70 Facts About Cuba

1.

Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet.

FactSnippet No. 576,154
2.

Cuba is the second-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.

FactSnippet No. 576,155
3.

Territory that is Cuba was inhabited by the Ciboney Taino people from the 4th millennium BC until Spanish colonization in the 15th century.

FactSnippet No. 576,156
4.

Cuba is one of a few extant Marxist–Leninist socialist states, in which the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution.

FactSnippet No. 576,157
5.

Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and the Organization of American States.

FactSnippet No. 576,158
6.

Cuba has historically—both before and during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy.

FactSnippet No. 576,159
7.

Cuba has a one-party authoritarian regime where political opposition is not permitted.

FactSnippet No. 576,160
8.

Cuba'storians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taino language, however "its exact derivation [is] unknown".

FactSnippet No. 576,161
9.

Fringe theory writers who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal.

FactSnippet No. 576,162
10.

In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those few natives who had previously survived smallpox.

FactSnippet No. 576,163
11.

Cuba became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.

FactSnippet No. 576,164
12.

Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture.

FactSnippet No. 576,165
13.

Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.

FactSnippet No. 576,166
14.

General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called, described by international observers as "fortified towns".

FactSnippet No. 576,167
15.

Cuba gained formal independence from the U S on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.

FactSnippet No. 576,168
16.

The U S intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years.

FactSnippet No. 576,169
17.

Cuba was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada.

FactSnippet No. 576,170
18.

In 1958, Cuba was a well-advanced country in comparison to other Latin American regions.

FactSnippet No. 576,171
19.

Cuba was affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization.

FactSnippet No. 576,172
20.

Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.

FactSnippet No. 576,173
21.

In January 1962, Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States, and later the same year the OAS started to impose sanctions against Cuba of similar nature to the U S sanctions.

FactSnippet No. 576,174
22.

In 1963, Cuba sent 686 troops together with 22 tanks and other military equipment to support Algeria in the Sand War against Morocco.

FactSnippet No. 576,175
23.

In 1964, Cuba organized a meeting of Latin American communists in Havana and stoked a civil war in the capital of the Dominican Republic in 1965, which prompted the U S military to intervene there.

FactSnippet No. 576,176
24.

Cuba supported the MPLA in Angola and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia (Ogaden War).

FactSnippet No. 576,177
25.

In November 1975, Cuba poured more than 65, 000 troops and 400 Soviet-made tanks into Angola in one of the fastest military mobilizations in history.

FactSnippet No. 576,178
26.

In March 1978, Cuba sent 12, 000 regular troops to Ethiopia, assisted by mechanized Soviet battalions, to help defeat a Somali invasion.

FactSnippet No. 576,179
27.

Cuba has since found a new source of aid and support in the People's Republic of China.

FactSnippet No. 576,180
28.

The resolution stated, however, that full membership would be delayed until Cuba was "in conformity with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS".

FactSnippet No. 576,181
29.

Effective 14 January 2013, Cuba ended the requirement established in 1961, that any citizens who wish to travel abroad were required to obtain an expensive government permit and a letter of invitation.

FactSnippet No. 576,182
30.

Additionally, while the embargo between the United States and Cuba was not immediately lifted, it was relaxed to allow import, export, and certain limited commerce.

FactSnippet No. 576,183
31.

On 25 September 2022, Cuba approved a referendum which amended the Family Code as well as legalising same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption, making Cuba the first Marxist-Leninist country to do so.

FactSnippet No. 576,184
32.

Republic of Cuba is one of the few socialist countries following the Marxist–Leninist ideology.

FactSnippet No. 576,185
33.

The President of Cuba, who is elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and since the ratification of the 2019 Constitution, there is a limit of two consecutive five-year terms.

FactSnippet No. 576,186
34.

Cuba is considered an authoritarian regime according to The Economist's Democracy Index and Freedom in the World reports.

FactSnippet No. 576,187
35.

Cuba has conducted a foreign policy that is uncharacteristic of such a minor, developing country.

FactSnippet No. 576,188
36.

Under Castro, Cuba was heavily involved in wars in Africa, Central America and Asia.

FactSnippet No. 576,189
37.

In 2008, the European Union and Cuba agreed to resume full relations and cooperation activities.

FactSnippet No. 576,190
38.

Cuba is a founding member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

FactSnippet No. 576,191
39.

In 2017, Cuba signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

FactSnippet No. 576,192
40.

On 17 December 2014, United States President Barack Obama announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, pushing for Congress to put an end to the embargo, as well as the United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

FactSnippet No. 576,193
41.

Cuba was ranked 19th by the number of imprisoned journalists of any nation in 2021 according to various sources, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch.

FactSnippet No. 576,194
42.

Cuba ranked 5th in the hemisphere in per capita income, 3rd in life expectancy, 2nd in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, and 1st in the number of television sets per inhabitant.

FactSnippet No. 576,195
43.

Cuba took limited free-market oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services.

FactSnippet No. 576,196
44.

Cuba has developed a unique urban farm system called to compensate for the end of food imports from the Soviet Union.

FactSnippet No. 576,197
45.

The U S embargo against Cuba was instituted in 1960 in response to nationalization of U S -citizen-held property and was maintained on the grounds of perceived human rights violations.

FactSnippet No. 576,198
46.

Cuba's leadership has called for reforms in the country's agricultural system.

FactSnippet No. 576,199
47.

In 2005, Cuba had exports of, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of, ranking 87 of 226 countries.

FactSnippet No. 576,200
48.

On 2 August 2011, The New York Times reported that Cuba reaffirmed its intent to legalize "buying and selling" of private property before the year's end.

FactSnippet No. 576,201
49.

In May 2019, Cuba imposed rationing of staples such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic goods.

FactSnippet No. 576,202
50.

In July 2020, Cuba opened new stores accepting only foreign currency while simultaneously eliminating a special tax on the U S dollar to combat an economic crisis arising initially due to economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, then later worsened by a lack of tourism during the coronavirus pandemic.

FactSnippet No. 576,203
51.

Cuba is a major producer of refined cobalt, a by-product of nickel mining.

FactSnippet No. 576,204
52.

In 2006, Cuba started to test-drill these locations for possible exploitation.

FactSnippet No. 576,205
53.

The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba, and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.

FactSnippet No. 576,206
54.

Cuba recorded 2, 688, 000 international tourists in 2011, the third-highest figure in the Caribbean.

FactSnippet No. 576,207
55.

Cuba is an archipelago of nearly 4, 200 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Caribbean Sea at the confluence with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

FactSnippet No. 576,208
56.

Cuba is the principal island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands: the Colorados Archipelago on the northwestern coast, the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago on the north-central Atlantic coast, the Jardines de la Reina on the south-central coast and the Canarreos Archipelago on the southwestern coast.

FactSnippet No. 576,209
57.

The warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that Cuba sits across the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make the country prone to frequent hurricanes.

FactSnippet No. 576,210
58.

Cuba signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 12 June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 8 March 1994.

FactSnippet No. 576,211
59.

Post-revolution Cuba has been characterized by significant levels of emigration, which has led to a large and influential diaspora community.

FactSnippet No. 576,212
60.

Religious landscape of Cuba is strongly defined by syncretisms of various kinds.

FactSnippet No. 576,213
61.

Haitian Creole is the second-most spoken language in Cuba, and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.

FactSnippet No. 576,214
62.

Cuba has provided state subsidized education to a limited number of foreign nationals at the Latin American School of Medicine.

FactSnippet No. 576,215
63.

Today, Cuba has universal health care and despite persistent shortages of medical supplies, there is no shortage of medical personnel.

FactSnippet No. 576,216
64.

Cuba has the highest doctor-to-population ratio in the world and has sent thousands of doctors to more than 40 countries around the world.

FactSnippet No. 576,217
65.

In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, a milestone hailed by the World Health Organization as "one of the greatest public health achievements possible".

FactSnippet No. 576,218
66.

Mass media in Cuba consist of several different types: television, radio, newspapers, and Internet.

FactSnippet No. 576,219
67.

Internet in Cuba has some of the lowest penetration rates in the Western hemisphere, and all content is subject to review by the Department of Revolutionary Orientation.

FactSnippet No. 576,220
68.

The government of Cuba provides an online encyclopedia website called EcuRed that operates in a "wiki" format.

FactSnippet No. 576,221
69.

Cuba is a dominant force in amateur boxing, consistently achieving high medal tallies in major international competitions.

FactSnippet No. 576,222
70.

Cuba provides a national team that competes in the Olympic Games.

FactSnippet No. 576,223