National Trade Data Bank ITEM ID : ST BNOTES CUBA DATE : Oct 28, 1994 AGENCY : U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROGRAM : BACKGROUND NOTES TITLE : Background Notes - CUBA Source key : ST Program key : ST BNOTES Update sched. : Occasionally Data type : TEXT End year : 1993 Date of record : 19941018 Keywords 3 : Keywords 3 : | CUBA BACKGROUND NOTES: CUBA PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS US DEPARTMENT OF STATE FEBRUARY 1993 Official Name: Republic of Cuba PROFILE People Nationality: Noun--Cuban(s); adjective--Cuban. Population: 10.8 million; 70% urban, 30% rural. Avg. annual growth rate: 1%. Density: 97/sq. km. (244/sq. mi.). Ethnic groups: Spanish-African mixture. Language: Spanish. Education: Compulsory--6 years. Attendance: 92% (ages 6-16). Literacy: 99%. Health: Infant mortality rate--12/1,000. Life expectancy--77 years for women, 74 years for men. Work force: 3.6 million; 30% government and services, 22% industry, 20% agriculture, 11% commerce, 10% construction, 7% transportation and communications (June 1990). Geography Area: 110,860 sq. km. (44,200 sq. mi.); about the size of Pennsylvania. Capital: Havana (pop. 2 million). Other cities: Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, Santa Clara, Holguin, Guantanamo, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Pinar del Rio. Terrain: Flat or gently rolling plains, hills, mountains up to 2,000 meters (6,000 ft.) in the southeast. Climate: Tropica, moderated by trade winds; dry season (November-April); rainy season (May-October). Government Type: Communist state; current government assumed power January 1, 1959. Independence: May 20, 1902. Constitution: February 24, 1976. Branches: Executive--President, Council of Ministers. Legislative--National Assembly of People's Government. Judicial--People's Supreme Court. Political party: Cuban Communist Party (PCC). Suffrage: All citizens age 16 and older, except those who have applied for permanent emigration. Indirect National Assembly elections were held in 1986. Administrative subdivisions: 14 provinces including the city of Havana, and one special municipality (Isle of Youth). Flag: White star centered on red triangle at staff side, three blue and two white horizontal bands. Economy Gross social product (This economic measure is not convertible to GNP/GDP.): $21 billion (1991). Real annual growth rate: -20% (1991). Per capita income: $1,500. Natural resources: Nickel, cobalt, iron ore, copper, manganese, salt, timber. Agriculture: Products--sugar, citrus and tropical fruits, tobacco, coffee, rice, beans, meat, and vegetables. Industry: Types--sugar, food processing, oil refining, cement, electric power, light consumer and industrial products. Trade: Exports--$3.6 billion (f.o.b. 1991): Sugar and its by-products, petroleum, nickel, seafood, citrus, tobacco products, rum. Major markets in 1991: former USSR 63%; OECD 17%; China 6%. Imports--$3.7 billion (c.i.f. 1991): Capital goods, industrial raw materials, food, petroleum, consumer goods. Major suppliers in 1991: former USSR 47%; OECD 24%; China 6%. Official exchange rate: 1 Cuban peso= US $1 for trade. 1 Cuban peso=US $1.33 for tourists and diplomats. PEOPLE Cuba is a multi-racial society with a population of mainly Spanish and African origins. The largest organized religion is the Roman Catholic Church. Officially, Cuba has been an atheist state for most of the Castro era. However, a constitutional amendment adopted on July 12, 1992, changed the nature of the Cuban state from atheist to secular, enabling religious believers to belong to the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). HISTORY Before the arrival of Columbus in 1492, Cuba was inhabited by three groups--Siboneys, Guanahabibes, and Tainos-- the last of which introduced agriculture, including maize and tobacco, to the island. As Spain developed its colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere, Havana became an important commercial port. Settlers eventually moved inland, devoting themselves mainly to sugar cane and tobacco. As the native Indian population died out, African slaves were imported to work the plantations. A 1774 census in Cuba recorded 96,000 whites, 31,000 free blacks, and 44,000 slaves. Slavery was abolished in 1886. Cuba was the last major Spanish colony to gain independence in a movement which began in 1850, when Cuban planters financed and led several expeditions against Spanish garrisons. In 1868, the Ten Years' War for independence began under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, whom the Cubans consider to be the father of their country. Jose Marti, Cuba's greatest national hero, initiated plans for a general uprising 24 years later. In 1895, Marti announced the Grito de Baire, heralding the beginning of Cuba's final struggle for independence. Shortly after, he died in battle. The United States entered the conflict on the side of the revolutionaries when the USS Maine, anchored in Havana Harbor to protect US citizens, was sunk by an explosion of unknown origin on February 15, 1898. On December 10, 1898, Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War and relinquishing control of Cuba to the United States. The United States administered the island for 3 years. Independence was proclaimed May 20, 1902, although the United States retained the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence and stability under the Platt Amendment, which established conditions mandated by Congress for the withdrawal of US troops from Cuba. In 1934, the amendment was repealed in keeping with the Roosevelt Administration's "Good Neighbor" policy. Later the same year, the United States and Cuba reaffirmed by treaty the 1903 agreement which leased the Guantanamo Bay naval base to the United States. This agreement remains in force today and can only be terminated by mutual agreement or abandonment by the United States. Cubans elected General Gerardo Machado as president in 1924, but he forcibly extended his rule until a popular uprising deposed him in 1933. Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista led the revolt and established himself as Cuba's dominant leader for more than 25 years. He ruled through a series of presidents and was himself elected in 1940 for 4 years. In March 1952, shortly before regularly scheduled elections, Batista seized the presidency in a bloodless coup. On July 26, 1953, an armed opposition group led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada army barracks at Santiago de Cuba. The attack was unsuccessful, and many, including Castro, were captured and imprisoned. Castro, released by Batista under a May 1955 amnesty, went into exile in Mexico, where he formed a revolutionary group, the "26th of July Movement." On December 2, 1956, Castro and 81 of his followers landed in eastern Cuba aboard the yacht Granma. All but 12 were soon captured, killed, or dispersed. From this nucleus, Castro's forces eventually grew to several thousand. While other groups also actively opposed Batista, Castro's "26th of July" forces became predominant when Batista fled on January 1, 1959. Castro's assumption of power was acclaimed in Cuba and abroad because he seemed to embody the hopes of most Cubans for a return to democratic government and an end to graft and corruption. Within months, Castro moved to consolidate his power and to set up an authoritarian government. Many leaders of the opposition to Batista were executed or sentenced to lengthy prison terms for opposing Castro's policies. Moderates were forced out of the government, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the island. During an April 1959 visit to Washington, Castro addressed concerns about a reported leftist tilt to his regime by saying, "We are against all kinds of dictators, whether of a man, or a country, or a class, or an oligarchy, or by the military. That is why we are against communism." On December 2, 1961, Castro publicly declared himself a Marxist- Leninist. Representative democracy was abolished, effective freedom of expression ended, and all opposition political activity was soon terminated. FOREIGN RELATIONS Cuba's once-ambitious foreign policy has been scaled back and redirected as a result of economic hardship and the end of the East-West conflict. Cuba aims to find new sources of trade, aid, and foreign investment, and to drum up opposition to US policy toward Cuba, especially the trade embargo and the Cuban Democracy Act. Support for revolutionary movements, once an article of faith for the regime, is largely a thing of the past. Cuba has relations with nearly 140 countries and has civilian assistance workers--principally medical--in more than 20 nations. When it first came to power, the Castro Government supported the spread of revolution by aiming to reproduce throughout Latin America its rural-based guerrilla warfare experience. In 1959, Cuba aided armed expeditions against Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. During the 1960s, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia all faced serious Cuban-backed attempts to develop guerrilla insurgencies. These movements failed to attract popular support. The most conspicuous failure occurred in 1967. Castro had sent Che Guevara--a charismatic revolutionary hero from Argentina and symbol of Cuban efforts to spread the revolution throughout Latin America--to lead an insurgency in Bolivia. Guevara's efforts were opposed by both the peas- antry and the Bolivian Communist Party. Guevara was killed, and the insurgency collapsed. Cuba's support for Latin revolutionaries, along with the openly Marxist-Leninist character of its government and its alignment with the USSR, contributed to its isolation in the hemisphere. In January 1962, the Organization of American States (OAS) excluded Cuba from active participation. Two years later, OAS foreign ministers resolved that member nations should have no diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba and should suspend all trade and sea transportation. In the late 1960s, Cuba de-emphasized its policy of supporting revolutions abroad and began to pursue normal government-to-government relations with other Latin American nations. By the mid-1970s, Cuba had reestablished diplomatic relations with a number of countries in the region. In 1975, the OAS lifted comprehensive sanctions and deferred to individual member states the option of diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Cuba expanded its military presence abroad--deployments reached 50,000 troops in Angola, 24,000 in Ethiopia, 1,500 in Nicaragua, and hundreds more elsewhere. In Angola, Cuban troops, supported logistically by the USSR, backed the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), one of the movements competing for power after Portugal granted Angola its independence. Cuban forces played a key role in Ethiopia's war in the Ogaden region against Somalia, 1977-78, and remained there in substantial numbers as a garrison force for a decade. Cubans served in a non-combat advisory role in Mozambique and the Congo. Cuba also used the Congo as a logistical support center for Cuba's Angola mission. In the late 1980s, Cuba began to pull back militarily. Cuba unilaterally removed its forces from Ethiopia; Cuba met the timetable of the 1988 Angola-Namibia accords by completing the withdrawal of its forces from Angola before July 1991; and Cuba ended military assistance to Nicaragua following the Sandinistas' 1990 electoral defeat. In January 1992, following the peace agreement in El Salvador, Castro stated that Cuban support for insurgents was a thing of the past. Cuban-Soviet Relations Ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union were close from 1960 until perestroika and the subsequent demise of the USSR. Cuba received critical economic and military assistance, which kept its economy afloat and enabled it to maintain a disproportionately large military establishment. However, as the former USSR's economy experienced growing problems, its reliability as a trade and aid partner for Cuba declined. Russia has drastically reduced economic and military aid to Cuba. In November 1992, Cuba and Russia signed a number of economic and commercial agreements. Russian officials have stated that all trade will be at world prices. Cuban-Soviet ties led to a direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over the installation of nuclear-equipped missiles in Cuba, resolved only when Moscow agreed to the withdrawal of the missiles and other offensive weapons. In late 1970, the possibility that the Soviet Union would establish submarine bases in Cuba became an issue. However, they were never established. In 1971, President Nixon affirmed the existence of an understanding between the United States and the USSR that the Soviet Union would not install any offensive weapons systems in Cuba nor operate such systems from there, including sea-based systems. Cuba's special relationship with the Soviet Union began to disintegrate during perestroika, due to growing economic difficulties and ideological differences. During a visit in April 1989, President Gorbachev spoke out against the "export of revolution." Following Gorbachev's trip, Castro and the Cuban press began to harshly criticize reforms in the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union undertook a worldwide reduction of its military forces. Soviet military personnel in Cuba, numbering around 15,000 in 1990, today total under 4,000 Russian troops. In September 1991, then-President Gorbachev announced the withdrawal of the 2,800- man Soviet combat brigade. An estimated 1,600 soldiers still in Cuba are to be withdrawn by June 1993. Russia maintains a signal intelligence-gathering facility, the largest of the former USSR, at Lourdes. It is staffed by 2,100 technicians and monitors US civilian and military communications. US-Cuban Relations After Castro came to power, bilateral relations deteriorated sharply, primarily because of its imposition of a repressive dictatorship, its uncompensated nationalization of American property valued at about $1.8 billion in 1962, and its support for violent subversive groups. The United States broke diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961, after the Cuban Government demanded that the US embassy in Havana be reduced to a skeleton staff. In 1962, the United States imposed a comprehensive economic embargo against Cuba. Tensions between the two governments peaked during the abortive "Bay of Pigs" invasion by anti-Castro Cubans supported by the United States in April 1961 and the October 1962 missile crisis. Following Cuba's de-emphasis of the export of revolution in the 1970s, the United States did not oppose the OAS decision to make discretionary the application of sanctions against Cuba and began to discuss normalization of relations with Cuba. Talks began but were halted when Cuba launched a large-scale intervention in Angola. Subsequent efforts undertaken to improve relations led to the establishment of interests sections in the two capitals on September 1, 1977. Currently, the US interests section in Havana and the Cuban interests section in Washington, DC, are under the protection of the Swiss embassy. New differences in the late 1970s--Cuba's failure to withdraw troops from Angola, intervention in Ethiopia, increasing subversion in the Caribbean Basin and Central America, the delivery of sophisticated Soviet weaponry, and the Cuban Government's deliberate efforts to violate US sovereignty and immigration laws through the 1980 Mariel exodus--eroded the possibility of improvement in bilateral relations. Quiet efforts to explore the prospects for improving relations were initiated by the United States in 1981-82; however, the Cuban Government refused to alter its conduct with regard to US concerns about Cuba's support for violent political change and its close political and military cooperation with the Soviet Union. The liberation of Grenada by the United States and regional allies in 1983 and the expulsion of Cuban forces based there was a setback for Cuba's plans to expand its regional sphere of influence. One year later, the United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement to normalize immigration and return to Cuba the "excludables" (criminals or insane persons who, under US law, are not allowed to reside in the United States) who had arrived during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Cuba suspended this agreement in May 1985 following the US initiation of the Radio Marti by the Voice of America (VOA), which broadcasts news to Cuba. The Mariel agreement, reinstated in November 1987, allowed normal migration to occur between the two countries. In March 1990, VOA began transmitting TV Marti to Cuba. Since its inception, Cuba has jammed TV Marti and blocked Radio Marti on the AM band. Radio Marti on short wave has a large audience. With the peace settlement in El Salvador and establishment of democracy in Nicaragua, US concerns focused on Cuban resistance to democratic reforms and its denial of human rights --two major obstacles to improved bilateral relations. In May 1991, President Bush said that if Cuba holds free and fair elections under international supervision, respects human rights, and stops subverting its neighbors, US-Cuban relations could improve signi- ficantly. In October 1992, President Bush signed into law the Cuban Democracy Act. This bipartisan legislation was intended as a statement of US policy toward a free and democratic Cuba. Its principal provisions ban most US subsidiary trade with Cuba and exclude any vessel which stops in Cuba from entering US ports for 180 days. It also provides for humanitarian donations to non-governmental organi- zations in Cuba and improved telecommunications. Despite existing tensions, the United States continues to discuss areas of mutual concern, such as immigration, with the Government of Cuba. Interests Sections Havana: US Interests Section, Calzada between L and M, Vedado. Tel. 33-3551 through 33-3559. Principal Officer--Alan Flanigan Deputy Principal Officer--Vincent Mayer Consul--William H. Griffith Public Affairs Adviser--Gene Bigler Washington, DC: Cuban Interests Section, 2630 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Tel. 202-797-8518. Principal Officer--Alfonso Fraga Perez Deputy Principal Officer--Miguel Nunez GOVERNMENT Cuba is a totalitarian state dominated by Fidel Castro, who is President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Communist Party, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Castro exercises control over nearly all aspects of Cuban life through a network of directorates ultimately responsible to him through the Cuban Communist Party. From January 1959 until December 1976, Castro ruled by decree. The 1976 constitution, extensively revised in July 1992, provides for a system of government in which the PCC is "the highest leading force of the society and state." The center of party power is the Politburo, which has 24 members, in addition to Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul Castro. There are 205 members in the Central Committee. Executive and administrative power is vested in the Council of Ministers; its president since 1959, Fidel Castro, is head of government. There are 10 other vice presidents on the Council of Ministers. Legislative authority rests with the National Assembly of People's Government, which meets for about 5 days per year. When the assembly is not in session, it is represented by the Council of State, of which Fidel Castro is the president and Raul Castro is first vice president. The PCC is Cuba's only legal political party. It monopolizes all govern- ment positions, including judicial offices. All pre-1959 political parties and political organizations have been abolished. Though not a formal require- ment, party membership is a de facto prerequisite for high-level official positions and professional advancement in most areas, although non-party members have been elected to the National Assembly. Cuba's trade unions, women's federation, and youth and other mass organizations are controlled by the government and party. These organizations attempt to extend Cuban Government and PCC control over each citizen's daily activities at home, work, and school. The Cuban Communist Party is composed of the pre-revolution communist party which, along with two other political groups supporting the revolution, was absorbed into a new political entity formed by Castro in July 1961. Further refinements resulted in the emergence in late 1965 of the PCC. The party's Politburo and Central Committee together include most of the country's military and civilian leaders. In July 1992, the National Assembly convened for 3 days to amend the 1976 constitution. Changes included abolishing references to the former Soviet bloc; outlawing discrimination for religious beliefs; permitting foreign investment; giving Fidel Castro new emergency powers; and allowing direct elections to the National Assembly, although candidates will still be approved by quasi-governmental bodies, and campaigns will not be allowed. Cubans do not possess equal protection under the law, the right to choose freely government representatives, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, or freedom to travel to and from Cuba without restriction. The government and party control all electronic and print media. Cuba has no independent judiciary. Although the constitution specifies that the courts shall be "a system of state organs independent of all others," it explicitly subordinates the judiciary to the National Assembly and, thus, to the Council of State. The People's Supreme Court is the highest judicial body. Due process safeguards can be circumvented constitutionally, and defense attorneys face severe disadvantages under the Cuban judicial system. The Ministry of Interior ensures political and social conformity as well as internal security: It operates border and police forces, orchestrates public demonstrations, investigates evidence of non-conformity, regulates migration, and maintains pervasive vigilance through a network of informers and 80,000 block committees (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution--CDR). In practice, the top leadership determines the degree to which civil liberties are exercised. In February 1992, member states of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) voted 23-8 (with 21 abstentions) to approve a resolution expressing "alarm at continuing reports of human rights abuses" and profound concern at "numerous uncontradicted reports of continued violations . . . of human rights." Cuba refused to cooperate with 1991 and 1992 UNHRC resolutions creating special envoys to investigate Cuba's human rights situation. Human rights activists continue to be the subject of arbitrary arrest, court procedures that violate even Cuban constitutional guarantees, and lengthy prison sentences based on the flimsiest of evidence. Principal Government Officials President, Council of State and Council of Ministers; First Secretary of the Communist Party; and Commander in Chief--Fidel Castro First Vice President, Council of State and Council of Ministers; Second Secretary of the Communist Party; General of the Army and Minister of Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR)--Raul Castro Minister of Foreign Relations--Ricardo Alarcon Ambassador to the United Nations--Alcibiades Hidalgo ECONOMY Since the late 18th century, the Cuban economy has been dominated by sugar production and has prospered or suffered due to fluctuations in sugar prices. The Castro regime has been unable to break that pattern, and sugar accounts for about three-quarters of export earnings. Cuba's famous tobacco provides a second source of export earnings, but it is also subject to market forces. Cuba has never diversified from its basic monocultural economy despite some development of natural resources such as nickel, iron ore, copper and timber and a well-educated work force. For more than 30 years, the defects in Cuba's economy and the effects of the economic embargo imposed by the United States in 1962 were at least partially offset by heavy subsidies from the former Soviet Union and favorable trade relationships with the countries of the former Soviet bloc. But those supports ended abruptly with the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the late 1980s and with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Cuba's break with its former patron and its failure to undertake needed reforms combined to produce an unprecedented economic crisis. Its economy is estimated to have declined by 40% from 1989 through 1992. The economic prospects are not good, largely because of the Castro regime's decision to maintain the state's highly centralized control over economic decision-making, the lack of inputs for industry, and the "Special Period in Peacetime," which relies upon strict rationing of food, fuel, and electricity. The "Special Period" gives priority to domestic food production, development of tourism, and biotechnology production. Responsibility for running the economy and for economic policy rests with the Council of State. Basic public services are provided by the state, either free of charge or for minimal fees. Access to education generally is adequate, but urban housing and medical care have deteriorated, as have communications and transportation. The Central Planning Board, working closely with the Banco Nacional de Cuba, directs nearly all economic activity and sets prices and targets for production, imports, and exports. Five-year plans have fallen into disuse with the advent of the "Special Period" and the disintegration of the trading relationship with the former Soviet bloc. The last 5-year plan was for 1986-1990. The state owns and operates most of Cuba's farms and all industrial enterprises. State farms occupy about 70% of farmland, while peasant cooperatives account for about 20%. Private farms account for about 10% of Cuba's agriculture. Cuba's manufacturing sector emphasizes import substitution and provision of basic industrial materials. In recent years, many Cuban firms have closed or reduced production because of shortages of foreign exchange and limited access to spare parts and imported components. Castro's efforts to diversify the economy and reduce Cuba's dependence on sugar exports in the country's international trade have been unsuccessful. Sugar continues to account for about 75% of export earnings, although sugar production and exports have declined over the past 5 years. Cuba specializes in the production of sugar byproducts and, to a lesser extent, light industry, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Tobacco and tobacco products traditionally have been Cuba's second-largest agricultural export. Other important crops include coffee and citrus. Cuba's light industrial sector, which grew in the 1970s and 1980s, has declined because of a lack of spare parts and components. Hard hit are the electrical power, food processing, cigar, chemical, petroleum, textile, and metallurgy industries. Cuba has three large oil refineries--two expropriated from US firms--and a recently completed refinery at Cienfuegos, built with Soviet technology and capital. The two older refineries are operating well below capacity, while the one at Cienfuegos has never opened. Traditionally, Cuba's mining sector has accounted for a significant part of export earnings. The country's nickel reserves are the fourth largest in the world. The ore is processed on the island in two formerly US-owned plants at Nicaro and Moa Bay. Plants are also located at Punta Gorda and Las Camariocas. Much of Cuba's transportation network was developed in pre-revolutionary Cuba to serve the sugar industry. The road network exceeds 30,000 kilometers (19,000 mi.), of which about half is paved. The island has a 14,640 kilometer (5,600 mi.) railway system. Buses are found throughout urban areas but are notoriously crowded and in disrepair. Public transport has been crippled by the lack of fuel. A significant portion of rural public transport is provided by horse and buggy, while in urban areas bicycles largely have replaced private vehicles. Havana is the most important of the country's 11 major ports. The national airline, Cubana de Aviacion, serves major cities in Cuba and a shrinking number of foreign cities in Europe and Latin America. Aero-Caribbean, a charter company formed in 1982, provides unscheduled passenger and cargo service to the Caribbean Basin and Western Europe. During the 1980s, more than 80% of Cuba's external trade was with the former Soviet bloc, of which the Soviet share normally was more than 70%. The Soviet Union alone imported 80% of all Cuban sugar and 40% of all Cuban citrus. Cuba's trade with the Soviet bloc involved use of non-convertible currencies. Annual trade protocols set the volume of goods to be exchanged between Cuba and these countries. This system was abandoned as the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union introduced market-oriented economic policies that affected trade with Cuba. Currently, Cuban trade with Russia is only a fraction of its trade with the former Soviet Union, which had subsidized Cuban oil imports. Cuban oil imports from the former Soviet Union of an estimated 13 million tons in 1989 have fallen to about 5 million tons in 1992 from all sources. An oil-for-sugar barter agreement with Russia was completed in June 1992. Russia has announced the end of all trade subsidies to Cuba. In November 1992, Cuba and Russia announced that agreements for trade, scientific, and maritime relations had been signed. Among the cooperative programs discussed was how to continue financing and construction of the Juragua, Cuba, nuclear power plant, begun in 1983 with the former Soviet Union. Completion of the power plant is a Cuban priority, but construction lagged during the 1980s and fell further behind schedule due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1992, Cuba suspended work because it could not afford the cost of Russian technical assistance. However, the November 1992 agreement between the two states would result in completion of the plant if a financier can be found for the nuclear safety and control equipment. Although Cuba is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Treaty of Tlatelolco, a Latin American regional non-proliferation regime, it is subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards normally applied to non-NPT parties. Cuba has entered into an agreement with the IAEA to apply safeguards to individual facilities including the Juragua power plant. The reactors that would be installed are of the VVER-400 type, an advanced model of the Soviet pressurized water reactor. They are not the same as those installed at Chernobyl. In addition, the Cuban reactors are housed in a reinforced concrete containment dome. The United States has imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Cuba. Legislation signed into law in October 1992 revoked Treasury authority to issue licenses for most US subsidiary trade with Cuba and bans for 180 days vessels which have entered a Cuban port from loading or unloading in US ports. The legislation provides support for the Cuban people by permitting licensing for "efficient and adequate" telecommunications and for humanitarian donations to non-governmental organizations in Cuba. With the loss of trade and aid from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Cuba has attempted to attract foreign investment and Western buyers for its sugar and nickel, as well as for its biotech products. Except in tourism, Cuba has had limited success in attracting investors because of the deterioration of the economy, its unpaid debt to Western countries, and the lack of clear titles to expropriated property. In 1990, tourism generated $325 million; most of the visitors came from Western Europe and Canada. Since July 1986, Cuba has not serviced its roughly $7-billion debt owed to Western, mainly governmental, creditors. Consequently, Cuba has not received rescheduling either from the Paris Club (an association of international governmental lenders) or from private institutions. Cuba is not servicing its debts to Russia--perhaps as high as $20 billion--or to Eastern Europe. "Rectification" Policy In April 1986, Castro called for "rectification of errors and negative tendencies" and mandated the observance of strict Marxist orthodoxy in running the economy. The policy, which continues today, is the antithesis of the Soviet perestroika (restructuring) concept. "Rectification" emphasizes centralized direction over market forces and moral and ideological, as opposed to material, incentives to spur productivity. It calls upon Cubans to make greater sacrifices to further the collective good. In 1986, as a part of the "rectification" effort, the government closed farmers' markets through which some people had been able to sell produce grown on their own garden plots at uncontrolled prices since 1980. It also sought to eliminate many bonuses and overtime pay for workers. The Castro Government encourages voluntary labor, in the form of "micro-brigades" and "contingents," especially in the construction sector, and has tried to reduce corruption and black marketeering. "Special Period" In October 1990, Castro announced that Cuba had entered a "special period in time of peace" and that the economy would function as if in time of war until the crisis had passed. Cubans are feeling the effects of the end of Havana's special relationship with Moscow. Most goods are now rationed, and many previously imported from the Soviet Union simply have disappeared. Total Cuban imports in 1992 are expected to be less than 60% of the 1989 total. Economic production may have decreased by more than 40% from 1989 to 1992. Underemployment, a chronic problem, has worsened with the idling of thousands of industrial workers whose jobs depended on inputs from abroad. Labor has been shifted to agriculture to compensate for fuel and machinery shortages affecting food and production. Education and medical care generally are accessible, although both have been affected by nationwide austerity. Many pharmaceutical products are in short supply or unavailable. Urban housing, as well as transportation and communications services, remain seriously inadequate. Havana's bus system, for example, has reduced service by more than 40% in the last 2 years. DEFENSE Under Castro, Cuba has become one of the most highly militarized societies in the world. In Latin America, only Brazil, with a population more than 12 times that of Cuba, has a larger military. In 1958, in the middle of an insurrection, Cuba's armed forces numbered 46,000. Today, the Revolutionary Armed Forces contain about 270,000 active duty and ready reserves--235,000 army, 17,000 air force/air defense, and 13,500 navy, plus some military units under the Ministry of Interior. More than 1 million Cubans belong to the country's two paramilitary organizations, the Territorial Militia Troops and the Youth Labor Army. Cuba's military establishment is considered to be one of the most modern in the region. From 1975 until the late 1980s, massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities and project power abroad. The tonnage of Soviet military deliveries to Cuba throughout most of the 1980s exceeded deliveries in any year since the military build-up during the 1962 missile crisis. In 1990, Cuba's air force, with about 150 Soviet-supplied fighters, including advanced MiG-23 Floggers and MiG-29 Fulcrums, was probably the best equipped in Latin America. The Cuban army has more than 1,000 Soviet-supplied T-62 and T-54/55 main battle tanks. Cuban military power has been drastically reduced by the loss of the special relationship between the former Soviet Union and Cuba. Lack of fuel has resulted in reduced training and military exercises. Lack of spare parts and new materiel has resulted in the moth-balling of planes, tanks, and other military equipment. Due to the end of the Cold War, Cuban forces are no longer used as a surrogate for Soviet geopolitical objectives. TRAVEL NOTES: Naturalized US citizens of Cuban origin are generally considered under Cuban law to be Cuban citizens only. The US Government insists on its right and duty to represent the interests of all its citizens, but the Cuban Government generally refuses such representation on behalf of persons it considers to have Cuban nationality. US officials are generally denied access to US citizens of Cuban origin who have been detained by Cuban authorities. US Treasury regulations: The Department of the Treasury regulates all transactions between persons subject to US jurisdiction and the Government of Cuba or its nationals, including travel-related transactions. The current Cuban Assets Control Regulations prohibit the following transactions: -- Financial transactions of any kind related to tourism, business, or recreational purposes, whether travelers go directly or through third countries; -- Importing into the United States goods or services of Cuban origin either directly or through third countries; -- Exporting US products, technology, or services to Cuba either directly or through third countries, except for informational materials; -- Engaging in transactions anywhere in the world with Cuban nationals or other individuals or organizations acting on Cuba's behalf; and -- Sending remittances to Cuba, except for $300 every quarter to the household of a close relative. The Cuban Democracy Act (1992) provides for civil as well as criminal penalties for violations of these regulations. For further information, contact the Chief of Licensing, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20220. Transportation: There are no scheduled commercial transportation services between the United States and Cuba. Currently, three private services operate charter flights several times a week between Havana and Miami. Residents of Cuba as well as residents of the United States authorized to travel to Cuba by the Department of the Treasury may use those flights. National holidays: Jan. 1, Revolution Day (1959) May 1, International Workers Day July 26, Anniversary of Moncada Barracks Attack (1953) October 10, Anniversary of the War of Independence (1868) Published by the United States Department of State -- Bureau of Public Affairs -- Office of Public Communication -- Washington, DC February 1993 -- Managing Editor: Peter Knecht Department of State Publication 8347 -- Background Notes Series -- This material is in the public domain and may be reprinted without permission; citation of this source is appreciated. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Contents of this publication are not copyrighted unless indicated. If not copyrighted, the material may be reproduced without consent; citation of the publication as the source is appreciated. Permission to reproduce any copyrighted material (including graphics) must be obtained from the original source.