The native Amerindian population of Cuba began to decline after the arrival of 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 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 handed off the presidency in February 2008 to 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. Miguel DIAZ-CANEL Bermudez, hand-picked by Raul CASTRO to succeed him, was approved as president by the National Assembly and took office on 19 April 2018. DIAZ-CANEL was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party on 19 April 2021 following the retirement of Raul CASTRO, and continues to serve as both president and first secretary.
Cuba traditionally and consistently portrays the US embargo, in place since 1961, as the source of its difficulties. As a result of efforts begun in December 2014 to reestablish diplomatic relations with the Cuban Government, which were severed in January 1961, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in their respective countries in July 2015. The embargo remains in place, and the relationship between the US and Cuba remains tense.
Illicit migration of Cuban nationals to the US via maritime and overland routes has been a longstanding challenge. On 12 January 2017, the US and Cuba signed a Joint Statement ending the so-called \"wet-foot, dry-foot\" policy – by which Cuban nationals who reached US soil were permitted to stay. Irregular Cuban maritime migration has dropped significantly since FY 2016, when migrant interdictions at sea topped 5,000, but land border crossings continue. In FY 2022, the US Coast Guard interdicted almost 10,000 Cuban nationals at sea. Also in FY 2022, 230,000 Cuban nationals presented themselves at various land border ports of entry throughout the US.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, 150 km south of Key West, Florida" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "21 30 N, 80 00 W" }, "Map references": { "text": "Central America and the Caribbean" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "110,860 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "109,820 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "1,040 sq km" } }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "slightly smaller than Pennsylvania" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "28.5 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay 28.5 km" }, "note": "note: Guantanamo Naval Base is leased by the US and remains part of Cuba" }, "Coastline": { "text": "3,735 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive economic zone": { "text": "200 nm" } }, "Climate": { "text": "tropical; moderated by trade winds; dry season (November to April); rainy season (May to October)" }, "Terrain": { "text": "mostly flat to rolling plains, with rugged hills and mountains in the southeast" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Pico Turquino 1,974 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Caribbean Sea 0 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "108 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "cobalt, nickel, iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, silica, petroleum, arable land" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "60.3% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 33.8% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 3.6% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 22.9% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "27.3% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "12.4% (2018 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "8,700 sq km (2012)" }, "Population distribution": { "text": "large population clusters found throughout the country, the more significant ones being in the larger towns and cities, particularly the capital of Havana" }, "Natural hazards": { "text": "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" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "largest country in Caribbean and westernmost island of the Greater Antilles" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "10,985,974 (2023 est.)" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Cuban(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Cuban" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "White 64.1%, Mulatto or mixed 26.6%, Black 9.3% (2012 est.)", "note": "note: data represent racial self-identification from Cuba's 2012 national census" }, "Languages": { "Languages": { "text": "Spanish (official)" }, "major-language sample(s)": { "text": "US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the facility can terminate the lease
" }, "Trafficking in persons": { "tier rating": { "text": "Tier 3 — Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government made some efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict sex traffickers, and identify victims; however, there was a government policy or pattern to profit from labor export programs with strong indications of forced labor, particularly in its foreign medical missions program; the government continued to deploy Cuban workers to foreign countries using deceptive and coercive tactics, and failed to address an increasing number of allegations from credible NGOs and foreign governments of labor violations and trafficking, and of Cuban officials’ involvement in abuses; Cuban law did not explicitly prohibit labor trafficking as defined in international law (2022)
" }, "trafficking profile": { "text": "human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba and Cubans abroad; individuals are forced or coerced into participating and threatened to stay in labor export programs, most notably foreign medical missions; sex trafficking and sex tourism, including child victims, occur within Cuba; traffickers exploit Cubans in sex trafficking and forced labor in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Latin America, and the United States; foreigners from Africa and Asia are subject to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts; officials identified children, young women, elderly, and disabled persons as the most vulnerable to trafficking; the government uses high school students in some rural areas to harvest crops without pay, claiming that the work is voluntary (2022)" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "Cuba is not a major consumer, producer, or transshipment point for illicit drugs; domestic production and consumption curbed by aggressive policing; prescription drug abuse remains low
" } } }