Cuba

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT CUBA
Government / Population / Historical Synthesis / Provinces / National Tree / National Anthem / Nature / Currency / Electricity / Climate / Religion / Education / Health / Geographic Location / National Flag / National Shield / National Bird / Culture
Government
Cuban government is a socialist state. The current constitution was adopted on 24 February 1976, as amended by 1992. The supreme body of state power is the National Assembly of People's power, with legislative constituent powers in the Republic of Cuba, as a parliamentary regime. The highest executive and administrative body of the government is the Council of Ministers. The highest organ of the judiciary is the popular Supreme Court.
The Central legislature is the National Assembly of Popular Power.
The judiciary is exercised by the Popular Supreme Court, which is elected by the National Assembly. Miguel Díaz Canel Bermudez, is the President of the Council of State and ministers since 2018.
Population
It has about 11,221,070 inhabitants.
The white population, which corresponds to the majority, is formed mainly by descendants of Spanish immigrants, although there is also a high level of crossbreeding formed by whites, blacks and Chinese.
Historical synthesis
On October 27th, 1492 Christopher Columbus arrives on the island of Cuba:  "This is the most beautiful land that human eyes saw." There was a meeting of two worlds and shortly thereafter, at the beginning of the 16th century, colonization by Diego Velásquez, who founded the first seven villas: Baracoa, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Port-au-Prince (today Camagüey) and San Cristóbal de la Havana.
As the Aboriginal population disappeared because of the diseases transmitted and the abuse they were subjected by the colonialists and the needs of slave labor, the Importation of African Negroes began, who after a long process of syncretism with the Spaniards, gave birth of the Cuban nationality.  
On October 10, 1868, it would go through different stages: first against the Spanish colonial power and then against the direct occupation, and dominion of the United States through servers and backed national governments of turn, until culminating with the true Independence and sovereignty on January 1, 1959, with the triumph of the Revolution.
Provinces
 
The Republic of Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and 168 municipalities. They are, from west to east: Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Santi Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. There is also the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality, which belongs to the Los Canarreos archipelago.
Geographical location
The Cuban archipelago is formed by the island of Cuba, Island of Youth and around 4 195 cays and islets. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico. It covers an area of 110 922 km² and separates 140 km from the Bahamas, 180 km from Florida, 210 km from Cancun and 146 km from Jamaica. It has a population of 11 million inhabitants. Havana is the capital of the country and there are more than 2 million inhabitants.
Lone Star Flag
The flag of the lonely star is the symbol of the Cuban nation. Its three colors, red blue and white, taken from the tricolored teaches of the French and North American Revolutions, incorporated to the struggles for our independence, the ideas of  "Libertad ",  "equality " and "Fraternity ". Its equilateral red triangle, represents the unity of the Cubans achieved by the blood shed in their libertarian struggles. The Lone Star of five points, located at the center of the same red triangle, indicates the independent and sovereign character of Cuba. The three blue lists represent the three departments in which the island was divided, west, central and Eastern, and in turn, by color, is indicative of the altruistic aspirations of the Cubans to be free. The White stripes mean the purity and virtue of the Cuban people.
Bayamo anthem
The lyrics and music of the National Anthem was composed by the famous Cuban patriot Pedro Figueredo Cisneros, (Perucho). Sung in its original form for the first time on October 20, 1868, when the forces of the Liberation Army took the city of Bayamo, it has become one of the most momentous events in the history of the country, which is why this date has been taken as the Cuban Culture Day. It was called in its beginnings La Bayamesa, for two fundamental reasons: as an evocation to La Marseillaise, symbol of rebellion of the oppressed and for having been born in the city of Bayamo. With a deep patriotic content, this hymn that was forged in combat, has been an inseparable companion for all Cubans to face our struggles for national freedom and sovereignty.
Text of the Bayamo anthem
¡Al combate corred, bayameses
que la patria os contempla orgullosa!
No temáis una muerte gloriosa
que morir por la patria es vivir.
En cadenas vivir, es vivir
en afrenta y oprobio sumidos
del clarín escuchad el sonido
¡A las armas valientes, corred!
Coat of arms of the Royal Palm
 National emblem of the nation, describes in its integrity our homeland anywhere in the world. It represents the geographical and political importance of Cuba by means of a key that opens the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, placed transversally between Cape Sable cape of Florida and the billet of Yucatan; the rising sun means the young republic that emerges; the lower quarter of its left is allusive and has the same meaning as the stripes of the Cuban flag, the barracks next to the right represents a typical Cuban landscape. The shield is supported by a beam of eleven rods that symbolizes the union of the Cubans in the fight for freedom, crowned by a Phrygian cap, which in its center presents the lone star, as a sign of the independent and sovereign character of the island of Cuba.
Its red color represents the blood shed to achieve the Cuban freedom.  On its right side the shield is bordered by a branch of Holm Oak, and on its left, by a laurel representing strength and victory.
National bird      
Tocororo (Priotelus Temnurus), is a climbing bird, endemic to Cuba, with beautiful and colorful colors. Their plumage plays the colors of the national emblem whose indigenous name is Guatiní. Tocororo dwells in the forested places of the whole country, especially in the mountainous areas. It is the national bird of the Cubans for two fundamental reasons: by the symbolism of its beautiful plumage of vivid colors and by its resistance to the captivity.
National tree 
The Royal palm (Roystonea Regia. O.F. Cook), is recognized by all Cubans as the queen of our fields due to the majesty of its structure, its peculiar size, its strength, the utility that reports and being the most numerous of our trees. It usually reaches a height between forty and fifty feet, crowned by a beautiful tuft of pinnatisectas leaves, able to inspire countless poets, musicians and painters, for its elegance. It is part of the landscape stamped on the national coat of arms of the Republic.
National flower
Mariposa (butterfly) (Hedychium Coronarium Koenig) that takes its name from the resemblance of its petals to this beautiful lepidopteran insect, is the national flower of the Republic of Cuba. The plant that gives rise to this beautiful, fragrant and white flower, reaches up to a meter and a half high and its green and large leaves are in turn lanceolate and sheathed. Because of its whiteness, it is associated with the purity of the independence ideals and peace, also present in two stripes of the national banner. The butterfly is also a symbol of delicacy, grace and slenderness of the Cuban woman.
 
Language
The official language is Spanish.
Nature
Plains, mountains, lagoons, make splendid landscapes. To go through the fields of Cuba is to know the true meaning of biodiversity. Birds and mammals abound, while the flora is composed of more than 6 370 types of higher plants. Versed by poets and sung by minstrels, the Viñales Valley and the Yumurí Valley, in Pinar del Río and Matanzas, respectively, are famous. Valle de los Ingenios and Mayabe, in Santi Spíritus and Holguín also stand out.
They are Biosphere Reserves, at the request of UNESCO, the Guanahacabibes Peninsula and the Sierra del Rosario, in Pinar del Río; the Baconao Park, in Santiago de Cuba; and Cuchillas del Toa, in Holguín and Guantánamo.
The highest summit of Cuba is located in the Sierra Maestra, where the majestic Pico Turquino rises haughtily, with 1 974 m above sea level.
Cuba has a rich phreatic mantle, however its rivers are predominantly narrow and short because of the scarce width of the territory. Springs and waterfalls abound in areas of abrupt relief, and also the caves, highlighting the great gallery of St. Thomas, among the largest in the Western Hemisphere.
Currency
The Cuban peso is equivalent to 100 cents. It circulates in bills of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pesos and coins worth 1, 3 and 5 pesos. Fractional coins are 1, 2, 5, 20 and 40 cents.
The import or export of Cuban currency is prohibited.
Electricity
The electricity corresponds to 110/120 volts, 60Hz. The type of plug corresponds to the typical two-pallet American, except for those hotels with another capacity that use round ferrules of the European type have electricity of 220 volts.
Weather
It has a semitropical climate; the average annual temperature reaches 25 ° C (77 ° F). The wet and rainy season corresponds between the months of May to October. During the months of August, September and October, Cuba is occasionally touc hed by tropical hurricanes.
Religion
On the island several religious systems coexist without any predominate
As rich as its own culture, in Cuba there is a complex religious syncretism that goes from Christianity to Afro-Cuban traditions, passing through oriental philosophies. For that reason, in the cults that John Paul II officiated during his visit to the island, there was surely an amalgam of Catholics, let's say pure, and of practitioners of ancestral Afro-Cuban rites.
One of the most classic examples of Cuban religious syncretism is precisely in the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. Adored throughout the archipelago, for some it is the Holy Mary Mother of God, for others it is the Orisha Ochún, goddess of love, and for the great majority it is simply the Virgin of Charity or Cachita, the patron saint of Cuba.
Syncretism makes it difficult to know the exact number of faithful of a certain religion, but researchers agree that up to 85 percent of Cubans manifest some type of religiosity. In the particular case of Catholics, some sources point to a figure of three million, but experts like Jorge Ramírez Calzadilla, of the Department of Socio-religious Studies, disqualify that number, since it includes all the baptized.
That complexity of cults, initiated with the Spanish colonization, that brought Catholicism and the black slaves of Africa, is what has caused that John Paul II finds in Cuba a religious kaleidoscope.
Education
Education is totally free. In Cuba there is no illiteracy. Teaching is compulsory up to the middle school level. It has a large number of technical schools and universities distributed throughout the country. In general, the educational level of the population in Cuba is very high.
Health
The Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) is the governing body of the National Health System. Responsible for directing, executing and controlling the application of the policy of the State and the Government regarding Public Health, the development of Medical Sciences and the Pharmaceutical Medical Industry.
Its principles are:
  • State and social nature of medicine
  • Accessibility and free services
  • Prophylactic orientation
  • Appropriate application of advances in science and technology
  • Community participation and intersectoriality
  • International collaboration
  • Normative centralization and executive decentralization
Culture:
The Cuban culture is a combination of Spanish and African traditions. Popular music is rumba and son, although it also has folk music such as guajiro and zapateo, as well as traditional African touches and dances. Poets stand out as Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Julián del Casal, Nicolás Guillén, novelists such as Alejo Carpentier, José Lezama Lima and others. Among the most important museums are the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Anthropological Museum Emilio Bacardi, Museum of Natural History in Santiago de Cuba, the Oscar M. De Rojas in Cárdenas (Matanzas). It has a large number of theaters, libraries and other municipal and provincial museums.
Cuba
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