Background: 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.

Area
Total: 110,860 km²
Land: 110,860 km²

Land boundaries: total 29 km, US Naval Base at Guantanamo 29 km

Coastline: 3,735 km
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate:

Terrain: mostly flat to rolling plains with rugged hills and mountains in the southeast

Natural resources: cobalt, nickel, iron ore, copper, manganese, salt, timber, silica, petroleum

Land use
Arable land: 23%
Permanent crops: 6%
Meadows and pastures: 23%
Forest and woodland: 17%
Other: 31%

Irrigated land: 8,960 km² (1989)

Population: 10,957,088 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 1% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Cuban(s)
Adjective: Cuban

Ethnic groups: mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1%

Languages: Spanish

Religions: nominally Roman Catholic 85% prior to Castro assuming power

Population growth rate: 1% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 17.08 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 6.5 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Environment
Current issues: averages one hurricane every other year
Current issues note: largest country in Caribbean

Infant mortality rate: 10.5 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 76.72 years
Male: 74.59 years
Female: 78.99 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.83 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
Total population: 94%
Male: 95%
Female: 93%

Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Cuba
Conventional short form: Cuba
Local long form: Republica de Cuba
Local short form: Cuba

Government type: Communist state

Capital: Havana

Administrative divisions:

Independence: 20 May 1902 (from Spain 10 December 1898; administered by the US from 1898 to 1902)

National holiday: Rebellion Day, 26 July (1953)

Constitution: 24 February 1976

Legal system:

Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal

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, Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly of the People's Power (Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular)

Judicial branch: People's Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo Popular)

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Principal Officer Alan H. FLANIGAN
In the us chancery:
In the us telephone: 32-0051, 32-0543
In the us US Interests Section:
In the us mailing address: USINT, Swiss Embassy, Calzada Entre L Y M, Vedado, Havava
In the us fax:

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

Economy overview: Since Castro's takeover of Cuba in 1959, the economy has been run in the Soviet style of government ownership of substantially all the means of production and government planning of all but the smallest details of economic activity. Thus, Cuba, like the former Warsaw Pact nations, has remained in the backwater of economic modernization. The economy contracted by about one-third between 1989 and 1992 as it absorbed the loss of $4 billion of annual economic aid from the former Soviet Union and much smaller amounts from Eastern Europe. The government implemented numerous energy conservation measures and import substitution schemes to cope with a large decline in imports. To reduce fuel consumption, Havana has cut back bus service and imported approximately 1 million bicycles from China, domesticated nearly 200,000 oxen to replace tractors, and halted a large amount of industrial production. The government has prioritized domestic food production and promoted herbal medicines since 1990 to compensate for lower imports. Havana also has been shifting its trade away from the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe toward the industrialized countries of Latin America and the OECD.

Real gdp growth rate: -15% (1992 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $1,370 (1992 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; sector hurt by growing shortages of fuels and parts

Industries: sugar milling and refining, petroleum refining, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, paper and wood products, metals (particularly nickel), cement, fertilizers, consumer goods, agricultural machinery

Industrial production growth rate: NA

Labor force: 4,620,800 economically active population (1988); 3,578,800 in state sector
By occupation services and government: 30%
By occupation industry: 22%
By occupation agriculture: 20%
By occupation commerce: 11%
By occupation construction: 10%
By occupation transportationandcommunications: 7% (June1990)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $12.46 billion; expenditures $14.45 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
Commodoties: sugar, nickel, shellfish, tobacco, medical products, citrus, coffee
Partners: Russia 30%, Canada 10%, China 9%, Japan 6%, Spain 4% (1992 est.)

Imports
Commodoties: petroleum, food, machinery, chemicals
Partners:

Exchange rates: Cuban pesos (Cu$) per US$1 - 1.0000 (linked to the US dollar)

Electricity
Production: 3,889,000 kW capacity; 16,248 million kWh produced, 1,500 kWh per capita (1992)

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:
Percent of gdp note: the breakup of the Soviet Union, the key military supporter and supplier of Cuba, has resulted in substantially less outside help for Cuba's defense forces

Airports: 186
Usable: 166
With runways over 3659 m: 3
With runways 2440-3659 m: 12
With runways 1220-2439 m: 19

Waterways: 240 km

Merchant marine:

Disputes international: US Naval Base at Guantanamo is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease