Three main native groups inhabited Cuba when Columbus reached it in 1492. The Ciboney and Guanahatabey populated the western part of the island, while the Taino people lived in the central and eastern area, mainly on the coast. Slavery and the establishment of large plantations began almost immediately after European colonization. The indigenous population was quickly decimated by disease, fighting and maltreatment. Cuba was also used as a base for Spanish treasure ships and it was from here that the Spanish organized trips to the Americas. Throughout the 17th century, life in Cuba was rendered
difficult for the Spanish by persistent epidemics, hurricanes and the attentions of rival colonial powers. The next century proved more successful, at least in economic terms, as a huge increase in the population took place, when hundreds of thousands of slaves were imported from Africa.
Spanish refusal to deal with the growing independence movement in the late 19th century led to two wars of independence. The first, between 1868 and 1878, ended in stalemate; the second, in which the rebels were inspired by the poet and revolutionary, José Martí, began in 1895 and ended when the USA was drawn into the war in 1898. Although nominally independent thereafter, Cuba was initially occupied for two years by US forces. After their withdrawal in 1901, the USA maintained effective political and economic control of the island, while Cuba was governed by a series of corrupt dictators such as Fulgencio Batista and Carlos Pro Socarrás. In 1959, after a classic guerrilla campaign, Fidel Castro overturned the hugely corrupt Batista Government and established a socialist state.
All US businesses were expropriated in 1960 and diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken by the USA. In 1961, the US Central Intelligence Agency organized a corps of anti-Castro rebels to invade the island and galvanize an uprising to overthrow the Castro regime. This ‘Bay of Pigs’ invasion was a complete fiasco; all the invaders were captured or killed and the (supposedly covert) US involvement was quickly revealed. Later that year, Castro declared Cuba a Marxist-Leninist state and accelerated the development of close relations with the Soviet Union. The following year, Soviet missiles capable of hitting targets in the USA were installed on Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade against the island. The confrontation escalated to the threshold of nuclear war, before Kennedy and Khrushchev reached a settlement. After the crisis, Cuba, for the most part, proved a loyal Soviet ally and was the largest recipient of Soviet foreign aid.
The other main plank of Cuba’s foreign policy was military assistance to weaker Third World nations. Since the demise of the Soviet Union and the resulting economic retrenchment at home, Cuba’s foreign adventures have ended, as it concentrates on its domestic situation and its regional position: there have been notable improvements in relations with some of its Caribbean neighbors and with Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Argentina. Cuba also enjoys reasonably good relations with Canada and with several European countries. All of these bilateral contacts are, however, highly dependent on the attitude of the US government – there are few, if any, governments prepared to antagonize Washington for the sake of better relations with Havana. At home, Cuba has enjoyed an impressive reputation for the quality of its health care and social services, although not for its overall quality of life or tolerance of opposition.
Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, the American administration’s ‘war against terror’ drew attention to the extraordinary anomaly of Guantanamo Bay. This heavily fortified naval base on Cuba’s eastern tip is controlled by the United States. Its precise international legal status is uncertain and, largely for that reason, it has been used as a makeshift prison for captives from the Taleban and the al-Qaeda organization (see
Afghanistan section). Originally leased to the US in 1901, the Castro government has accepted Guantanamo Bay as a sort of geopolitical wart; the Americans continue to pay the annual rental for the land and the Cubans have made no serious moves to dislodge it.
As Castro now approaches 80, speculation is growing about his likely successor and whether the system which he and the Communist Party have created will survive his departure.
GovernmentUnder the terms of the 1976 constitution, all legislative power in the Republic of Cuba is vested in a 499-member National Assembly of People’s Power, which is elected every 5 years by municipal deputies. A 31-member Council of State is elected by the Assembly from the Assembly. The Council’s President is both Head of State and Head of Government. Executive and administrative power is vested in a Council of Ministers, appointed by the Assembly, on the Head of State’s recommendation. The constitution, mostly recently amended in 2002, also guarantees that the Communist Party (PCC) should remain not only the sole legal party in Cuba but also ‘the leading force of society and state’.
EconomyIn recent years Cuba has tried to diversify away from the production of sugar, which has seen decades of ever-decreasing returns. On the back of healthy exports, cigar production has increased 50% since 1998. Biotechnology may yet rescue Cuba from its travails. In 2006, the US government waived the embargo to allow a Cuban cancer treatment to be tested in California.
In spite of the blockade, tourism continues to grow, and is a key source of hard currency. Strictly speaking, this is the country’s only significant service industry, but Cuban doctors and teachers working abroad in return for raw materials such as oil are significant contributors to the country’s continued survival.
Curiously, the USA recently joined the list of Cuba’s top 10 trading partners - Washington allows US firms to sell agricultural products to Cuba (US$350 million in 2006) but still forbids imports of any kind.
Next Page »
