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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.  [phone].

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
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