Cuba is a socialist state, in which the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian government where political opposition is not permitted. Censorship is extensive and independent journalism is repressed; Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries for press freedom. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America. Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has one of the world's few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by tourism and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—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. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens, although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs. A 2023 study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), estimated 88% of the population is living in extreme poverty. The traditional diet is of international concern due to micronutrient deficiencies and lack of diversity. As highlighted by the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations, rationed food meets only a fraction of daily nutritional needs for many Cubans, leading to health issues. (Full article...)
In 1978 negotiations known as El Diálogo (The Dialogue) occurred between Cuban exile groups and the Cuban government that resulted in the release of political prisoners.
The dialogue came after increasing calls for better diplomatic relations to Cuba from young Cuban American groups, and US President Jimmy Carter's new human rights oriented foreign policy. The negotiations originated with Jimmy Carter meeting in secret with Cuban officials in New York and Havana. After the talks resulted in prisoner release, Carter refused to publicly acknowledge his involvement, and the Cuban government decided to publicly invite Cuban exiles to negotiate with them for a prisoner release. The Comite de los 75 (Committee of 75) formed as the 75 Cuban exiles who would be allowed to negotiate with Cuba. The dialogue and eventual prisoner release came with a new friendlier attitude from Fidel Castro in addressing Cuban exiles. While previously he referred to them with the epithet "gusano", he now referred to them as the "Cuban community abroad". The dialogue also spurred intense internal debate among Cuban exiles about the ethics and usefulness of the dialogue, and it resulted in violent attacks against dialogueros. (Full article...)
Image 8Banrarra Afro-Cuban dance troupe (from Culture of Cuba)
Image 9Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies (from History of Cuba)
Image 10A 1736 colonial map by Herman Moll of the West Indies and Mexico, together comprising "New Spain", with Cuba visible in the center. (from History of Cuba)
Image 11Defense of a train attacked by Cuban insurgents (from History of Cuba)
Image 21Protests against the visit of soviet diplomat Anastas Mikoyan, dispersed by a policeman firing his gun. (February 5, 1960) (from History of Cuba)
Image 25Rebel leaders engaged in extensive propaganda to get the U.S. to intervene, as shown in this cartoon in an American magazine. Columbia (the American people) reaches out to help oppressed Cuba in 1897 while Uncle Sam (the U.S. government) is blind to the crisis and will not use its powerful guns to help. Judge magazine, 6 February 1897. (from History of Cuba)
Image 26Cuban PT-76 tank crew on routine security duties in Angola (from History of Cuba)
Image 33Depiction of an engagement between Cuban rebels and Spanish Royalists during the Ten Years' War (1868–78) (from History of Cuba)
Image 34Public transportation in Cuba during the "Special Period" (from History of Cuba)
Did you know (auto-generated)
... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
... that José Ramón Balaguer fought as a soldier-medic for Fidel Castro's rebel army before becoming Cuba's minister of public health?
... that Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress Melissa Fumero is the daughter of Cubans who fled to the U.S. as teenagers?
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
In December 1971, the freighters Leyla Express and Johnny Express were seized by Cuban gunboats. The Leyla Express was stopped in international waters off the Cuban coast on December 5; the Johnny Express was intercepted by gunboats near the island of Little Inagua in the Bahamas ten days later. Some of the crew of the Johnny Express, including the captain, were injured when the gunboats fired on their vessel. The freighters both carried Panamanianflags of convenience, but belonged to the Bahama Lines corporation, based in Miami. The company was run by four brothers, Cuban exiles who had previously been involved in activities directed against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Cuba stated that both vessels were being used by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transport weapons, explosives, and personnel to Cuba, and described the vessels as being engaged in piracy. Cuba had suspected the involvement of one of Bahama Lines's ships in shelling the Cuban village of Samá, on the northern coast of Oriente Province, a few months previously; several civilians had died in the attack. The US government of Richard Nixon and the Bahama Lines denied the accusations.
Cuba released the crew of both ships to Panamanian custody, but announced that José Villa, the captain of the Johnny Express, had confessed to being an agent of the CIA, and would face trial. The US asked the Panamanian government of Omar Torrijos to negotiate his release. Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt and Manuel Noriega traveled to Cuba, where they negotiated Villa's release into Panamanian custody, in return for which criminal charges were brought against Villa in Panama, though he was released without being convicted. The success of the negotiations undertaken by Noriega were later used by him to bargain with the US government. As a consequence of the incident, the US ordered all its naval and air forces in the region to go to the aid of any ships coming under attack from Cuban vessels. A Panamanian mission which investigated the incident concluded, based on the ships' logs, that the vessels had in fact brought insurgent forces to Cuban territory, and that the Cuban government's accusations on that count were accurate. (Full article...)
...that the habanera is a musical genre from Cuba with a characteristic "Habanera rhythm"? And that it is one of the oldest mainstays of Cuban music and the first of the dances from Cuba to be exported all over the world?
...that Guamá was a Taíno rebel chief who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba in the 1530s?
The colonization of Cuba is necessary and urgently required to give the white population of Cuba a moral and necessary preponderance over its black inhabitants.
Wikipedia's maxim is that anyone can edit. If you are interested in Cuba and have useful information that would form a new article or would enhance an existing article, please feel free to take part. Here are some tasks you can do to help with WikiProject Cuba:
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk·contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Cuba}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
Commons
Wikibooks
Wikidata
Wikinews
Wikiquote
Wikisource
Wikispecies
Wikiversity
Wikivoyage
Wiktionary
