top of pageBackground: Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959, and his guiding vision has defined Cuba's Communist revolution while his iron will has held the country together for more than four decades. CASTRO brought Cuba onto the world stage by inviting Soviet support in the 1960s, inciting revolutionary movements throughout Latin America and Africa in the 1970s, and sending his army to fight in Angola in the 1980s. At home, Havana provided Cubans with high levels of healthcare, education, and social security while suppressing the Roman Catholic Church and arresting political dissidents. The withdrawal of former-Soviet subsidies, worth $4billion-$6 billion per year, in 1990, cause severe economic hardship for Cuba.
Climate:
tropical; moderated by trade winds; dry season (November to
April); rainy season (May to October)
Terrain: mostly flat to rolling plains with rugged hills and mountains in the southeast
Land use: arable land: 23%; permanent crops: 6%; meadows and pastures 23%; forest and woodland 17%; other 31%; includes irrigated 10%
top of pagePopulation: 10,846,821 (July 1992), growth rate 1.0% (1992)
Religions: 85% nominally Roman Catholic before Castro assumed power
Literacy: 94% (male 95%, female 93%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
top of pageAdministrative divisions:
14 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 special municipality* (municipio especial); Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Ciudad de La Habana, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Isla de la Juventud*, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Sancti
Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara
Independence: 20 May 1902 (from Spain 10 December 1898; administered by the US from 1898 to 1902
Legal system:
based on Spanish and American law, with large elements of
Communist legal theory; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Executive branch:
president of the Council of State, first vice president of the Council of State, Council of State, president of the
Council of Ministers, first vice president of the Council of Ministers,
Council of Ministers
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly of the People's Power (Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular)
International organization participation:
CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBEC, ICAO, IFAD, ILO,
IMO, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAES, LORCS, NAM, OAS (excluded from formal participation since 1962), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation:none; protecting power in the US is
Switzerland - Cuban Interests Section; position vacant since March 1992; 2,630 and 2,639 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,009; telephone (202) 797-8,518 or 8,519, 8,520, 8,609, 8,610
US:protecting power in Cuba is Switzerland - US Interests Section, Swiss
Embassy; Principal Officer Alan H. FLANIGAN; Calzada entre L Y M, Vedado
Seccion, Havana (mailing address is USINT, Swiss Embassy, Havana, Calzada
Entre L Y M, Vedado); telephone 32-0051, 32-0543
Flag description: five equal horizontal bands of blue (top and bottom) alternating with white; a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white five-pointed star in the center
top of pageEconomy overview:
The economy, centrally planned and largely state owned, is highly dependent on the agricultural sector and foreign trade. Sugar provided about two-thirds of export revenues in 1991, and over half was exported to the former Soviet republics. The economy has stagnated since 1985 under policies that have deemphasized material incentives in the workplace, abolished farmers' informal produce markets, and raised prices of government-supplied goods and services. In 1990 the economy probably fell 5% largely as a result of declining trade with the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe. Recently the government has been trying to increase trade with Latin America and China. Cuba has had difficulty servicing its foreign debt since 1982. The government currently is encouraging foreign investment in tourist facilities and in industrial plants idled by falling imports from the former Soviet Union. Other investment priorities include sugar, basic foods, and nickel. The annual Soviet subsidy dropped from $4 billion in 1990 to about $1 billion in 1991 because of a lower price paid for Cuban sugar and a sharp decline in Soviet exports to Cuba. The former Soviet republics have indicated they will no longer extend aid to Cuba beginning in 1992.
Instead of highly subsidized trade, Cuba has been shifting to trade at market prices in convertible currencies. Because of increasingly severe shortages of fuels, industrial raw materials, and spare parts, aggregate output dropped by one-fifth in 1991.
GNP: $17 billion, per capita $1,580; real growth rate -20% (1991 est.)
Agriculture products: accounts for 11% of GNP (including fishing and forestry; key commercial crops - sugarcane, tobacco, and citrus fruits; other products - coffee, rice, potatoes, meat, beans; world's largest sugar exporter; not self-sufficient in food (excluding sugar)
Industries: sugar milling, petroleum refining, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, paper and wood products, metals (particularly nickel), cement, fertilizers, consumer goods, agricultural machinery
Labor force: 3,578,800 in state sector; services and government 30%, industry 22%, agriculture 20%, commerce 11%, construction 10%, transportation and communications 7% (June 1990); economically active population 4,620,800 (1988)
Organized labor: Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC), only labor federation approved by government; 2,910,000 members; the CTC is an umbrella organization composed of 17 member unions
Budget: revenues $12.46 billion; expenditures $14.45 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990 est.)
Exports: $3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: sugar, nickel, medical products, shellfish, citrus, tobacco, coffee
Partners: former USSR 63%, China 6%, Canada 4%, Japan 4% (1991 est.)
Imports: $3.7 billion (c.i.f., 1991 est.)
Commodoties: petroleum, capital goods, industrial raw materials, food
Partners:former USSR 47%, Spain 8%, China 6%, Argentina 5%, Italy 4%,
Mexico 3% (1991 est.)
Exchange rates: Cuban pesos (Cu$) per US$1 - 1.0000 (linked to the US dollar)
top of pageCuba - Communication 1992
top of pagetop of pageCuba - Transportation 1992
top of pageAirports:
189 total, 167 usable; 73 with permanent-surface runways; 3
with runways over 3,659 m; 12
with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 18
with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Merchant marine:
77 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 537,464
GRT/755,824 DWT; includes 46 cargo, 10 refrigerated cargo, 1 cargo/training, 11 petroleum tanker, 1 chemical tanker, 4 liquefied gas, 4 bulk; note - Cuba beneficially owns an additional 45 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 574,047 DWT under the registry of Panama, Cyprus, and Malta
Civil air: 88 major transport aircraft
Cuba - Transnational issues 1992
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