Cuba Island

By Journey Guide

Bathed in the Caribbean Sea, Cuba is the largest Caribbean islands. It also offers small islands with paradisiacal landscapes. Cuba is a destination for all age groups and where the welcome is very warm.

There are a thousand things to do, visiting the cities that bear the marks of the colonial era of the Revolution or to relax on sandy beaches. Athletes will also be met. You can go diving to discover the beauty of the seabed of the Caribbean Sea, or hiking, between mountains and forest.

Cuba is also a city of clichés. Cigars, music, American cars, beaches, Castro and the embargo is what could characterize Cuba. But the island is full of fantastic sites not always known to tourists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447834922

Book preview

Cuba Island

About

History

Geography

Climate

Event Schedule

Lodging

Eating

Night Life

Sports

Diving

Art

Beaches

Population

Cities

Local Products

Museums

Museums of Havana

Other museums in Cuba  

Transportation

Top 10 best things to do

Talk

Travel checklist

Before travel

Maps

About

Bathed in the Caribbean Sea, Cuba is the largest Caribbean islands. Any length, it also offers small islands paradisiacal landscapes. Cuba is a destination all age groups and where the welcome is very warm. 

There are a thousand things to do, visiting the cities that bear the marks of the colonial era of the Revolution or to relax on sandy beaches. Athletes will also be met. You can go diving to discover the beauty of the seabed of the Caribbean Sea, or hiking, between mountains and forest. 

Cuba is also a city of clichés. Cigars, music, American cars, beaches, Castro and the embargo is what could characterize Cuba. But the island is full of fantastic sites not always known to tourists. 

Do not miss the Old City of Havana and Trinidad , World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, which reflect the colonial history of Cuba.

The old buildings were renovated sixteenth, city centers are being restored gradually, many museums open their doors. Cuba claims to be proud as a country of culture and history.

Biodiversity is valued: orchids, ferns and other native plants. You will not be safe from falling on iguanas and other wild crocodiles. 

Natural wonders such as the Valle de Vinales or region of Pinar del Rio certainly surprise you.

Cuba is also the clash of generations. Between a population that has seen the revolution, and the lack of repression and a youth who thinks only exile to seek a better future.

Cuba is also its contradictions, a socialist country where the dollar is leading the economy. A country that looks to the future, but who grows the worship of the ancient heroes of the revolution.

Only issue: tourism. Resorts paradise appear a little more each year. 

Although poverty is pervasive, the quality of Cuban home is exemplary. 

We are not starting from Cuba without a tug at my heart. This enchanting island marks the spirits with good local atmosphere and pride of the people who come a long way.

History

Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus October 28, 1492, during his first voyage to what he thought was the empire of the Great Khan. The island was then inhabited by about 100,000 Amerindians: Guanajuatabeyes, Ciboney, Taino, Arawak, as well as tribal cannibals, the Caribs. The island was named after its native name, Cubanascan. Juan de la Cosa was the mapping and Sebastián de Ocampo was the first European to make the tour complete in 1508. 

Colonization of Cuba began in 1511, led by Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, appointed governor of the island and founder of Baracoa in Santiago de Cuba (1514) and Havana (1519). In less than five years, the indigenous people of peaceful temperament, systematically slaughtered, was reduced to a few hundred individuals. In addition, supply base for Spanish expeditions to Mexico and Panama , Cuba had the gold reserves were soon exhausted. Local government was therefore in charge of promoting new economic activities: tobacco, dye plants, and sugarcane experienced a boom, helped by the importation of African slaves. Sort of outer harbor America on the road to Europe, the island became commercially active.

From the early nineteenth century, disputes between the Spaniards and Creoles escalated. Local authorities were faced with aspirations to independence of all peoples of Spanish America. In Cuba, the movement experienced a boom thanks to the work of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes. Rich owner of a sugar estate, a Freemason, he freed his slaves and called his countrymen to revolt, forming groups and triggering manzanilleros Ten Years War (1868-1878). 

After the war lost by the insurgents, Zanjón pact (February 10, 1878) gave significant concessions to the Cubans. The island was endowed with a certain autonomy, slavery was abolished in 1880 and equal rights between whites and blacks, proclaimed in 1893. The consequences of the pact reached the political arena, with the formation of the first political parties and the economic sector, as U.S. companies increased their investment in the region.

Independence

The reforms introduced were finally not implemented, and the Cubans rose up again in February 1895, under the command of José Martí and General Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo. Martí and Maceo were at the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, founded in 1891, during a period when political movements were increasing: Constitutional Union Party (1878), Reform (1893), Party autonomy and the Liberal Party (1878). The United States , which already controlled the market for Cuban sugar, intervened on the side of insurgents in April 1898, precipitating the Spanish-American War, caused by the loss of Maine, an American warship that Spain was accused of be torpedoed. The Treaty of Paris of 10 December 1898 ended the conflict, Spain relinquished sovereignty over the island and a military government was set up by the Americans. 

The Republic of Cuba was formally established May 20, 1902, and its integration constitution the Platt Amendment, authorizing U.S. intervention in the affairs of the country and the installation of two naval bases in Cuba in exchange for customs privileges. 

On March 10, 1952, former President Batista seized power with the support of the army. Supported initially by the unions and the Communists, his regime was to be one of the arbitrariness and corruption. The stranglehold of foreign capital on the country's economy grew again, in the 1950s, the Americans controlled 90% of nickel mines and farms, 80% utilities, 50% of the railways, and with the United Kingdom, the entire oil industry. 

Non-institutionalized opposition grew when some intellectuals around. In 1953, Batista crushed an attempted uprising led by Fidel Castro , a young lawyer who was thrown in jail. Re-elected without opposition the following year, the dictator granted a pardon to political prisoners, Castro then chooses to go into exile in Mexico.

The Cuban Revolution

On December 2, 1956, Fidel Castro landed at the foot of the Sierra Maestra with 80 insurgents. Defeated by the army, the rebels could however join the maquis, among them Che Guevara , a young doctor and revolutionary Argentine , comrade of Castro. For two years, the so-called barbudos would lead a guerrilla army against the insidious, gradually ensuring the support of a majority of the population. Hesitant to follow the policy, the United States suspended shipments of arms to Batista in March 1958. The success of the offensive against insurgents, led the dictator to leave the country on 1 January 1959. 

A provisional government was appointed, headed by Fidel Castro, a man wanted over the parties. Soon, land reform, confiscating land to the Americans, was launched, sugar refineries and oil were nationalized. The policy of public works implementation effect was to reduce unemployment, programs to improve education and public health would soon bear fruit. 

In October 1960, Washington imposed an embargo on the island business. Complete rupture of diplomatic relations came in January 1961 and April 17, an exiled anti-Castro commando supported and trained by the United States landed in the Bay of Pigs, south of the island. The failure of this attempted invasion accelerated the socialist orientation of the regime. 

On October 14, 1962 Missile Crisis broke out: the United States discovered in Cuba launching pads for missiles supplied by the Soviet Union. U.S. President John F. Kennedy then announced a naval blockade of the island. After several days of negotiations, during which a nuclear war seemed imminent, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw its missiles. In 1965, Cuban and U.S. governments signed an agreement allowing Cubans to emigrate to the United States. More than 260,000 people left the island before the official end of the airlift in 1973. 

In November 1993 the UN General Assembly, supported by all Latin American countries, passed a resolution demanding an end to U.S. embargo and a bill was filed to this effect to U.S. Congress United, without success. 

The general discontent and rising poverty led the government to initiate economic reforms: in July 1993, possession of dollars, once considered a crime punishable by imprisonment, and was legalized in October 1994, free markets farmers were again allowed. 

To stem the exodus of rafters (500 in 1990 over 3000 in 1993, 30,000 in 1994), two agreements were signed with the United States in September 1994 and May 1995. But the ratification of the Helms-Burton in March 1996, strengthens the U.S. position against the Cuban government. 

In the economic sphere, Cuba opened up to foreign investment and tourism. The condemnation by Pope of the U.S. embargo forced the U.S. to soften its tough policy toward Havana. But the United States Take retaliate against any foreign company trading with Cuba or invest in the island. In July 1998, however, after lengthy negotiations, the U.S. President agrees to suspend for a specified period and in January 1999, he announced the easing of the embargo, without giving up its strategy of isolation. At the same time, Cuba normalizes relations with Spain, Canada, Guatemala and with the Dominican Republic . During the 2000s, Latin America operates a radical left. Cuba then strengthens its alliances with countries that oppose now increasingly the policy of U.S. intervention in the Americas. Thus Castro is forging close ties with Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela , Nestor Kirchner in Argentina and most recently, Evo Morales, the new president of Bolivia .

Geography

Cuba is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, situated south of the United States and eastern Mexico , 77 miles east of Haiti and 140 km north of Jamaica. Cuba is surrounded on the north by the Straits of Florida to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the Windward Passage, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, west by the Straits of Yucatan. 

Several smaller islands surrounding the main island of Cuba, the country has a total area of ​​110,860 km2. Its capital is Havana .

Geography of Cuba

Very long (1200 km long) and not more than 191 km wide, the island of Cuba is generally flat, except for some regions of low mountains, hills Guaniguanico (699 m), west of Havana , the Escambray massif (1140 m) and the Sierra de Trinidad , in the center, the Sierra de Los Organos, in the western part, especially the Sierra Maestra in the southeast, culminating in the peak Turquino (1972 m) overlooking the pit Bartlett (about 7000 m depth). 

The island has over 200 rivers, rarely exceeding 40 km long, is not really important and their level varies greatly depending on rainfall. Only the Río Cauto (240 km), which flows southeast into the Gulf of Guacanayabo is partly navigable. 

The countless islands and islets (cays) around Cuba are an area of approximately 3500 km2 and is divided into five major groups - from west to east: los Colorados, Sabana Camagüey , Gardens of the Queen, los Canarreos - which should be added to the Isle of Youth (formerly Isle of Pines), the largest with an area of 2200 km2. 

Identity card

Official name: Republic of Cuba

Area: 110,861 sq km

Population: 11,423,952 inhabitants

Official language: Spanish

Capital: Havana

Main cities: Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Cienfuegos

Currency: Cuban Peso

President: Raúl Castro Ruz

National Day: 1st January 1959

GDP: U.S. $ 40.1 billion - GDP per capita: U.S. $ 3500

Government and Politics in Cuba

Cuba is governed by the Constitution of 1976, as subsequently amended, which defines the country as a socialist state of workers and peasants, in which powers belong to the proletariat. The Cuban Communist Party (CCP) is the only legal party. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of People's Power (589 members elected for five years by universal suffrage), which holds two annual meetings and elect the State Council. The latter is formed by a president, six vice presidents and a secretary. The Assembly also appoints a Council of Ministers, the main governing body. 

Fidel Castro , the lider maximo, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Chairman of the State Council and the Council of Ministers, commander of the armed forces, appointed as successor to his brother, Raúl Castro, second secretary of the Party and First Vice President of the Councils. 

Spanish is the official language of Cuba, but as in all Latin American countries, it has the vocabulary of African or Indian.

Economy of Cuba

The revolutionary government in power since 1959 has nationalized 90% of the industrial sector and 70% of agricultural land. The collapse of the Soviet bloc, depriving Cuba of its main supporters and business partners, and the maintenance of the embargo imposed by the United States in 1960, weigh heavily on the national economy. The country's economic openness increases, however, since 1993, when Fidel Castro signed a decree allowing some private investment and the establishment of free zones. On the other hand, the authorities seek to develop international tourism, building on the many opportunities offered by the island in this area. 

The primary sector occupies 23% of the workforce. 

Cuba is the sixth largest producer of sugar and sugar cane occupies a third of the cultivated area of the country. Then come the rice, sweet potatoes and tobacco, grown mainly in western and central-west, whose harvest (50,000 tons per year) is largely in the manufacture of cigars