Cuba

"Republic of Cuba" redirects here. For the historical period of the first republic, see Republic of Cuba (1902–1959). For other uses, see Cuba (disambiguation).

Republic of Cuba
República de Cuba (Spanish)
Motto: Patria o Muerte, Venceremos
("Homeland or Death, We Shall Overcome!")[1]
Anthem: La Bayamesa
("The Bayamo Song")[2]
Cuba, shown in dark green
Cuba, shown in dark green
Capital
and largest city
Havana
23°8′N 82°23′W / 23.133°N 82.383°W / 23.133; -82.383
Official languagesSpanish
Other spoken languagesHaitian Creole
English
Lucumí
Galician
Corsican
Ethnic groups
(2012)[a][3]
Religion
(2020)[4]
Demonym(s)Cuban
GovernmentUnitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic[5][6]
Miguel Díaz-Canel
Salvador Valdés Mesa
Manuel Marrero Cruz
Esteban Lazo Hernández
LegislatureNational Assembly of People's Power
Independence 
from Spain and the United States
10 October 1868
24 February 1895
• Recognized (Handed over to the United States from Spain)
10 December 1898
• Republic declared (Independence from United States)
20 May 1902
26 July 1953 – 1 January 1959
10 April 2019
Area
• Total
110,860[7] km2 (42,800 sq mi) (104th)
• Water (%)
0.94
Population
• 2023 estimate
Neutral decrease 10,055,968[8][9]
• 2022 census
Neutral decrease 11,089,511[10] (85th)
• Density
90.7/km2 (234.9/sq mi) (80th)
GDP (PPP)2015 estimate
• Total
$254.865 billion[11]
• Per capita
$22,237[11][12]
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
Increase $147.194 billion[13] (60th)
• Per capita
Increase $13,128[13] (64th)
Gini (2000)38.0[14]
medium inequality
HDI (2022)Increase 0.764[15]
high (85th)
CurrencyCuban peso (CUP)
Time zoneUTC−5 (CST)
• Summer (DST)
UTC−4 (CDT)
Calling code+53
ISO 3166 codeCU
Internet TLD.cu

Cuba,[c] officially the Republic of Cuba,[d] is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.

The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization in the 15th century.[16] It was then a colony of Spain, through the abolition of slavery in 1886, until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in the 1952 Cuban coup d'état and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.[17] The Batista government was overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution. That revolution established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[18][19] The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro retired after 49 years; Raúl Castro was elected his successor. Raúl Castro retired as president in 2018 and Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Raúl Castro retired as First Secretary of the Communist Party in 2021 and Díaz-Canel was elected.

Cuba is a socialist state, in which the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian government where political opposition is not permitted.[20][21] Censorship is extensive and independent journalism is repressed;[22][23][24] Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries for press freedom.[25][24] Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.[26] It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the Taíno Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of enslaved Africans and a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has one of the world's few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by tourism and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—before and during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy,[27][28] infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens,[29][30] although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[31][32] A 2023 study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), estimated 88% of the population is living in extreme poverty.[33] The traditional diet is of international concern due to micronutrient deficiencies and lack of diversity. As highlighted by the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations, rationed food meets only a fraction of daily nutritional needs for many Cubans, leading to health issues.[34]

  1. ^ "Cuban Peso Bills". Central Bank of Cuba. 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  2. ^ "National symbols". Government of Cuba. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  3. ^ "Central America :: Cuba — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Cuba - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. 6 October 2021. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Constitution of Cuba" (PDF). constituteproject.org. National Assembly of People's Power. 10 April 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  6. ^ "New Cuban leadership reflects a rebranding of Castro dictatorship". Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Cuba". Central Intelligence Agency. 20 February 2023. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  8. ^ Torres, Nora Gámez (24 July 2024). "Cuba admits to massive emigration wave: a million people left in two years amid crisis". Miami Herald. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Cuba". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Indicadores Demográficos por provincias y municipios 2022" (in Spanish). Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Information República de Cuba. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  11. ^ a b "World Bank GDP PPP 2015, 28 April 2017 PDF". Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  12. ^ "World Bank total population of Cuba in 2015 (GDP PPP divided by Population data)". Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Basic Data Selection". United Nations. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Cuba grapples with growing inequality". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  16. ^ Allaire 2000, p. 678
  17. ^ "Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at Democratic Dinner, Cincinnati, Ohio". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. 6 October 1960. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Fidel Castro". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017. Castro created a one-party government to exercise dictatorial control over all aspects of Cuba's political, economic, and cultural life. All political dissent and opposition were ruthlessly suppressed
  19. ^ Sand, Sonila (26 November 2016). "Cuba's hero and dictator, dead at 90". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022.
  20. ^ Levitsky, Steven; Way, Lucan A. (16 August 2010). Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 361–363. ISBN 978-1-139-49148-8. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  21. ^ Lachapelle, Jean; Levitsky, Steven; Way, Lucan A.; Casey, Adam E. (2020). "Social Revolution and Authoritarian Durability". World Politics. 72 (4): 557–600. doi:10.1017/S0043887120000106. ISSN 0043-8871. S2CID 225096277. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  22. ^ Stein, Elizabeth Ann (2016). "Information and Civil Unrest in Dictatorships". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.35. ISBN 978-0-19-022863-7. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Six facts about censorship in Cuba". www.amnesty.org. 11 March 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  24. ^ a b "Press Freedom Index 2015" Archived 27 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved 12 November 2015
  25. ^ "Press Freedom Index 2008" (PDF). Reporters Without Borders. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2009.
  26. ^ Rangel, Carlos (1977). The Latin Americans: Their Love-Hate Relationship with the United States. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-15-148795-0. Skidmore, Thomas E.; Smith, Peter H. (2005). Modern Latin America (6 ed.). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-0-19-517013-9.
  27. ^ "Pre-Castro Cuba | American Experience". PBS. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  28. ^ Greenberg, Jon (24 February 2020). "Fact-checking Bernie Sanders' claim on Cuba literacy under Castro". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  29. ^ Geloso, Vincent; Pavlik, Jamie Bologna (1 April 2021). "The Cuban revolution and infant mortality: A synthetic control approach". Explorations in Economic History. 80: 101376. doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2020.101376. ISSN 0014-4983. S2CID 229073336. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  30. ^ Kessler, Glenn (1 December 2016). "Justin Trudeau's claim that Castro made 'significant improvements' to Cuban health care and education". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ "The State of Social Rights in Cuba: VI Report 2023" (PDF). Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (OCDH). 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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