The native Amerindian population of Cuba began to decline after the European discovery of the island by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1492 and following its development as a Spanish colony during the next several centuries. Large numbers of African slaves were imported to work the coffee and sugar plantations, and Havana became the launching point for the annual treasure fleets bound for Spain from Mexico and Peru. Spanish rule eventually provoked an independence movement and occasional rebellions that were harshly suppressed. US intervention during the Spanish-American War in 1898 assisted the Cubans in overthrowing Spanish rule. The Treaty of Paris established Cuban independence from Spain in 1898 and, following three-and-a-half years of subsequent US military rule, Cuba became an independent republic in 1902 after which the island experienced a string of governments mostly dominated by the military and corrupt politicians. Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959; his authoritarian rule held the subsequent regime together for nearly five decades. He stepped down as president in February 2008 in favor of his younger brother Raul CASTRO. Cuba's communist revolution, with Soviet support, was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

The country faced a severe economic downturn in 1990 following the withdrawal of former Soviet subsidies worth $4-6 billion annually. Cuba at times portrays the US embargo, in place since 1961, as the source of its difficulties. Illicit migration to the US - using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, air flights, or via the US's southern border - is a continuing problem. In FY 2014, the US Coast Guard interdicted 2,111 Cuban nationals at sea, the highest number since FY 2008. Also in FY 2014, 24,289 Cuban migrants presented themselves at various land border ports of entry throughout the US. As a result of efforts begun in December 2014 by President OBAMA to re-establishment diplomatic relations with the Cuban government, which were severed in January 1961, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in their respective countries on 20 July 2015. Over the past decade, there has been growing communication with the Cuban Government to address national interests.

Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, 150 km south of Key West, Florida

21 30 N, 80 00 W

Central America and the Caribbean

slightly smaller than Pennsylvania

3,735 km

tropical; moderated by trade winds; dry season (November to April); rainy season (May to October)

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

highest point: Pico Turquino 1,974 m

cobalt, nickel, iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, silica, petroleum, arable land

arable land 33.8%; permanent crops 3.6%; permanent pasture 22.9%

8,700 sq km (2012)

large population clusters found throughout the country, the more significant ones being in the larger towns and cities, particularly the capital of Havana

the east coast is subject to hurricanes from August to November (in general, the country averages about one hurricane every other year); droughts are common

air and water pollution; biodiversity loss; deforestation

largest country in Caribbean and westernmost island of the Greater Antilles

11,179,995 (July 2016 est.)

white 64.1%, mestizo 26.6%, black 9.3% (2012 est.)

Spanish (official)

nominally Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Santeria

-0.3% (2016 est.)

10.8 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

8.6 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

-5.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

large population clusters found throughout the country, the more significant ones being in the larger towns and cities, particularly the capital of Havana

HAVANA (capital) 2.137 million (2015)

39 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

1.71 children born/woman (2016 est.)

74.3% (2010/11)

11.1% of GDP (2014)

6.72 physicians/1,000 population (2010)

5.3 beds/1,000 population (2012)

urban: 96.4% of population

rural: 89.8% of population

total: 94.9% of population

urban: 3.6% of population

rural: 10.2% of population

total: 5.1% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 94.4% of population

rural: 89.1% of population

total: 93.2% of population

urban: 5.6% of population

rural: 10.9% of population

total: 6.8% of population (2015 est.)

0.31% (2015 est.)

21,900 (2015 est.)

200 (2015 est.)

27.2% (2014)

12.8% of GDP (2010)

illicit emigration is a continuing problem; Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas; Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and overland via the southwest border; the number of Cubans migrating to the US has surged since the beginning of improved US-Cuban relations in late December 2014

communist state

15 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 special municipality* (municipio especial); Artemisa, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Isla de la Juventud*, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Mayabeque, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara

20 May 1902 (from Spain 10 December 1898; administered by the US from 1898 to 1902); not acknowledged by the Cuban Government as a day of independence

Triumph of the Revolution (Liberation Day), 1 January (1959)

several previous; latest adopted by referendum 15 February 1976, effective 24 February 1976; amended 1978, 1992, 2002 (2016)

civil law system based on Spanish civil code

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

16 years of age; universal

Cuban Communist Party or PCC [Raul CASTRO Ruz, first secretary]

Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation

Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White)

National Association of Small Farmers

Patriotic Union of Cuba

ACP, ALBA, AOSIS, CELAC, FAO, G-77, IAEA, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM, OAS (excluded from formal participation since 1962), OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, Petrocaribe, PIF (partner), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

five equal horizontal bands of blue (top, center, and bottom) alternating with white; a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white, five-pointed star in the center; the blue bands refer to the three old divisions of the island: central, occidental, and oriental; the white bands describe the purity of the independence ideal; the triangle symbolizes liberty, equality, and fraternity, while the red color stands for the blood shed in the independence struggle; the white star, called La Estrella Solitaria (the Lone Star) lights the way to freedom and was taken from the flag of Texas

royal palm; national colors: red, white, blue

The government continues to balance the need for loosening its socialist economic system against a desire for firm political control. In April 2011, the government held the first Cuban Communist Party Congress in almost 13 years, during which leaders approved a plan for wide-ranging economic changes. Since then, the government has slowly and incrementally implemented limited economic reforms, including allowing Cubans to buy electronic appliances and cell phones, stay in hotels, and buy and sell used cars. The government has cut state sector jobs as part of the reform process, and it has opened up some retail services to "self-employment," leading to the rise of so-called "cuentapropistas" or entrepreneurs. Approximately 476,000 Cuban workers are currently registered as self-employed.

The Cuban regime has updated its economic model to include permitting the private ownership and sale of real estate and new vehicles, allowing private farmers to sell agricultural goods directly to hotels, allowing the creation of non-agricultural cooperatives, adopting a new foreign investment law, and launching a “Special Development Zone” around the Mariel port.

Since late 2000, Venezuela has provided petroleum products to Cuba on preferential terms, supplying nearly 100,000 barrels per day. Cuba has been paying for the oil, in part, with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela, including some 30,000 medical professionals.

$128.5 billion (2014 est.)

$126.9 billion (2013 est.)

$123.5 billion (2012 est.)

$77.15 billion (2013 est.)

1.3% (2014 est.)

2.7% (2013 est.)

3% (2012 est.)

$10,200 (2010 est.)

$10,000 (2009 est.)

$10,000 (2008 est.)

6% of GDP (2015 est.)

12.5% of GDP (2014 est.)

13.3% of GDP (2013 est.)

sugar, tobacco, citrus, coffee, rice, potatoes, beans; livestock

petroleum, nickel, cobalt, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, construction, steel, cement, agricultural machinery, sugar

9.8% (2015 est.)

5.111 million

2.4% (2015 est.)

2.7% (2014 est.)

NA%

64.5% of GDP (2015 est.)

-5.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

34.6% of GDP (2015 est.)

32.2% of GDP (2014 est.)

calendar year

4.6% (2015 est.)

5.3% (2014 est.)

NA%

NA%

$18.91 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$16.87 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$24.63 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

$24.08 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$NA

-$145.7 million (2015 est.)

$1.996 billion (2014 est.)

$3.903 billion (2015 est.)

$5.149 billion (2014 est.)

petroleum, nickel, medical products, sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus, coffee

Canada 17.7%, Venezuela 13.8%, China 13%, Netherlands 6.4%, Spain 5.4%, Belize 4.7% (2015)

$13.48 billion (2015 est.)

$13.1 billion (2014 est.)

petroleum, food, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Venezuela 31.8%, China 17.6%, Spain 10%, Brazil 4.8% (2015)

$12.1 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$11.1 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$26 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$25.1 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$NA

$4.138 billion (2006 est.)

Cuban pesos (CUP) per US dollar -

18.43 (2015 est.)

1 (2014 est.)

22.7 (2013 est.)

1 (2012 est.)

0.9847 (2011 est.)

18 billion kWh (2014 est.)

15 billion kWh (2014 est.)

0 kWh (2013 est.)

0 kWh (2013 est.)

6.6 million kW (2014 est.)

99.3% of total installed capacity (2013 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2013 est.)

0.7% of total installed capacity (2013 est.)

0.1% of total installed capacity (2013 est.)

50,000 bbl/day (2015 est.)

74,000 bbl/day (2013 est.)

111,200 bbl/day (2013 est.)

124 million bbl (1 January 2016 es)

98,480 bbl/day (2013 est.)

178,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)

19,690 bbl/day (2013 est.)

26,560 bbl/day (2013 est.)

900 million cu m (2014 est.)

900 million cu m (2014 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

70.79 billion cu m (1 January 2016 es)

26 million Mt (2013 est.)

government owns and controls all broadcast media with private ownership of electronic media prohibited; government operates 4 national TV networks and many local TV stations; government operates 6 national radio networks, an international station, and many local radio stations; Radio-TV Marti is beamed from the US (2007)

.cu

CU (2016)

133 (2013)

gas 41 km; oil 230 km (2013)

240 km (almost all navigable inland waterways are near the mouths of rivers) (2011)

Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, FAR): Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Revolucionario, ER, includes Territorial Militia Troops (Milicia de Tropas de Territoriales, MTT)), Revolutionary Navy (Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria, MGR, includes Marine Corps), Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Forces (Defensas Anti-Aereas y Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria, DAAFAR); Youth Labor Army (Ejercito Juvenil del Trabajo, EJT) (2013)

17-28 years of age for compulsory military service; 2-year service obligation; both sexes subject to military service (2012)

the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the Cuban military of its major economic and logistic support and had a significant impact on the state of Cuban equipment; the army remains well trained and professional in nature; the lack of replacement parts for its existing equipment has increasingly affected operational capabilities (2013)

US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the facility can terminate the lease

territorial waters and air space serve as transshipment zone for US- and European-bound drugs; established the death penalty for certain drug-related crimes in 1999 (2008)