Cuba

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

• soil degradation and desertification (brought on by poor farming techniques and natural disasters) are the main environmental problems;
• biodiversity loss;
• deforestation;
• air and water pollution

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

0-14 years:

16.44% (male 940,787 /female 886,996)

15-24 years:

12.1% (male 698,220 /female 646,684)

25-54 years:

43.69% (male 2,443,190 /female 2,414,119)

55-64 years:

12.54% (male 677,304 /female 716,704)

65 years and over:

15.22% (male 773,636 /female 918,756) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

43.3 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

23.3 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

19.9 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

5 (2015 est.)

total:

41.8 years (2018 est.)

male:

40.2 years

female:

43.1 years

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.08 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.95 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.84 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2018 est.)

total:

4.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2018 est.)

male:

4.9 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

3.9 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

78.9 years (2018 est.)

male:

76.6 years

female:

81.4 years

• 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 overland via the southwest border;
• the number of Cubans migrating to the US surged after the announcement of normalization of US-Cuban relations in late December 2014 but has decreased since the end of the so-called "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy on 12 January 2017

conventional long form:

Republic of Cuba

conventional short form:

Cuba

local long form:

Republica de Cuba

local short form:

Cuba

etymology:

name derives from the Taino Indian designation for the island "coabana" meaning "great place"

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

etymology:

• the sites of Spanish colonial cities often retained their original Taino names;
• Habana, the Spanish name for the city, may be based on the name of a local Taino chief, Habaguanex

• 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

history:

several previous; latest drafted 14 July 2018, approved by the National Assembly 22 December 2018, approved by referendum 24 February 2019

amendments:

• proposed by the National Assembly of People’s Power;
• passage requires approval of at least two-thirds majority of the National Assembly membership;
• amendments to constitutional articles on the authorities of the National Assembly, Council of State, or any rights and duties in the constitution also require approval in a referendum;
• constitutional articles on the Cuban political, social, and economic system cannot be amended (2018)

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent only:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

unknown

chief of state:

• President Miguel DIAZ-CANEL Bermudez (since 10 October 2019);
• Vice President Salvador Antonio VALDES Mesa (since 10 October 2019);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Miguel DIAZ-CANEL Bermudez (since 10 October 2019); Vice President Salvador Antonio VALDES Mesa (since 10 October 2019)

cabinet:

• Council of Ministers proposed by the president and appointed by the National Assembly;
• it is subordinate to the 31-member Council of State, which is elected by the Assembly to act on its behalf when it is not in session

elections/appointments:

• president and vice president indirectly elected by the National Assembly for a 5-year term (may be reelected for another 5-year term);
• election last held on 10 October 2019 (next to be held in 2024)

election results:

• Miguel DIAZ-CANEL Bermudez (PCC) elected president;
• percent of National Assembly vote - 98.8%;
• Salvador Antonio VALDES Mesa (PCC) elected vice president;
• percent of National Assembly vote - 98.1%

;

• note - on 19 April 2018, DIAZ-CANEL succeeded Raul CASTRO as president of the Council of State;
• on 10 October 2019 he was elected to the newly recreated position of President of the Republic, which replaced the position of President of the Council of State

description:

• unicameral National Assembly of People's Power or Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular (605 seats; members directly elected by absolute majority vote; members serve 5-year terms);
• note - the National Candidature Commission submits a slate of approved candidates;
• to be elected, candidates must receive more than 50% of valid votes otherwise the seat remains vacant or the Council of State can declare another election

elections:

last held on 11 March 2018 (next to be held in early 2023)

election results:

Cuba's Communist Party is the only legal party, and officially sanctioned candidates run unopposed; composition - men 283, women 322, percent of women 53.2%

highest courts:

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

judge selection and term of office:

• professional judges elected by the National Assembly are not subject to a specific term;
• 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

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Mara TEKACH (since 20 June 2018)

telephone:

[53] (7) 839-4100

embassy:

Calzada between L & M Streets, Vedado, Havana

mailing address:

use embassy street address

FAX:

NA

• 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:

18%

industry:

10%

services:

72% (2016 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA

highest 10%:

NA

general assessment:

• fixed-line and mobile services run by the state-run ETESCA;
• mobile-cellular telephone service is expensive and must be paid in convertible pesos;
• Cuban Government has opened several hundred Wi-Fi hotspots around the island, which are expensive, and launched a new residential Internet pilot in Havana and other provinces;
• as of 2018, 3G mobile service is available, if limited (2018)

domestic:

fixed-line density remains low at about 12 per 100 inhabitants; mobile-cellular service is expanding to about 41 per 100 persons (2018)

international:

• country code - 53;
• the ALBA-1, GTMO-1, and GTMO-PR fiber-optic submarine cables link Cuba, Jamaica, and Venezuela;
• January 2016 the FCC allowed US firms to do business directly with the Cuban telecom sector, satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region) (2019)

Government owns and controls all broadcast media:

• five national TV channels (Cubavision, Tele Rebelde, Multivision, Educational Channel 1 and 2,) 2 international channels (Cubavision Internacional and Caribe,) 16 regional TV stations, 6 national radio networks and multiple regional stations;
• the Cuban government beams over the Radio-TV Marti signal;
• although private ownership of electronic media is prohibited, several online independent news sites exist;
• those that are not openly critical of the government are often tolerated;
• the others are blocked by the government;
• there are no independent TV channels, but several outlets have created strong audiovisual content (El Toque, for example);
• a community of young Youtubers is also growing, mostly with channels about sports, technology and fashion;
• Christian denominations are creating original video content to distribute via social media (2019)

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

Ministry of Interior:

Border Guards, State Security (2019)

• 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 (2019)

number of registered air carriers:

4 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 18 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

1,294,458 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

20,919,645 mt-km (2015)

total:

8,367 km (2017)

standard gauge:

8,195 km 1.435-m gauge (124 km electrified) (2017)

narrow gauge:

172 km 1.000-m gauge (2017)

note: 82 km of standard gauge track is not for public use

total:

60,000 km (2015)

paved:

20,000 km (2001)

unpaved:

40,000 km (2001)

total:

41

by type:

general cargo 11, oil tanker 3, other 27 (2018)

current situation:

• Cuba is a source country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor;
• child sex trafficking and child sex tourism occur in Cuba, while some Cubans are forced into prostitution in South America and the Caribbean;
• allegations have been made that some Cubans have been forced or coerced to work at Cuban medical missions abroad;
• assessing the scope of trafficking within Cuba is difficult because of the lack of information

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• Cuba’s penal code does not criminalize all forms of human trafficking, but the government reported that it is in the process of amending its criminal code to comply with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol, to which it acceded in 2013;
• the government in 2014 prosecuted and convicted 13 sex traffickers and provided services to the victims in those cases but does not have shelters specifically for trafficking victims;
• the government did not recognize forced labor as a problem and took no action to address it;
• state media produced newspaper articles and TV and radio programs to raise public awareness about sex trafficking (2015)

• 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