Cuba

• tropical;
• moderated by trade winds;
• dry season (November to April);
• rainy season (May to October)

total:

4.42 cu km/yr (22%/14%/65%)

per capita:

392.6 cu m/yr (2010)

• air and water pollution;
• biodiversity loss;
• deforestation

party to:

Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Marine Life Conservation

noun:

Cuban(s)

adjective:

Cuban

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.82 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever (2013)

• illicit emigration is a continuing problem;
• Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas;
• Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and over-land via the southwest border

conventional long form:

Republic of Cuba

conventional short form:

Cuba

local long form:

Republica de Cuba

local short form:

Cuba

name:

Havana

geographic coordinates:

23 07 N, 82 21 W

time difference:

UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

• +1hr, begins second Sunday in March;
• ends first Sunday in November;
• note - Cuba has been known to alter the schedule of DST on short notice in an attempt to conserve electricity for lighting

• 15 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 special municipality* (municipio especial);
• Artemisa, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Isla de la Juventud*, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Mayabeque, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara

• several previous;
• latest adopted by referendum 15 February 1976, effective 24 February 1976;
• amended 1978, 1992, 2002 (2010)

highest court(s):

People's Supreme Court (consists of court president, vice president, 41 professional justices, and NA lay judges; organized into the "Whole," State Council, and criminal, civil, administrative, labor, crimes against the state, and military courts)

judge selection and term of office:

• professional judges elected by the National Assembly to serve 2.5-year terms;
• lay judges nominated by workplace collectives and neighborhood associations and elected by municipal or provincial assemblies;
• lay judges appointed for 5-year terms and serve up to 30 days per year

subordinate courts:

• People's Provincial Courts;
• People's Regional Courts;
• People's Courts

• none;
• note - the Cuban Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland is headed by Jose R. CABANAS Rodriguez (since October 2012);
• address:
  • Cuban Interests Section,
  • Swiss Embassy,
  • 2630 16th Street NW,
  • Washington,
  • DC 20009
  ;
• telephone: [1] (202) 797-8518;
• FAX: [1] (202) 986-7283

• none;
• note - the United States Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland is headed by John P. CAULFIELD (since September 2011);
• address:
  • USINT,
  • Swiss Embassy,
  • Calzada between L and M Streets,
  • Vedado,
  • Havana
  ;
• telephone: [53] (7) 839-4100;
• FAX: [53] (7) 839-4247;
• protecting power in Cuba is Switzerland

• five equal horizontal bands of blue (top, center, and bottom) alternating with white;
• a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white, five-pointed star in the center;
• the blue bands refer to the three old divisions of the island: central, occidental, and oriental;
• the white bands describe the purity of the independence ideal;
• the triangle symbolizes liberty, equality, and fraternity, while the red color stands for the blood shed in the independence struggle;
• the white star, called La Estrella Solitaria (the Lone Star) lights the way to freedom and was taken from the flag of Texas

note: design similar to the Puerto Rican flag, with the colors of the bands and triangle reversed

agriculture:

19.7%

industry:

17.1%

services:

63.2% (2011)

lowest 10%:

NA%

highest 10%:

NA%

general assessment:

• greater investment beginning in 1994 and the establishment of a new Ministry of Information Technology and Communications in 2000 has resulted in improvements in the system;
• national fiber-optic system under development;
• 95% of switches digitized by end of 2006;
• mobile-cellular telephone service is expensive and must be paid in convertible pesos;
• cell phones in Cuba number around 2 million;
• state communications started service of email to cell phones through nauta.cu accounts;
• Cuban Government has opened Internet cafes around the island, which are expensive and offer slow-speed connections

domestic:

fixed-line density remains low at 10 per 100 inhabitants; mobile-cellular service expanding but remains only about 10 per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 53;
• the ALBA-1 fiber-optic submarine cable links Cuba, Jamaica, and Venezuela;
• fiber-optic cable laid to but not linked to US network;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region) (2010)

• government owns and controls all broadcast media with private ownership of electronic media prohibited;
• government operates 4 national TV networks and many local TV stations;
• government operates 6 national radio networks, an international station, and many local radio stations;
• Radio-TV Marti is beamed from the US (2007)

total:

8,203 km

country comparison to the world: 25

standard gauge:

8,134 km 1.435-m gauge (124 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

69 km 1.000-m gauge

note: 48 km of standard gauge track is not for public use (2011)

total:

60,858 km

country comparison to the world: 69

paved:

29,820 km (includes 639 km of expressways)

unpaved:

31,038 km (2001)

• Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, FAR): Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Revolucionario, ER, includes Territorial Militia Troops (Milicia de Tropas de Territoriales, MTT));
• Revolutionary Navy (Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria, MGR, includes Marine Corps);
• Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Forces (Defensas Anti-Aereas y Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria, DAAFAR), Youth Labor Army (Ejercito Juvenil del Trabajo, EJT) (2013)

• 17-28 years of age for compulsory military service;
• 2-year service obligation;
• both sexes subject to military service (2012)

males age 16-49:

2,998,201

females age 16-49:

2,919,107 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

2,446,131

females age 16-49:

2,375,590 (2010 est.)

male:

72,823

female:

69,108 (2010 est.)

• the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the Cuban military of its major economic and logistic support and had a significant impact on the state of Cuban equipment;
• the army remains well trained and professional in nature;
• the lack of replacement parts for its existing equipment has increasingly affected operational capabilities (2013)

current situation:

• Cuba is a source country for adults and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• child prostitution and child sex tourism reportedly occurs in Cuba, and laws do not appear to penalize the prostitution of children between the ages of 16 and 18;
• allegations have been made of Cubans being subjected to forced labor, particularly with Cuban work missions abroad;
• the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• the government has not publicized information about government measures to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts but did share information about its general approach to protection for children and youth;
• the government has a network of shelters for victims of domestic violence and child abuse but has not verified if trafficking victims receive care in those centers (2013)

• territorial waters and air space serve as transshipment zone for US- and European-bound drugs;
• established the death penalty for certain drug-related crimes in 1999 (2008)