Cuba (nation Report) Essay, Research Paper
INTRODUCTION
Cuba, largest island of the West Indies, south of Florida of the United States and east of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It forms, with various adjacent islands, the republic of Cuba. Cuba commands the two entrances to the Gulf of Mexico — the Straits of Florida and the Yucatan Channel. On the east, 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 United States maintains a naval base at Guantanamo Bay in the southeast. Havana is Cuba’s capital and largest city.
The island extends about 1225 km (about 760 mi) from Cabo de San Antonio to Cabo Maisi, the western and eastern extremities, respectively. The average width is about 80 km (about 50 mi), with extremes ranging from 35 to 251 km (22 to 160 mi). The total area is 114,524 sq km (44,218 mi) including the area of the Isla de la Juventud, or Isle of Youth (formerly called Isle of Pines) and of other islands of the republic.
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 stem from a central mass. The principal ranges are the Sierra de los Organos, in the west; the Sierra de Trinidad, in the central part of the island; and the Sierra Maestra, in the southeast. 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 in Cuba. 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 southeast. 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, Cardenas, Bahia Honda, Matanzas, and Neuvitas, on the northern coast, and Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad, on the southern 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 percent, respectively, during the summer season, are tempered by the prevailing northeastern trade winds. The annual rainfall averages about 1320 mm (about 52 in). More than 60 percent of the rain falls during the wet season, which extends from May to October. The island lies in a region 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 government.
Plants and Animals
Cuba has a wide variety of tropical vegetation. Extensive tracts in the eastern 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 can 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, a type of flea, and the anopheles mosquito, bearer of the malaria parasite.
POPULATION
The Cuban population is made up mainly of three groups. Approximately 66 percent of the population is white and mainly of Spanish descent; 22 percent is of mixed racial heritage and 12 percent is black. Almost all of the people are native-born. More than 75 percent of the population is classified as urban. The revolutionary government, installed in 1959, has generally destroyed the rigid social stratification inherited from Spanish colonial rule.
Population Characteristics, Religion, and Language
The population of Cuba at the 1981 census was 9,723,605; the estimated population in 1995 is 11,091,000, giving the country a population density of about 97 persons per sq km (about 251 per sq mi). Professed Roman Catholics have declined from more than 70 percent to about 33 percent of the population since 1957. Among Protestants, about 1 percent of Cubans, Pentecostalism is the predominant tradition. About 50 percent of Cubans consider themselves nonreligious. Spanish is the official language of Cuba.
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 (population, 1990 estimate 2,119,059). Marianao (1981 greater city population, 127,563) is a suburb of Havana and a beach resort. Other important cities and towns and their populations include Santiago de Cuba (418,721), a major seaport and industrial center; Camaguey (286,404), an inland transportation junction and commercial center; Holguin (232,770), located in a rich agricultural region; Guantanamo (203,371), a center for the processing of agricultural products; Santa Clara (197,189); Cienfuegos (125,000); and Mantanzas (115,466).
Education
School attendance is compulsory and free for children in Cuba between the ages of 6 and 12. During the late 1960s about 10,000 new classrooms were provided in rural areas, traveling libraries were introduced, and all parochial schools were nationalized. In the early 1990s some 917,889 pupils attended primary schools, about 597,997 students were enrolled in secondary schools, and about 314,168 students attended technical schools, teachers colleges, and other schools. The country’s higher educational institutions enrolled about 242,434 students; the largest university was the University of Havana (1728). The nation’s adult literacy rate exceeds 95 percent.
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.
Noted Cuban writers include the 19th-century poets Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda y Arteaga and Julian del Casal and the contemporary novelists Alejo Carpentier and Jose Lezama Lima.
The National Library 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 in Havana houses collections of both classical and modern art and relics of native cultures. Other important museums are the Colonial and Anthropological museums in Havana, the Emilio Bacardi Moreau Museum of natural history and art in Santiago, and the Oscar M. de Rojas Museum in Cardenas. All 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 percent of the production industries and some 70 percent of the farmland of Cuba. Formerly about 16 percent of the land was individually owned, while the remainder was held in large estates or by large sugar companies.
Credits and subsidies from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to Cuba totaled some $38 billion between 1961 and 1984 and up to $5 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 as the 1990s began. In 1993 President Fidel Castro signed a decree allowing some free enterprise in more than 100 trades and services.
Agriculture
Cuba normally ranks among the world leaders in sugar production, and sugarcane is its largest crop by volume and value. In the early 1990s the annual sugarcane harvest was about 58 million metric tons, and raw sugar output was about 8 million metric tons. A reemphasis on sugar production in the late 1960s represented a shift from an earlier policy of rapid industrialization designed to diversify the economy.
A second crop of commercial importance is tobacco, grown especially in Pinar del Rio Province. Production amounted to about 40,000 metric tons annually in the early 1990s; a substantial portion of the crop is manufactured into Havana cigars, an internationally popular product. Among other important agricultural products are coffee, citrus fruit, pineapples, rice, cacao beans, bananas, corn, plantains, cotton, potatoes, tomatoes, and pimentos. Cattle, which numbered about 5 million head in the early 1990s, are valuable livestock, and hogs, horses, poultry, sheep, and goats are also raised in significant numbers.
Mining and Manufacturing
Minerals were among the most valuable exports of Cuba before the revolution of 1959. Mineral production, however, has since declined somewhat. The principal minerals recovered include nickel and copper ores, chromium, salt, cobalt, stone, crude petroleum, natural gas, and manganese.
In the early 1970s, Cuba undertook a program of automation in its important sugar industry. The dairy and cattle industries were also streamlined. Other major manufactures include cement, steel, refined petroleum, rubber and tobacco products, processed food, textiles, clothing, footwear, chemicals, and fertilizer.
Currency and Foreign Trade
The monetary unit of Cuba is the peso (.76 pesos equal U.S.$1; 1994), issued by the National Bank and composed of 100 centavos. All Cuban banks were nationalized in 1960.
Sugar and sugar products make up about 75 percent of annual Cuban exports. Tobacco, nickel and copper ores, foodstuffs, and petroleum products are other important export commodities. Major imports include foodstuffs, fuel, raw industrial materials, motor vehicles, machinery, and consumer goods. Before 1959 most Cuban trade was with the United States. In 1960 the United States declared a complete embargo on trade between the two countries. In the early 1990s Cuba’s chief trade partners were Argentina, Bulgaria, China, and the countries of the former USSR. Cuba’s total imports each year cost approximately $1.7 billion, and its exports earned approximately $1.5 billion. In 1995 Cuba joined in forming the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), a free-trade organization. The ACS comprises the members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) as well as 12 other Central American, South American, and Caribbean nations.
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. The Communist party is Cuba’s only legal political party.
Central Government
The central legislature of Cuba is the National Assembly of People’s Power, whose 510 members are elected to five-year terms by direct universal voting. 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 the country’s head of state; 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. The council is headed by the president.
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. The municipal assemblies choose executive committees, the members of which make up five regional assemblies for each province. These regional bodies also have executive committees, which together form the membership of the provincial assembly (in turn, headed by an executive committee). At each level the executive committee oversees the day-to-day administrative functions of its assembly.
Judiciary
Judicial power is exercised by the People’s Supreme Court on the national level, by courts of justice in cases that are provincial or regional in nature, and by the municipal courts. Revolutionary tribunals are convened to deal with crimes against the state.
Defense
The Cuban army is made up of about 145,000 soldiers, and has been largely equipped by the former USSR. The navy, which has a membership of about 13,500 sailors, operates missile boats and various smaller craft. The 15,000-member air force is equipped with Soviet-built aircraft, comprising interceptor, ground-attack, and other first-line craft. Cuba also possesses Soviet-made surface-to-air and antishipping missiles. Cuba maintains an armed civilian militia that includes some 1.3 million men and women. Cuban forces served in several African countries during the 1970s and 1980s.
HISTORY
Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Cuba on October 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, Cubanascnan.
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 Velazquez established the town of Baracoa. Velazquez subsequently founded several other settlements, including Santiago de Cuba in 1514 and Havana in 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 of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, 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 1830s, 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 Tacon. Revolts and conspiracies against the Spanish regime dominated Cuban political life throughout the remainder of the century. In 1844 an uprising of black slaves was brutally suppressed. A movement during the years 1848 to 1851 for annexation of the island to the United States ended with the capture and execution of its leader, the Spanish-American general Narciso Lopez. 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 Cespedes 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 February 23, 1895, mounting discontent culminated in a resumption of the Cuban revolution, under the leadership of the writer and patriot Jose Marti and General Maximo Gomez y Baez. 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 of February 15, 1898, for which Spain was blamed. By the terms of the treaty signed December 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 Tomas 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.