Spend your holiday in Cuba

• Cuba history
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• Religion in Cuba

Cuba history The recorded history of Cuba began on 28 October 1492, when Christopher Columbus In 1956 a party of rebels, including Fidel sighted the island during his first voyage of Castro, landed in a boat from Mexico and discovery and claimed it for Spain. (This is tried to start an armed resistance movement still not certain and is an unresolved in the Sierra Maestra. (Castro had gone to topic.)The island had been inhabited by Mexico after being released from prison, Amerindian peoples known as the Taíno and where he was serving a sentence for his part Ciboney whose ancestors had come from South in a 1953 rebel attack on the Moncada America several centuries before. The Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.) Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney (also Batista’s forces killed most of the written Siboney neo-Taino nations) were both rebels, but enough survived to maintain a farmers and hunter-gatherers; some have low-level insurgency in the mountains. In suggested that copper trade was significant response, Batista made the mistake of and mainland artifacts have been found in launching a campaign of repression against proximal  Taino  cultures. the opposition, which only served to increase support  for  the  insurgency. The coast of Cuba was fully mapped by Sebastián de Ocampo in 1511, and in that Through 1957 and 1958, opposition to Batista year the first Spanish settlement was founded grew, among the middle class and the by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at students, in the Catholic Church and in the Baracoa. Other towns, including Havana rural areas. The United States government (founded in 1515), soon followed. The imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban Spanish, as they did throughout the Americas, government on March 14, 1958. By late 1958, oppressed and enslaved the approximately the rebels had succeeded in breaking out of 100,000 indigenous people that resisted the Sierra Maestra and launched a general conversion to Christianity on the island. insurrection, joined by hundreds of students Within a century they had all but disappeared and others fleeing Batista’s crackdown as a distinct nation as a result of the on dissent in the cities. When the rebels combined effects of European introduced captured Santa Clara, east of Havana, Batista disease, forced labor and genocide, though decided the struggle was futile and fled the aspects of the region's aboriginal heritage country to exile in Portugal and later Spain. has survived in part via the rise of a Castro’s rebel forces entered the significant Mestizo population.[7][8] With capital  on  January  1,  1959. destruction of aboriginal society, the settlers began to exploit abducted African Cuba  following  revolution slaves, with more resistance to the diseases from the old world, and who soon made up a Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba in significant  proportion  of  the inhabitants. February 1959, and has held effective power in the country until temporarily handing it Colonial  Cuba over to his brother for medical reasons in July 2006. During 1959, Castro’s Cuba was a Spanish possession for 388 years, government carried out measures such as land ruled by a governor in Havana, with an reform, the nationalization of public economy based on plantation agriculture and utilities, and the suppression of the the export of sugar, coffee and tobacco to widespread corruption that had developed Europe and later to North America. It was under Batista, including closing down the seized by the British in 1762, but restored gambling industry and evicting the many to Spain the following year. The Spanish Florida-based American mobsters operating on population was boosted by settlers leaving the  island. Haiti when that territory was ceded to France. As in other parts of the Spanish Castro flew to Washington, DC, but was not Empire, a small land-owning elite of met by President Eisenhower, who decided to Spanish-descended settlers held social and attend a golf tournament rather than meet economic power, supported by a population of with Castro.[3] Summary executions of plebian creoles, mixed-race small farmers, suspected Batista collaborators, coupled with laborers  and  African-descended  slaves. the seizure of Cuban-owned businesses and the rapid demise of the independent press, In the 1820s, when the other parts of nominally attributed to the powerful Spain’s empire in Latin America pro-revolution printing unions, raised rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba questions about the nature of the new remained loyal, although there was some government. Attitudes towards the Cuban agitation for independence. This was partly revolution in the United States were changing because the prosperity of the Cuban settlers rapidly. The nationalization of U.S.-owned depended on their export trade to Europe, companies (to an estimated value of US$1 partly through fears of a slave rebellion (as billion[citation needed]) aroused immediate had happened in Haiti) if the Spanish hostility within the Eisenhower withdrew and partly because the Cubans feared administration. Cuban exiles formed a the rising power of the United States more burgeoning expatriate community in Miami. than  they  disliked  Spanish  colonial rule. Many were angry at the revolutionary government due to its seizure of their Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. has been property in Cuba and the deaths of friends a powerful influence on its history. and relatives and they soon formed a powerful Throughout the 19th century, Southern political lobbying group in the United politicians in the U.S. plotted the States. The United States government became island’s annexation as a means of increasingly hostile towards Cuba throughout strengthening the pro-slavery forces in the 1959. This, in turn, may have influenced U.S., and there was usually a party in Cuba Castro's movement away from the liberal which supported such a policy. In 1848, a elements of his revolutionary movement and pro-annexationist rebellion was defeated and increase the power of hardline Marxist there were several attempts by annexationist figures in the government, notably Che forces to invade the island from Florida. Guevara. There were also regular proposals in the U.S. to buy Cuba from Spain. During the summer of In October 1959, Castro openly declared 1848, President James Knox Polk quietly himself to be friendly towards Communism, authorized his ambassador to Spain, Romulus though he did not yet claim to be a Communist Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase himself, and the liberal and other of Cuba and offer Spain up to $100 million, anti-Communist elements of the government an astonishing sum of money at the time for were purged, with many who had initially one territory. Spain, however, refused to supported the revolution fleeing the country consider ceding one of its last possessions to join the growing exile community in Miami. in  the  Americas. In March 1960, the first aid agreements were signed with the Soviet Union. In the context After the American Civil War apparently ended of the Cold War, the U.S. saw the the threat of pro-slavery annexationism, establishment of a Soviet base of influence agitation for Cuban independence from Spain in the Americas as a threat and plans were revived, leading to a rebellion in 1868. This approved to remove Castro from power (see The resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Cuban Project). In late 1960, a trade embargo Ten Years' War between pro-independence was imposed, which strengthened Castro's ties forces and the Spanish, allied with their with the Soviet Union. At the same time, the local supporters. There was much sympathy in administration authorized plans for an the U.S. for the independence cause, and some invasion of Cuba by Florida-based exiles, unofficial aid was sent, but the U.S. taking advantage of anti-Castro uprisings declined to intervene militarily. In 1878, which were repressed (see some details and the Peace of Zanjon ended the conflict, with references in War Against the Bandits and Bay Spain  promising  greater  autonomy  to Cuba. of Pigs Invasion). The result was the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of April The island was exhausted after this long 1961. President John Kennedy withdrew conflict and pro-independence agitation promised US air support for the invading temporarily died down. There was also a force at the last minute and the populist prevalent fear that if the Spanish withdrew anti-Castro uprising failed to materialize. or if there was further civil strife, the Kennedy refused direct American military increasingly expansionist U.S. would step in intervention and the invasion force was and annex the island. Partly in response to routed. This prompted Castro to declare Cuba U.S. pressure, slavery was abolished in 1886, a socialist republic, and himself a although the African-descended minority Marxist-Leninist  in  May  of  1961. remained socially and economically oppressed, despite formal civic equality granted in Marxist-Leninist  Cuba 1893. During this period, rural poverty in Spain led to a substantial Spanish emigration One immediate strategic result of the to Cuba — among those arriving were Cuban-Soviet alliance was the decision to the  parents  of  Fidel  Castro. place Soviet intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba, which precipitated the During the 1890s, pro-independence agitation Cuban missile crisis of 1962, during which revived, fueled by resentment of the U.S. President John F. Kennedy threatened the restrictions imposed on Cuban trade by Spain Soviet Union with nuclear war unless the and hostility to Spain’s increasingly missiles were withdrawn. Castro urged the oppressive and incompetent administration of Soviets to take an aggressive stance. Cuba. In April 1895, rebellion broke out led Eventually the Soviets backed down. In the by the poet José Martí and Tomás aftermath of this, there was a resumption of Estrada Palma who proclaimed Cuba an contacts between the U.S. and Castro, independent republic — Martí was resulting in the release of the anti-Castro killed shortly thereafter and has become fighters captured at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba’s undisputed national hero. The exchange for a package of aid. But during Spanish retaliated with a campaign of 1963, relations deteriorated again as Castro suppression, herding the rural population moved Cuba towards a fully-fledged Communist into what were described by international system modeled on the Soviet Union. The U.S. observers as "fortified towns". Estimates imposed a complete diplomatic and commercial that between 200,000 and 400,000 Cubans died embargo on Cuba. At this time U.S. influence from emaciation and disease during this in Latin America was strong enough to make period. These numbers were verified by both the embargo very effective and Cuba was the Red Cross and the U.S. Senator, and forced to direct virtually all its trade to former War Secretary, Redfield Proctor. U.S. the  Soviet  Union  and  its  allies. and European protests against Spanish conduct on  the  island  followed.[9] In 1965, Castro merged his revolutionary organizations with the Communist Party, of In 1897, fearing U.S. intervention, Spain which he became First Secretary, with Blas moved to a more conciliatory policy, Roca as Second Secretary — later to be promising home rule with an elected succeeded by Raúl Castro, who as Defense legislature. The rebels rejected this offer Minister and Fidel’s closest confidant and the war for independence continued. became and has remained the second most Shortly afterwards, on 15 February 1898, the powerful figure in the government. Raúl U.S. battleship Maine was mysteriously blown Castro’s position was strengthened by up in Havana harbor, killing 266 men. Forces the departure of Che Guevara to launch in the U.S. favoring intervention in Cuba unsuccessful attempts at insurrectionary seized on this incident to accuse Spain of movements in Congo, and then Bolivia, where blowing up the ship (although Spain had no he was killed in 1967. Osvaldo Dorticós motive for doing so and there was no evidence Torrado, President of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, of Spanish culpability). Swept along on a was a figurehead of little importance. Castro wave of nationalist sentiment, the U.S. introduced a new constitution in 1976 under Congress passed a resolution calling for which he became President himself, while intervention and President William McKinley remaining chairman of the Council of was  quick  to  comply. Ministers. The result was the Spanish-American War, in During the 1970s, Castro moved onto the world which U.S. forces landed in Cuba in June 1898 stage as a leading spokesperson for Third and quickly overcame Spanish resistance. In World “anti-imperialist” August a peace treaty was signed under which governments. On a more concrete level, he Spain agreed to withdraw from Cuba. Some provided invaluable military assistance to advocates in the U.S. supported Cuban pro-Soviet forces in Angola, Ethiopia, Yemen independence, while others argued for and other African and Middle Eastern trouble outright annexation. As a compromise, the spots. Cuban forces were decisive in helping McKinley administration placed Cuba under a the MPLA forces win the Angolan Civil War in 20-year U.S. treatie. The Cuban independence 1975. Although the bills for these movement bitterly opposed this arrangement, expeditionary forces were paid by the but unlike the Philippines, where events had Soviets, they placed a considerable strain on followed a similar course, there was no Cuba’s economy and manpower resources. outbreak  of  armed  resistance. Cuba was also hampered by its continuing dependency on sugar exports. The Soviets were Independence forced to provide further economic assistance by buying the entire Cuban sugar crop, even Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the though the Soviet Union grew enough sugar Spanish-American War and had some sympathies beet to meet its own needs. In exchange the with the independence movement, succeeded Soviets had to supply Cuba with all its fuel, McKinley as President of the United States in since it could not import oil from any other 1901 and abandoned the 20-year treatie source. proposal. Instead, the Republic of Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, Cuba’s economic dependence on the with the independence leader Tomás Estrada Soviet Union was deepened by Castro’s Palma becoming the country’s first determination to build his vision of a president. Under the new Cuban constitution, socialist society in Cuba. This entailed the however, the U.S. retained the right to provision of free health care and education intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise for the entire population. Through the 1970s its finances and foreign relations. Under the and 1980s, the Soviets were prepared to Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to subsidise all this in exchange for the the U.S. the naval base at Guantánamo Bay. strategic asset of an ally under the noses of the United States and the undoubted Independent Cuba soon ran into difficulties propaganda value of Castro’s as a result of factional disputes and considerable prestige in the developing corruption among the small educated elite and world. the failure of the government to deal with the deep social problems left behind by the By the 1970s, the ability of the U.S. to keep Spanish. In 1906, following disputed Cuba isolated was declining. Cuba had been elections to choose Estrada Palma’s expelled from the Organization of American successor, an armed revolt broke out and the States in 1962 and the OAS had cooperated U.S. exercised its right of intervention. The with the U.S. trade boycott for the next country was placed under U.S. occupation and decade, but, in 1975, the OAS lifted all a U.S. governor took charge for three years. sanctions against Cuba and both Mexico and In 1908 self-government was restored when Canada defied the U.S. by developing closer José Miguel Gómez was elected relations with Cuba. Both countries said that President, but the U.S. retained its they hoped to foster liberalization in Cuba supervision of Cuban affairs. Despite by allowing trade, cultural and diplomatic frequent outbreaks of disorder, however, contacts to resume — in this they were constitutional government was maintained disappointed, since there was no appreciable until 1925, when Gerardo Machado y Morales, easing of repression against domestic having been elected President, suspended the opposition. Castro did stop openly supporting constitution. insurrectionary movements against Latin American governments, although pro-Castro Machado was a Cuban nationalist and his groups continued to fight the military regime had considerable local support despite dictatorships which then controlled most its violent suppression of critics. During Latin  American  countries. his tenure, Cubans gained greater control over their own economy and some important The Cuban exile community in the U.S. grew in national development projects were size, wealth and power and politicized undertaken. His hold on power was weakened by elements effectively opposed liberalization the Great Depression, which drove down the of U.S. policy towards Cuba. However, the price of Cuba’s agricultural exports efforts of the exiles to foment an and caused widespread poverty. In August anti-Castro movement inside Cuba, let alone a 1933, elements of the Cuban army staged a revolution there, met limited success. On coup which deposed Machado and installed Sunday, April 6, 1980, 7,000 Cubans stormed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (whose father the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking was instrumental in initiating the Ten Years political asylum. On Monday, April 7, Fidel War of independence) as President. In Castro granted permission for the emigration September, however, a second coup led by of Cubans seeking refuge in the Peruvian Sergeant Fulgencio Batista overthrew embassy.[12] On April 16 500 Cuban citizens Céspedes leading to the formation of the left the Peruvian Embassy for Costa Rica. On first Ramón Grau San Martín government. April 21 many of those Cubans started This government lasted just 100 days, but arriving in Miami via private boats and were engineered radical liberal changes in Cuban halted by the State Department on April 23. society and a rejection of the Platt The boat lift continued, however, since amendment. Castro allowed anyone who desired to leave the country to do so through the port of In 1934, Batista and the army, who were the Mariel and this emigration became known as real center of power in Cuba, replaced Grau the Mariel boatlift. In all, over 125,000 with Carlos Mendieta y Montefur. In 1940, Cubans emigrated to the United States before Batista decided to run for President himself. the  flow  of  vessels  ended  on  June  15. The leader of the constitutional liberals Ramón Grau San Martín refused to Post-Cold  War  Cuba support him, so he turned instead to the Communist Party of Cuba, which had grown in The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 dealt size  and  influence  during  the  1930s. Cuba a giant economic blow. It led to another unregulated exodus of asylum seekers to the With the support of the Communist-controlled United States in 1994, but was eventually labor unions, Batista was elected President slowed to a trickle of a few thousand a year and his administration carried out major by the U.S.-Cuban accords. It again increased social reforms and introduced a new in 2004-06 although at a far slower rate than progressive constitution. Several members of before. Castro’s popularity was the Communist Party held office under his severely tested by the aftermath of the administration. Batista's administration Soviet collapse, which led to a cut off in formally took Cuba into World War II as a aid, the loss of a guaranteed export market U.S. ally, declaring war on Japan on Dec 9, for Cuban sugar and the loss of a source of 1941, then on Germany/Italy on Dec 11, 1941; cheap imported oil. It also caused, as in all Cuba, however, did not significantly Communist countries, a crisis in confidence participate militarily in World War II for those who believed that the Soviet Union hostilities. At the end of his term in 1944, was successfully “building in accordance with the constitution, Batista socialism” and providing a model that stood down and Ramón Grau was elected to other countries should follow. In Cuba, succeed him. Grau initiated increased however, these events were not sufficient to government spending on health, education and persuade Cuban Communists that they should housing. But Grau’s liberals were voluntarily  give  up  power. bitter enemies of the Communists and Batista opposed  most  of  Grau’s  program. By the later 1990s the situation in the country had stabilized. By then Cuba had more In 1948, Grau was succeeded by Carlos Prío or less normal economic relations with most Socarrás, who had been Grau’s Latin American countries and had improved minister of labor and was particularly hated relations with the European Union, which by the Communists. Prío was a less began providing aid and loans to the island. principled liberal than Grau and, under his China also emerged as a new source of aid and administration, corruption increased. This support, even though Cuba had sided with the was partly a result of the postwar revival of Soviets during the Sino-Soviet split of the U.S. wealth and the consequent influx of 1960s. Cuba also found new allies in gambling money into Havana, which became a President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and center of mafia operations. Nevertheless President Evo Morales of Bolivia, major oil Prío carried out major reforms such as and  gas  exporters. founding a National Bank and stabilizing the Cuban currency. The influx of North American Temporary  transfer  of  duties money fueled a boom which did much to raise living standards, although the gap between On July 31 2006, Fidel Castro delegated his rich  and poor became wider and more obvious. duties as President of the Council of state, President of the Council of Ministers, First From  Batista  to  Castro Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed The 1952 election was a three-way race. forces to his brother and First Vice Roberto Agramonte of the Ortodoxos party led President, Raúl Castro. This transfer of in all the polls, followed by Dr. Aurelio duties has been described as temporary while Hevia of the Auténtico party, and running Fidel Castro recovers from surgery undergone a distant third was Batista, who was seeking after suffering from an "acute intestinal a return to office. When it became apparent crisis with sustained bleeding". Fidel Castro that Batista had little chance of winning, he was too ill to attend the nationwide staged a coup on 10 March 1952 and held power commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the with the backing of a nationalist section of Granma boat landing on December 2, 2006, the army as a “provisional which fuelled speculations that Castro had president” for the next two years. In stomach cancer, though Spanish doctor Dr. 1954, under pressure from the U.S., he agreed García Sabrido stated that his illness was to elections. The Partido Auténtico put a digestive problem and not terminal, after forward ex-President Grau as their candidate, an examination of the subject on Christmas but he withdrew amid allegations that Batista Day. was rigging the elections in advance. Batista could then claim to be an elected President. On January 31, 2007, footage of Castro His regime was marked by severe corruption meeting with Venezuelan president Hugo and poverty. Batista's police force was Chávez was broadcast, where, according to well-known for their harsh tactics and international media reports, Castro "appeared violence against the population. Fidel Castro frail but stronger than three months ago", directed failed resistance action at the and the Cuban leader made a lengthy surprise Moncada Barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, and on appearance by phone on Chávez's radio talk the smaller Carlos Manuel de Cespedes show Aló Presidente the following month. Barracks and on the feast of Saint Ann July Though Castro loyalists in the Cuban 26,  1953. government have maintained that he will stand in the 2008 elections to the Cuban National Many Florida-based American mafiosi Assembly, speculation has continued as to established themselves in Cuba under whether  he  will  ever  return  to  power. Batista's rule, notably prominent mob boss Santo Trafficante, Jr. Their operations A BBC reporter is among at least three included legitimate hotels and casinos as international correspondents asked to leave well as all manners of illicit businesses. At least three foreign correspondents based The American mobsters became influential in Havana have been told they must leave the supporters of Batista in Cuban politics, country because of their 'negative' whose government tolerated their activities reporting. in  exchange  for  bribes  and  kickbacks. 1 A B C 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93