An overview of cuba

By Terry Onley

An Overview of Cuba

Although Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean,it is only about a quarter the size of California

About 90 miles South of Florida,and 50 miles west of Haiti, Cubaenjoys a tropical climate, moderated by the trade winds.

It’s a big island!

The Sierra Maestra Mountain range is located at the Southeasternend of the main island of Cuba, but the rest of the country ismostly flat to rolling plains, with very little inland open water.

Cuba has about 2,500 square miles ofsubtropical pine forest;

Now, that’s different… Don’t see much of that in the rest of Latin America.

This is a statue of Hatuey, the first Cuban Revolutionary leader. When the Spanish invaded Cuba in 1511, Hautey andother Taíno chieftains led the population in a series of revolts against the conquerors. By 1514, the Spanish were incomplete control of Cuba’s mainland The Spanish captured Hatuey and the other chieftains, and burned them alive,just one of the many atrocities they committed during their conquest

Oddly, although there are thousands of individuals of primarily Taínodescent living in the Eastern mountain ranges of Cuba, and studiesindicate the presence of Taíno DNA in many, if not most of the folkliving in the Caribbean region, none of the official demographic studiesI was able to find mentioned Native American heritage…

Science vs. politics? The forgotten people?

There is a great variance in different agencies’assessments of the ethnic makeup of the Cuban people.Estimates of the number of folk of African Descent vary from 10% to 62%. All authorities agree that at leasta quarter of the population is of mixed heritage,probably far more.

Thomas, p 219White: 65% Mulatto: 24% Black: 10% Asian: 1%

Most Cubans are probably of mixed racial heritage

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

Including Taíno…

About 1% of the Cuban population is of Chinese descent. Mostly, their ancestors were brought from China in the mid 1800s to work in the cane fieldsas indentured servants, although some 5000 came from the US, mostlyCalifornia, to escape the discrimination at that time (late 1800s)

When Fidel Castro’s regime nationalized all the businesses belongingto Chinese owners, most of the full-blooded Chinese immigrants left Cuba, giving rise to hundreds of Cuban-Chinese restaurants all over the eastern seaboard of the USA, and Puerto Rico. Most of the Chineseleft in Cuba are of mixed ancestry.

Spanish sausage fried rice, anyone?

Unlike most Latin American countries, Cubans seem to like baseballbetter than football (soccer). Many great baseball players have cometo America and other countries from Cuba. They are never mentioned in a Cuban newspaper again, although folks still talk about them onthe streets…

Carefully.

Yes, that’s Fidel himself

“¡Hola, compañeros!”

Cuba’s automotive culture is comprised ofmany unique vehicles: old, pre-revolutionAmerican cars, some Russian vehicles, andsome utterly Cuban constructs.

Stretched LadaCuban Camel Bus

Not a whole bunch of new-car salesmenin Cuba…

Probably that trade embargo…

You’ve been bad, you’ve been bad, you’ve been very, very bad!

Fidel Castro overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Between them, thesetwo men have defined the history of Cuba for nearly sixty years; a bit more if you consider Batista’s 1940-44 stint as President, before electing himself Dictator in 1952.

Economically, Cubadid very well underBatista, perhaps lessso after Castro tookover; most especiallyduring the unfortunate“Special Period” after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Unlike other Latin American nations, Cuba allowed Russia to place nuclear weapons and delivery systems in their country, thusprecipitating the “Cuban Missile Crisis” of 1962

Maybe the Cubans were mad about that US trade embargo put in placeseveral months earlier…

It was not recognized until theCuban Missile Crisis HavanaConference in October 2002that this Soviet B-59 submarinewas within minutes of firing a15 kiloton nuclear torpedo atUS warships which surroundedit on October 26, 1962, and forced it to surface.

Apparently the captain had already ordered the nuclear torpedo madeready to fire, when his second in command , Vasili Arhipov, persuadedhim not to deploy the weapon.

Thank you, Vasili!

One of the legacies of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the“Hot Line” in the White House and the Kremlin, designed to help prevent further misunderstandingslike the 13 days of fear that gripped the world in 1962…

The End(but not of the world…)

Sources:• All Slides: Google Images and Various Wikipedia Articles• Slide 3 (Cuban Pine forests): wwf.panda.org• Slide 4&5 (Population ratios): havanaguide.com(Thomas, p 219)• Slide 7 (Spanish sausage fried rice): toliveandeatinnyc.com•Slide 14 (Hot Line): http://www.globalaffairs.es/en/the-cuban- missile-crisis-the-eluded-perspectives-of-the-soviet-union- and-the-cuban-government/

Thanks again, Vasili!