Cuba

• tropical;
• moderated by trade winds;
• dry season (November to April);
• rainy season (May to October)

total:

8.2 cu km/yr (19%/12%/69%)

per capita:

728 cu m/yr (2000)

• air and water pollution;
• biodiversity loss;
• deforestation

party to:

Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Marine Life Conservation

noun:

Cuban(s)

adjective:

Cuban

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.82 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever (2009)

• illicit emigration is a continuing problem;
• Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas;
• Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and over-land via the southwest border

conventional long form:

Republic of Cuba

conventional short form:

Cuba

local long form:

Republica de Cuba

local short form:

Cuba

name:

Havana

geographic coordinates:

23 07 N, 82 21 W

time difference:

UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

• +1hr, begins third Sunday in March;
• ends last Sunday in October;
• note - Cuba has been known to alter the schedule of DST on short notice in an attempt to conserve electricity for lighting

• 15 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 special municipality* (municipio especial);
• Artemisa, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Isla de la Juventud*, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Mayabeque, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara

• none;
• note - Cuba has an Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy, headed by Principal Officer Jorge BOLANOS Suarez;
• address:
  • Cuban Interests Section,
  • Swiss Embassy,
  • 2630 16th Street NW,
  • Washington,
  • DC 20009
  ;
• telephone: [1] (202) 797-8518;
• FAX: [1] (202) 797-8521

• none;
• note - the US has an Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy, headed by Chief of Mission John P. CAULFIELD;
• address:
  • USINT,
  • Swiss Embassy,
  • Calzada between L and M Streets,
  • Vedado,
  • Havana
  ;
• telephone: [53] (7) 833-3551 through 3559 (operator assistance required);
• FAX: [53] (7) 833-1653;
• protecting power in Cuba is Switzerland

• five equal horizontal bands of blue (top, center, and bottom) alternating with white;
• a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white, five-pointed star in the center;
• the blue bands refer to the three old divisions of the island: central, occidental, and oriental;
• the white bands describe the purity of the independence ideal;
• the triangle symbolizes liberty, equality, and fraternity, while the red color stands for the blood shed in the independence struggle;
• the white star, called La Estrella Solitaria (the Lone Star) lights the way to freedom and was taken from the flag of Texas

note: design similar to the Puerto Rican flag, with the colors of the bands and triangle reversed

agriculture:

20%

industry:

19.4%

services:

60.6% (2005)

lowest 10%:

NA%

highest 10%:

NA%

general assessment:

• greater investment beginning in 1994 and the establishment of a new Ministry of Information Technology and Communications in 2000 has resulted in improvements in the system;
• national fiber-optic system under development;
• 95% of switches digitized by end of 2006;
• mobile-cellular telephone service is expensive and must be paid in convertible pesos, which effectively limits subscribership

domestic:

fixed-line density remains low at 10 per 100 inhabitants; mobile-cellular service expanding but remains only about 10 per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 53;
• fiber-optic cable laid to but not linked to US network;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)

• government owns and controls all broadcast media with private ownership of electronic media prohibited;
• government operates 4 national TV networks and many local TV stations;
• government operates 6 national radio networks, an international station, and many local radio stations;
• Radio-TV Marti is beamed from the US (2007)

total:

8,598 km

country comparison to the world: 24

standard gauge:

8,322 km 1.435-m gauge (124 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

276 km 1.000-m gauge

note: 4,533 km of the track is used by sugar plantations; 4,257 km is standard gauge; 276 km is narrow gauge (2006)

total:

60,858 km

country comparison to the world: 72

paved:

29,820 km (includes 638 km of expressway)

unpaved:

31,038 km (2000)

• Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, FAR): Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Revolucionario, ER, includes Territorial Militia Troops (Milicia de Tropas de Territoriales, MTT));
• Revolutionary Navy (Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria, MGR, includes Marine Corps);
• Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Forces (Defensas Anti-Aereas y Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria, DAAFAR), Youth Labor Army (Ejercito Juvenil del Trabajo, EJT) (2011)

• 17-28 years of age for compulsory military service;
• 2-year service obligation;
• both sexes subject to military service (2006)

males age 16-49:

2,998,201

females age 16-49:

2,919,107 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

2,446,131

females age 16-49:

2,375,590 (2010 est.)

male:

72,823

female:

69,108 (2010 est.)

• the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the Cuban military of its major economic and logistic support and had a significant impact on the state of Cuban equipment;
• the army remains well trained and professional in nature;
• while the lack of replacement parts for its existing equipment has increasingly affected operational capabilities, Cuba remains able to offer considerable resistance to any regional power (2010)

current situation:

• Cuba is a source country for adults and some children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• prostitution of children reportedly occurs in Cuba as prostitution is not criminalized for anyone above 16 years old;
• the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• the government did not publicize information about government measures to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts during the reporting period (2010)

• territorial waters and air space serve as transshipment zone for US- and European-bound drugs;
• established the death penalty for certain drug-related crimes in 1999 (2008)