REPUBLIC OF CUBA

• Official name: Republica de Cuba (Republic of Cuba)
• Location: Caribbean
• International organisations: Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of American States, United Nations, World Trade Organisation
• Borders: None
• Coastline: Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean
• Land area: 110,860 Km2
• Population: 11,500,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$9,700 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 86
• Ethnicity: About half the population are of mulatto (mixed European and African) descent. About 40% are of entirely European (mainly Spanish) descent, while 10% are of African descent.
• Languages: Spanish is the official language and is universally spoken.
• Religion: About 80% of the population are nominal Catholic Christians. The regime actively discourages religious practice.
• Form of government: Communist dictatorship. Cuba is divided into 14 provinces and one special administrative region.
• Capital: Havana (La Habana)
• Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba came into effect on 24 February 1976, and was last amended in July 1992.
• Head of state: The President, chosen elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term. The last such election was in January 2008.
• Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
• Legislature: Cuba has a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular). This body has 601 members, elected for five-year terms. The last elections were in January 2008. No candidates not approved by the Communist Party were permitted. The legislature is in any case largely decorative.
• Electoral authority: Elections are conducted by the government.
• Freedom House 2011 rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 6
• Transparency International Corruption Index: 37% (69 of 178 countries rated)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom 2010 Index: 12% (166 of 178 countries rated)
• Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom 2010 Index: 27.7% (177 of 179 countries rated)

Political history

Cuba became a Spanish possession when it was claimed by Columbus in 1492. Cuba did not become independent in the 1820s along with the rest of Spanish America partly because of fear that the island would be seized by the United States. An independence movement developed from the 1850s, but many Cubans preferred Spanish rule to annexation by the USA, which seemed to be the alternative. A revolution broke out in 1895, triggering the Spanish-American War and the American occupation of the island. Full independence came only when the Americans withdrew in 1909.

Independent Cuba suffered from chronic bad government and corruption, as well as frequent interference from the US. General Gerardo Machado, elected President in 1925, established a dictatorship which lasted until 1933. President Ramon Grau San Martin (1944-48) tried to implement the liberal reforms the country badly needed, but his successor Carlos Prio Socarras, elected at Cuba's last free election in 1948, reverted to old corrupt ways. Fulgencio Batista seized power in 1952 and established a dictatorship, which collaped in 1959 when rebel forces led by Fidel Castro seized power.

Castro came to power promising democracy and reform, but he soon aligned himself with the Communists and by 1963 he had established a Communist dictatorship supported by the Soviet Union. Although his anti-Americanism and many of his social reforms won him great popularity in Cuba and beyond, his regime ruthlessly repressed those anyone calling for democracy or wider personal freedoms. The Communist Party of Cuba is the only legal political party.

The end of Soviet aid in 1991 created an economic crisis and a fall in living standards which weakened the regime, but it survived, partly due to assistance from oil-rich Venezuela. In 2007 Castro's failing health forced him to retire as President, and he was succeeded without opposition by his brother Raul Castro. The change was followed by a slight political and economic liberalisation, but Fidel Castro remains First Secretary of the Communist Party and a powerful influence against reform. The 2008 global financial crisis hit Cuba hard and led to mass layoffs of state employees as the state's finances crumbled. Raul Castro turned 80 in 2011 - what will happen when the Castros finally depart is unclear.

Freedom House's 2011 report on Cuba says: "Cuba is not an electoral democracy. Longtime president Fidel Castro and his brother, current president Raul Castro, dominate the one-party political system, in which the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) controls all government entities... All political organizing outside the PCC is illegal. Political dissent, whether spoken or written, is a punishable offense, and dissidents frequently receive years of imprisonment for seemingly minor infractions... Official corruption remains a serious problem, with a culture of illegality shrouding the mixture of private and state-controlled economic activities that are allowed... The news media are controlled by the state and the PCC... The government restricts academic freedom... The unauthorised assembly of more than three people, even for religious services in private homes, is punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine... The Council of State, led by Raul Castro, controls both the courts and the judicial process as a whole."

Updated November 2011