indians (Taino). By the time the Spanish arrived in the late 15th century, three-quarters of Cuba's 100,000 indigenous people were Taino-speaking Arawaks.

Christopher Columbus sighted Cuba on 27 October 1492, and while he was enamoured with the `most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen', the Spanish ignored it and instead established their first base at Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. In 1512, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar led a 300-member party from Hispaniola to Cuba to claim it for the Spanish Crown, and within two years he'd established seven settlements. The Spanish slaughtered thousands of Indians, despite Velázquez's protestations, and drove others westward. But Cuba had no great gold reserves and after 1516 Velázquez sponsored four expeditions to Mexico, including Hernán Cortés's conquest of 1519 to 1521, and thereby established Cuba as Spain's gateway to South America.

Large estates were established on the island under the encomienda system, which essentially enslaved the Indians under the pretext that they were receiving religious instruction. By 1542, when the system was abolished, the deadly combination of exploitation and European diseases had slashed the Indian population to around 5000. Unfazed, the Spanish began to import African slaves to bolster slave-labour numbers. Unlike the North American slave trade, Cuba's African slaves were kept together in their tribal groups, and fortunately certain aspects of their culture survived. They were sent to work on cattle ranches, and bovine products - leather and dried beef - were the mainstay of the Cuban economy until the early 18th century, when tobacco became the colony's principle cash crop.

Increasingly, other European powers began to challenge Spain's colonial grip on the Caribbean: the British took Jamaica in 1655, Haiti fell to the French in 1697 and Cuba was under constant threat of attack. British troops invaded Cuba on 6 June 1762, capturing Havana and occupying it for 11 months. During their stay, the British imported 4000 African slaves and vastly expanded Cuba's trading links. Sugar production became the island's major industry, as American independence in 1783 created new markets and a 1791 slave uprising in Haiti eliminated Cuba's biggest sugar-producing competitor. By 1820 Cuba was the world's largest producer of sugar, thanks to tens of thousands of newly imported African slaves.

Following the revolutionary activities of Simón Bolivár in South America between 1810 and 1825, Cuba and Puerto Rico found themselves the only remaining Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere. Spanish loyalists fled the former colonies and arrived in Cuba in droves. Cuba's first War of Independence was launched in October 1868, and was headed by a Creole planter, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. After ten years and 200,000 deaths, however, the rebels were finally spent and a pact was eventually signed granting them amnesty. The Spanish tried to placate the Creole community, who were seeking internal autonomy, while the USA prepared to annexe the colony. Meanwhile, a group of Cuban rebels exiled to the USA began plotting the overthrow of the Spanish colonial government. Within their ranks was José Martí, a poet and essayist who would become a national hero. Martí and his military commander, General Máximo Gómez, landed on eastern Cuba in 1895, and just a few weeks later Martí, conspicuous on his white horse, was shot and killed during a skirmish with the Spanish.

Gómez and rebel leader Antonio Maceo pushed westward, burning everything that they came across - sugar fields, plantations and towns. Spain sent in the ruthless military man Valeriano Weyler to quell the rebellion, which had now reached civil war proportions, and although his measures were successful, Cuba's agriculture-based economy was in ruins. In June 1897 the Spanish prime minister, Antonio Cánovas, a hard-line opponent of Cuban independence, was assassinated by an anarchist with Cuban connections and the new Spanish government sought a more conciliatory approach.

The time was now ripe for the US government to annexe Cuba. In America, the tabloid press stirred up war fever following the January 1898 explosion of the US warship Maine, anchored just outside Havana harbour. The USA declared war when Spain rejected its offer to purchase Cuba for $300 million. Hostilities lasted for three months until the Spanish surrendered. The USA's declaration of war had stipulated that it would respect Cuba's right to self-determination, and while it annexed Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, it had to be content with militarily occupying Cuba.

The USA installed a governor of Cuba, General John R Brooke, and he and his successor began a series of public works projects, building schools and improving public health, all clearly designed to tie Cuba to the USA. The Platt Amendment gave the USA the right to intervene militarily in Cuba's domestic affairs at the discretion of the USA, and given the choice of accepting the Platt Amendment or remaining indefinitely under US military occupation, Cubans chose the lesser of two evils. In 1903, the USA used this amendment to oversee American interests in Cuba by building a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Today this symbol of US imperialism remains - an insult to Cuba and a mockery of the USA's alleged respect of Cuba's right to self-determination.

By the 1920s US companies owned two-thirds of Cuba's farmland, and while tariffs crippled Cuba's own manufacturing industries, tourism based on gambling and prostitution flourished during America's flirtation with prohibition. The collapse of commodity prices due to the 1930s depression led to civil unrest, which was violently quelled by President Gerado Machado y Morales. In August 1933 Morales was overthrown in a coup, and army sergeant Fulgencio Batista seized power. Over the next 20 years, the corrupt Batista won, lost and stole power, while Cuba crumbled and its assets were increasingly placed into foreign hands. The years of political corruption and social injustice finally came to a close after a three-year guerilla campaign led by young lawyer Fidel Castro. Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic, taking with him US$40 million of government funds.

Castro was named prime minister, and immediately began reforming the nation's economy, cutting rents and electricity rates, and nationalising any landholding larger than 400 hectares. Relations with the USA deteriorated as US interests were directly affected by the nationalisation of US-owned petroleum, telephone and electricity companies and sugar mills. In response the Americans cut Cuban sugar imports and the CIA trained and armed a counter-revolutionary army to overthrow Castro. The Soviet Union bought up Cuba's sugar surplus and sent trade and technical delegations. A massive exodus of Cuba's middle class began almost immediately Castro took power. Most of these exiles settled just across the water in Miami, where they have since orchestrated virulent anti-Castro campaigns and had a powerful impact on US foreign policy.

In a speech honouring the Cuban forces that repelled the disastrous April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion by 1400 Cuban émigrés trained and armed by the CIA, Castro said for the very first time that the Cuban revolution was socialist. Castro and Che Guevara began actively supporting guerilla groups in South America and Africa, sending troops and advisers to assist peoples' insurgencies in Zaire, Angola, Mozambique, Bolivia (Guevara was killed in Bolivia in the presence of US advisers) and Ethiopia. The US response was to support the dictators in many of those countries, and to launch an embargo against Cuba, severely restricting trade and travel between the two countries.

Despite massive Soviet aid, the Cuban economy was in ruins, and the country's plight worsened when Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989, as Russia soon withdrew its 11,000 military personnel and technicians. America kept up its draconian trade bans and Cuba was quickly isolated - both politically and economically. In December 1991, the Cuban Constitution was amended to remove all references to Marxism-Leninism. Castro avowed his continuing loyalty to communism but reforms of the Soviet model were already under way. In 1993, laws passed that allowed Cubans to own and use US dollars, allowed self-employment in 100 trades and farmers' markets were opened. Taxes on dollar incomes and profits were levied in 1994, and in September 1996 foreign companies were allowed to wholly own and operate businesses and purchase real estate. The US responded to this new openness by stiffening its decades-old embargo in 1996 with the Helms-Burton Act, allowing US investors to take legal action against foreign companies utilizing their confiscated property in Cuba, and advising against loans for Cuba.

The Cuban government has been criticized for its human rights record over the past three decades. Political repression has resulted in at least 500 'prisoners of conscience' currently in Cuban jails simply for criticizing Cuba's present leadership or for attempting to organize political opposition. While this situation is deplorable, it must be viewed in the context of the continuous threat of destablization Cuba faces from its powerful neighbor to the north. Pope John Paul II recognized this during his visit to the island in January 1998, condemning both the Cuban government's heavy hand and the US government's embargo. The pope's visit brought out crowds of over half a million people.

Culture

African slaves brought rhythms and ritual dances to Cuba where they were blended with Spanish guitars and melodies and then appropriated and developed throughout the Americas (the USA in the 1920s jumped to rumba rhythms, and these, fused with jazzy horn sections and drums, became the big-band sound). The conga-line dance was developed by slaves shackled together, while much of contemporary Cuban dance has important associations with Afro-Cuban Santería religion. The most popular Cuban music today is son, which developed in the hills of the Oriente before the turn of the century and incorporates guitars, tres (a small Cuban stringed instrument with three pairs of strings), double bass, bongos, claves, maracas and voice. Mambo, bolero, salsa and chachachá music also derived from this form. The most famous exponents of Cuban music were Pérez Prado and Benny Moré, but Cuban music continues to evolve and there are a great many artists still making great music.

The country's most famous literary figure is José Martí, whose life, ideas and martyr's death confirmed him as a national hero, but other Cuban literary greats include Cirilo Villaverde y de la Paz (1812-94), Alejo Carpentier (1904-80), Nicolás Guillén (1902-89) and Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929-). Cuba's film makers include Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (1928-96), whose Strawberry and Chocolate was highly lauded, and Humberto Solás, whose works also received much international acclaim. Painters Wilfredo Lam (1902-82) and Marianao Rodríguez (1912-90) are amongst the most important the country has produced, and Manuel Mendive (1944-) is regarded as Cuba's foremost living painter.

After the revolution the arts were actively supported by the government: many theatres, museums and arts schools were founded, musicians were guaranteed a salary and a national film industry was established. The government has sought to redress the influence of North American mass culture by subsidising Afro-Cuban cultural groups and performing ensembles.

Historically, Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion in Cuba and it remains so, with around 40% of Cubans at least nominally Catholic. Around 4% are of the population are Protestant and 2% are Afro-American Spiritist - devotees of Santería. The loose institutional organization of Santería's adherents hides the fact that a majority of Cubans are affiliated with this Afro-Catholic religious fusion in one way or another, and their numbers have grown since the government ended its official atheism in 1992. True to the country's mestizo culture, Cubans grafted Catholicism onto African religions brought over by slaves, resulting in Afro-Cuban equivalent gods for the major Catholic saints - and the occasional animal sacrifice. When Pope John Paul II crowned Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, Cuba's patroness, devotes of Santeria swelled with pride, for they identify the Virgin of Cobre with their very own Ochun, goddess of love and abundance.

Cuban cuisine is a mix of Spanish and African techniques, using local produce. Dishes like Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christian; black beans and rice), arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and picadillo (minced beef and rice) are common, as are soups made with plantains, chick-peas or beans. There are, however, food shortages in Cuba and eating out can mean long waits at state-run restaurants or hotel dining rooms. Cuban beer (cerveza) is excellent and the cocktails are legendary.

Attractions

Havana (La Habana) is the largest city in the Caribbean and the centre of all things Cuban. Despite its turbulent history, Havana suffered little damage in the wars and revolutions, and stands today much as it was built. There's an air of faded glory about the city as big 50s and 60s American automobiles still dominate the streets and paint and plaster peel off everywhere. The city is peppered with glorious Spanish colonial architecture, much of which is under restoration. Havana has a swinging nightlife, with cinemas, historic theatres, cabarets, nightclubs and music venues that will exhaust even the most hardened campaigner.

The city is divided into 15 municipalities, the star of which is Old Havana (La Habana Vieja), Havana's colonial heart. Vedado and Centro Habana are the areas to look for budget hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and cabarets.

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is Havana's rival in literature, music and politics, and is regarded as the `cradle of the revolution' because of the pivotal role it played in overthrowing the Batista regime. It's the second biggest city in Cuba and, unlike other Cuban towns, has a noticeable Caribbean flavour due to the influence of the French planters and Haitians who settled there in the last century. The city's distinctive character is also due to its isolation from Havana, and its own history is as colourful as that of the capital (Santiago de Cuba's first mayor was the conquistadore of Mexico, Hernán Cortés). The city houses Cuba's oldest palaces and museums including the Casa de Diego Velázquez and the Museo Municipal Bacardí. It overlooks the Bahía de Santiago de Cuba and many houses feature lacy ironwork balconies, pointed windows and narrow external staircases. The Cementerio Santa Ifigenia is the final resting place of many famous revolutionaries, including José Martí whose embalmed body is on display.

Trinidad

Trinidad was founded in 1514, but despite this early start it remained a backwater haven for smugglers until the late 18th century. Smugglers brought slaves and gold from British-controlled Jamaica, but all this changed in the early 19th century when a slave revolt in Haiti caused French planters to flee to Trinidad, where they re-established their mini-empires. Trinidad boomed until the Wars of Independence devastated the region's sugar plantations and the town again fell into obscurity. The legacy of this short-lived sugar-boom wealth can be seen in the town's baroque church towers, Carrara marble floors, wrought-iron grills and run-down mansions. The most impressive of all Trinidad's many museums must be Museo Histórico Municipal and a visit to the Taller Alfarero, a large ceramics workshop where traditional techniques are still used is also worthwhile. Some of Cuba's finest beaches are just outside Trinidad.

Baracoa

Baracoa sits on a headland between two picturesque bays near Cuba's easternmost point, Cabo Maisí. Founded in 1512 by Diego Velázquez, this is Cuba's oldest European settlement. The town was accessible only by sea until the 1960s when a road finally connected it to the outside world. Things are pretty laid back in Baracoa and the abundance of palm trees along this coast give it a South Pacific feel. The fact that this was an important Spanish outpost is evidenced by the three impressive forts: Fuerte Matachín, now housing the museo municipal; Fuerte de la Punta, now refitted with a restaurant; and El Castillo de Seboruco, which is now a pleasant hotel.

Pinar del Río Province

Hikers, speleologists and naturalists will love this westernmost part of the country. The 175km long Cordillera de Guaniguanico runs along the length of the province and the region boasts a plethora of limestone caves, some 26km long, and rivers that dive underground through the limestone bedrock. Vi–ales has limestone pinnacles that have been eroded into bizarre surreal shapes.

This is perhaps the most beautiful part of Cuba, and there are terrific scuba-diving opportunities off the province's coast with excellent yacht anchorages, clear waters, spectacular corals and great expanses of empty white-sand beaches.

Bayamo

Bayamo is the capital of Granma Province, the country's southernmost point, and the region sees few tourists. This area was important in the Cuban struggle for freedom: Castro and 81 rebels landed at Cabo Cruz aboard the Granma (hence the province's name) on 2 December 1956, and the first War of Independence was launched here in October 1868 when Creole planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes freed his slaves, formed a militia and overran the eastern end of the island. The area has a wealth of historic places of interest, including the site where José Martí was shot, and one of Cuba's greatest national parks, Gran Parque Nacional Sierra Maestra, to the south of Bayamo township. Bayamo has a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere and makes few concessions to tourism. The town is centred around Parque Céspedes which is a delightful, shady park containing long marble benches and statues of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Perucho Figueredo (who composed the Cuban national anthem in 1868 to coincide with Céspedes' revolution). On the north side of the park is the Ayuntamiento, and it was in front of this in 1868 that Céspedes proclaimed independence for Cuba.

Isla de la Juventud

Although 350 islands make up the Archipiélago de los Canarreos, Isla de la Juventud is by far the biggest of them and this region is administered from the island's capital, Nueva Gerona. Much of the island is flat and the Ciénaga de Lanier is Cuba's second-largest swamp. Isla de la Juventud is the least populated region of Cuba, with most people living in the north of the island. Once known as Parrot Island, it was a hideout for pirates like Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Thomas Baskerville and Henry Morgan, and it inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The local economy turns on cattle ranching and grapefruit plantations, and the unhurried way of life and unspoilt surrounds are the major attraction. Just getting to Isla de la Juventud, by boat or by plane, is a bit of an adventure. There are Indian cave paintings at Punta del Este and great scuba diving along the Pirate Coast drop-off at Punta Frances. The coral keys to the east of Isla de la Juventud have turtles, iguanas and pelicans that seem indifferent to human company.