History UsefulNotes / Cuba

** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': Bond meets the BadassAdorable CIA agent Paloma (Creator/AnaDeArmas) in Santiago de Cuba. Actually filmed in UsefulNotes/{{Jamaica}}.

** ''Film/DieAnotherDay''. The Havana scenes were actually filmed at La Caleta, Spain.
** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', where he meets the BadassAdorable CIA agent Paloma (Creator/AnaDeArmas) in Santiago de Cuba. Actually filmed in UsefulNotes/{{Jamaica}}.

* '''Country calling code:''' 53

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' CU

This status quo remained more or less until the reign of "President"/dictator UsefulNotes/FulgencioBatista, who maintained strong ties with the US government and even moreso with "legitimate" US businesses. While the role of the Mafia in pre-Revolutionary Cuba is heavily exaggerated, it was definitely present on both sides of the Florida straits. All of this made it seem like Batista would be able to continue lording it over like so many other strongmen had before him. But this state of affairs began to change when clamor for reform on the island coupled with growing US antipathy towards supporting his regime (particularly since he also wanted Guantanamo Bay back) ate away at his support until the 1959 Cuban Revolution, in which UsefulNotes/FidelCastro and his left-wing M-26-7 (26th of July Revolutionary Movement) took over the country after waging a fierce guerrilla war against Batista in the jungles and mountains. The Castro regime's policies rapidly led to a complete breakdown of relations between Cuba and the West.

The resulting [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion "Bay of Pigs"]] amphibious assault by a troop of Cuban exiles was a LastStand on par of Thermopylae tactically, but strategically and politically was an embarrassing failure. Enough to convince the U.S. establishment to abandon support for anti-Castro insurgents inside Cuba, who were progressively defeated in the bloody but relatively unknown [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escambray_rebellion Escambray rebellion]]. Already heavily leaning towards the authoritarian left, Castro swung fully towards an alliance with the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]], inviting military forces in to act as a counterbalance to another attempt, and accepting heavy Soviet economic aid that his country eventually became totally dependent on. Things got hairy during the [[WorldWarIII Cuban Missile Crisis]], wherein the US learned that the Soviet Union had transferred some missiles to Cuba. After several days of nuclear brinkmanship and frantic diplomacy, the two superpowers avoided all-out war by promising to take out missiles from each other's proxy country (the USSR from Cuba, and the US from UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}), leading to a relative thaw in US-USSR relationships. Castro was not present at the talks concerning the crisis, particularly because the Soviets were not sure if they could rely on him or allies like UsefulNotes/CheGuevara to keep their cool.

Cuba continues to suffer shortages of every day commodities, a situation not helped by the ongoing US embargo-fiercely maintained through every US Presidential Administration for the past fifty years-or the Castro government's refusal to display fiscal responsibility, failures to utilize the rest of the world market, and unstinting hostility towards the US. However, it did [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_economic_reforms partly recover]] from the hell of the 90s thanks to rolling back some socialist policies (for example, 11,600 positions in 32 government ministries were eliminated in 1993, Soviet-style farms were abandoned, and farmers were now legally allowed to sell the surplus from their yield), cutting social spending as a direct result of the latter (the government also raised the rates for public services such as telephone, transportation and electricity), and instituting minor liberal reforms, such as legalizing self-employment, decriminalizing the possession and circulation of foreign exchange, and introducing bonuses based on work performance. This drew Castro heavy internal criticism for having "abandoned the socialist revolution", prompting him to respond that he had not abandoned the goals of socialism, but that Cuba "has to be ready to conduct necessary changes to adapt to present world conditions." However, on a separate occasion he bitterly described his reforms as "concessions to the enemy."

If you like crumbling Spanish architecture, 1950s cars, lovely beaches uncluttered with [[HawaiianShirtedTourist stupid tourists]], ballet, and the best music UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica has to offer, modern Cuba is the place to go-unless you're American, in which case, as of December 2014, you were only allowed to go under one of the [[https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba 12 reasons designated by the US government]] and with other restrictions such as only being allowed to buy $400 worth of goods (of which only $100 can be tobacco and/or alcohol products). Many of these restrictions and exemptions have been tightened or removed respectively starting in June 2017 ([[https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Americans_in_Cuba see this Wikivoyage page for more details for Americans wishing to travel to Cuba]]). All other travel to Cuba by US citizens (such as pure tourism) remain a violation of the embargo and therefore a crime. The US still rigorously maintains its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, where the last remnant of American hold over Cuba is present (it has the island's sole UsefulNotes/McDonalds!). Technically, the 1903 treaty that stipulated the lease of Guantanamo Bay to Americans is still intact, and the U.S. continues to send monthly checks (currently $4,085) to Cuba. Since Cuba regards the lease as an occupation after the 1959 Revolution, [[HonorBeforeReason it has refused to check every single of them]]. (In 2007, Fidel Castro admitted that his government accidentally deposited one check in the confusion after the revolution).

* ''Film/TheFateOfTheFurious'': has a scene where the main characters have a drag race in Havana's streets.

If you like crumbling Spanish architecture, 1950s cars, lovely beaches uncluttered with [[HawaiianShirtedTourist stupid tourists]], ballet, and the best music UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica has to offer, modern Cuba is the place to go-unless you're American, in which case, as of December 2014, you were only allowed to go under one of the [[https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba 12 reasons designated by the US government]] and with other restrictions such as only being allowed to buy $400 worth of goods (of which only $100 can be tobacco and/or alcohol products). Many of these restrictions and exemptions have been tightened or removed respectively starting in June 2017 ([[https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Americans_in_Cuba see this Wikivoyage page for more details for Americans wishing to travel to Cuba]]). All other travel to Cuba by US citizens (such as pure tourism) remain a violation of the embargo and therefore a crime. Also notable is the country's human development (average healthcare, education, nutrition, life expectancy, et. al.) which throughout the last decades has been higher than those of the countries that surround it and Latin America in general. All this despite the crumbling infrastructure, the secret police, the embargo, and the continued repression of free speech and human rights abuses against those elements deemed "counter-revolutionary".

In 2015, there was a thawing of relations with the United States under UsefulNotes/BarackObama, amid increasing pressure to end the embargo. The US took Cuba off of its state sponsors of terrorism list, and embassies were established in each other's capitals. However, in 2017, many of these re-engagement policies were rolled back under President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. The generational issue among Cuban-Americans meant that the decision had mixed reaction; people who fled the Castro regime or whose parents did are generally opposed to engagement, but younger Cuban-Americans tend to see the embargo as reflecting Cold War prejudices and favor full normalization. In the final days of his presidency, Trump also readded Cuba back to the US state sponsors of terrorism list, joining UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, UsefulNotes/NorthKorea, and UsefulNotes/{{Syria}}.

Cuba, officially the '''Republic of Cuba''' ('''Spanish:''' ''República de Cuba''), is the largest and most populated country in the Caribbean and fifth most populated country in the continent of North America, after the United States, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala. A land where the music is good, the drink flows freely (at least where the tourists are) and the tourists come for both. Oh, and it's famous for its [[ItsCuban cigars]] and [[DirtyCommunists Communism]].

Eventually, the Spanish colonists became upset with Spain and started to fight a war of liberation, which bled on for [[ForeverWar decades on and off]] of some of the most intensive fighting in the history of the Americas and featured the first formal use of [[AluminumChristmasTrees Concentration Camps]]. All of this generally caused a great deal of instability and made Spain look like it had egg on its face ''before'' the United States, flexing its muscles on the world stage, became involved due to popular outrage turning Cuba into a cause célèbre. First unofficially and at a grassroots level, and then [[CurbStompBattle Not So Unofficially.]] After decades of being the Cuban rebels' most popular support base, it entered the war claiming that Spain had attacked the US, following the then-mysterious 1898 explosion and sinking of the ''USS Maine'' off the Cuban coast (a 1976 investigation revealed its boiler had exploded accidentally). The war became called the Spanish-American War; the US was victorious and Cuba became "independent".[[note]]An American protectorate.[[/note]] During this time a chess player named Capablanca became famous around the world. He went on to become a Chess Master and is now regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

Of course, newly independent Cuba faced several problems, not the least of which being that it was not-so-independent: the establishment of the now-infamous Guantanamo Bay military base was just one of the many strings attached to the country's independence under the terms of something known as the Teller and later Platt Amendments. According to these, the US gave Cuba its nominal independence, though the American shadow continued to hover over Cuba, but that sort of went awry when Cubans started asking for a greater voice in government, coupled with diplomacy from FDR.

This status quo remained more or less until the reign of "President"/dictator {{UsefulNotes/Fulgencio Batista}}, who maintained strong ties with the US government and even moreso with "legitimate" US businesses. While the role of the Mafia in pre-Revolutionary Cuba is heavily exaggerated, it was definitely present on both sides of the Florida straits. All of this made it seem like Batista would be able to continue lording it over like so many other strongmen had before him. But this state of affairs began to change when clamor for reform on the island coupled with growing US antipathy towards supporting his regime (particularly since he also wanted Guantanamo Bay back) ate away at his support until the 1959 Cuban Revolution, in which UsefulNotes/FidelCastro and his left-wing M-26-7 (26th of July Revolutionary Movement) took over the country after waging a fierce guerrilla war against Batista in the jungles and mountains. The Castro regime's policies rapidly led to a complete breakdown of relations between Cuba and the West.

The resulting [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion "Bay of Pigs"]] amphibious assault by a troop of Cuban exiles was a LastStand on par of Thermopylae tactically, but strategically and politically was an embarrassing failure. Enough to convince the U.S. establishment to abandon support for anti-Castro insurgents inside Cuba, who were progressively defeated in the bloody but relatively unknown [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escambray_rebellion Escambray rebellion]]. Already heavily leaning towards the authoritarian left, Castro swung fully towards an alliance with the Soviet Union, inviting military forces in to act as a counterbalance to another attempt, and accepting heavy Soviet economic aid that his country eventually became totally dependent on. Things got hairy during the [[WorldWarIII Cuban Missile Crisis]], wherein the US learned that the Soviet Union had transferred some missiles to Cuba. After several days of nuclear brinkmanship and frantic diplomacy, the two superpowers avoided all-out war, leading to a relative thaw in US-USSR relationships. Castro was not present at the talks concerning the crisis, particularly because the Soviets were not sure if they could rely on him or allies like Che to keep their cool.

From 1966 to 1989 Cuba would aid the Angolan military in its military conflict, first against UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}, then against an alliance of the rebel group UNITA and Apartheid South Africa in the 1960s. Cuba financed a number of revolutionary insurgencies around the world, including the Sandinistas and the South African rebel organizations such as the ANC. They also sent soldiers and other advisors to aid the Arab nations in their attempts to wipe out Israel in the Yom Kippur War and earlier War of Attrition, and unsuccessfully attempted to start insurgencies in Bolivia and Venezuela (even sending soldiers to the latter at two separate points). Che Guevara would die in this type of effort in Bolivia, most likely executed to avoid a trial. As a result of this Castro's reputation abroad is... [[FlameBait mixed]]. On one hand, he's considered a ruthless, opportunistic tyrant with a thirst for military adventurism that often was uglier than the US or even the Apartheid government cared to stomach. On the other, he is considered by some one of the founding fathers of Namibia, Angola, and racially equal South Africa (to the point where Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro were reported to be close friends).

The status quo in Cuba tottered along until the Soviet Union's collapse in the late 1980's. Cuba's enormous social spending and foreign adventurism had only ever been sustainable due to heavy Soviet aid, and they had no real systems in place to account for said aid stopping. This had an immediate and devastating effect on the Cuban economy since the USSR both the main commercial partner of Cuba for decades and the source of nearly a quarter of its entire economy via handouts in the form of [[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/16/world/soviet-said-to-reduce-support-for-cuban-economy.html $4-5 billion in annual subsidies.]] Cuban GDP contracted by over 25% in less than three years, in a time where the rest of the developing world (including its neighbor, the formerly very poor Dominican Republic) was rapidly getting richer. Unlike many other socialist states after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cuba and the U.S did not normalize relations, and the U.S. maintained its embargo, hoping the regime would collapse. In what is known as "the Special Period" (early 90s), Cuba's economy suffered immensely, with simple necessities like toilet paper and food becoming even harder to find. Cuba started to focus more on tourism, and enough trade was attracted from Europe to slow the descent into the CrapsackWorld-ness of some of its Caribbean neighbors. Cuba continues to suffer shortages of every day commodities, a situation not helped by the ongoing US embargo-fiercely maintained through every US Presidential Administration for the past fifty years-or the Castro government's refusal to display fiscal responsibility, failures to utilize the rest of the world market, and unstinting hostility towards the US. However, it did [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_economic_reforms partly recover]] from the hell of the 90s thanks to rolling back some socialist policies (for example, 11,600 positions in 32 government ministries were eliminated in 1993, Soviet-style farms were abandoned, and farmers were now legally allowed to sell the surplus from their yield), cutting social spending as a direct result of the latter (the government also raised the rates for public services such as telephone, transportation and electricity), and instituting minor liberal reforms, such as legalizing self-employment, decriminalizing the possession and circulation of foreign exchange, and introducing bonuses based on work performance. This drew Castro heavy internal criticism for having "abandoned the socialist revolution", prompting him to respond that he had not abandoned the goals of socialism, but that Cuba "has to be ready to conduct necessary changes to adapt to present world conditions." However, on a separate occasion he bitterly described his reforms as "concessions to the enemy."

Until his official retirement in 2008, Castro was one of the longest-serving leaders in world history who wasn't a monarch. His brother Raúl has taken over and he's no young 'un; what will happen after ''his'' passing is anyone's guess. So far, Raul's most notable domestic policies involve [[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-politics-castro-changes-explaine/explainer-the-state-of-raul-castros-economic-reforms-in-cuba-idUSKBN1HO0CL more liberalization]] of the Cuban economy, moving further away from the centrally planned economy (which even Fidel admitted in 2010 was not sustainable) it had previously possessed for decades. The heaviest changes occurred in 2011, effectively creating a new Cuban economic system; generally there was a decrease to government intervention and increase to foreign engagement, whether it be making it easy for foreigners to invest or easier for Cubans to travel to foreign countries. He even signed into law a bill creating a Special Economic Zone in the city of Mariel, where one hundred percent foreign ownership is permitted and foreign companies are able to transfer their profits abroad without paying the usual property taxes, sales taxes, or tariffs. Time will tell whether Raul Castro succeeds at his efforts, or whether his successor continues along the same path.

If you like crumbling Spanish architecture, 1950s cars, lovely beaches uncluttered with [[HawaiianShirtedTourist stupid tourists]], ballet, and the best music Latin America has to offer, modern Cuba is the place to go-unless you're American, in which case, as of December 2014, you were only allowed to go under one of the [[https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba 12 reasons designated by the US government]] and with other restrictions such as only being allowed to buy $400 worth of goods (of which only $100 can be tobacco and/or alcohol products). Many of these restrictions and exemptions have been tightened or removed respectively starting in June 2017 ([[https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Americans_in_Cuba see this Wikivoyage page for more details for Americans wishing to travel to Cuba]]). All other travel to Cuba by US citizens (such as pure tourism) remain a violation of the embargo and therefore a crime. Also notable is the country's human development (average healthcare, education, nutrition, life expectancy, et. al.) which throughout the last decades has been higher than those of the countries that surround it and Latin America in general. All this despite the crumbling infrastructure, the secret police, the embargo, and the continued repression of free speech and human rights abuses against those elements deemed "counter-revolutionary".

Since 2015, Cuba and the United States have restored diplomatic relations and there is increasing pressure to end the embargo, enraging much of the Cuban-American community. However, in 2017, many of these re-engagement policies have been rolled back, drawing cheers from the same parts of the Cuban American Community.[[note]]This is a generational issue among Cuban-Americans; people who fled the Castro regime or whose parents did are generally opposed to engagement, but younger Cuban-Americans tend to see the embargo as reflecting Cold War prejudices and favor full normalization.[[/note]] Whether or not this causes Cuba to become more democratic or collapse from pro-democracy pressure remains to be seen.

* '''Area:''' 109,884 sq km (42,426 sq mi) (104th)

* '''Area:''' 109,884 km (42,426 sq mi) (104th)

* '''Currency:''' Cuban peso ($/₱) (CUP)

** President of the National Assembly: Esteban Lazo Hernández

** First Secretary of the Communist Party: Raúl Castro
** President: Miguel Díaz-Canel

[[AC:The Cuban flag]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cuba_flag_2590.png

----

Cuba, the largest and most populated country in the Caribbean and fifth most populated country in the continent of North America after the United States, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala. A land where the music is good, the drink flows freely (at least where the tourists are) and the tourists come for both. Oh, and it's famous for its [[ItsCuban cigars]] and [[DirtyCommunists Communism]].

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Cuba]] in Manga/AxisPowersHetalia is a big guy who loathes America but hangs around with Canada.

If you like crumbling Spanish architecture, 1950s cars, lovely beaches uncluttered with [[HawaiianShirtedTourist stupid tourists]], ballet, and the best music Latin America has to offer, modern Cuba is the place to go-unless you're American, in which case, as of December 2014, you were only allowed to go under one of the [[https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba 12 reasons designated by the US government]] and with other restrictions such as only being allowed to buy $400 worth of goods (of which only $100 can be tobacco and/or alcohol products). Many of these restrictions and exemptions have been tightened or removed respectively starting in June 2017 ([[https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Americans_in_Cuba see this Wikivoyage page for more details for Americans wishing to travel to Cuba]]). All other travel to Cuba by US citizens (such as pure tourism) remain a violation of the embargo and therefore a crime. Also notable is the country's human development (average healthcare, education, nutrition, life expectancy, et. al.) which throughout the last decades has been higher than those of the countries that surround it and Latin America in general. All this despite the crumbling infrastructure, the secret police, the embargo, and the continued repression of free speech and human right abuses against those elements deemed "counter-revolutionary".

Since 2015, Cuba and the United States have restored diplomatic relations and there is increasing pressure to end the embargo, enraging much of the Cuban-American community. However, in 2017, many of these re-engagement policies have been rolled back, drawing cheers from the same parts of the Cuban American Community. [[note]]This is a generational issue among Cuban-Americans; people who fled the Castro regime or whose parents did are generally opposed to engagement, but younger Cuban-Americans tend to see the embargo as reflecting Cold War prejudices and favor full normalization.[[/note]] Whether or not this causes Cuba to become more democratic or collapse from pro-democracy pressure remains to be seen.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Blacklist'' has a mission in Guantanamo Bay.

Cuba, the largest and most populated country in the Caribbean and fifth most populated country in the continent of North America after the United States, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala. A land where the music is good, the drink flows freely (at least where the tourists are) and the tourists come for both. Oh, and it's famous for its cigars and [[DirtyCommunists Communism]].

* ''Film/MiamiVice'' has Sonny visiting to Havana.

[[index]]

[[/index]]

This status quo remained more or less until the reign of "President"/dictator {{UsefulNotes/Fulgencio Batista}}, who maintained strong ties with the US government and even moreso with "legitimate" US businesses. While the role of the Mafia in pre-Revolutionary Cuba is heavily exaggerated, it was definitely present on both sides of the Florida straits. All of this made it seem like Batista would be able to continue lording it over like so many other strongmen had before him. But this state of affairs began to change when clamor for reform on the island coupled with growing US antipathy towards supporting his regime (particularly since he also wanted Guantanamo Bay back) ate away at his support until the 1959 Cuban Revolution, in which UsefulNotes/FidelCastro took over the country. The Castro regime's policies rapidly led to a complete breakdown of relations between Cuba and the West.