Cuba

Template:Citations missing Cuba is an island located in the Caribbean Sea, 90 miles south of Florida. It is the only Communist country in the Western Hemisphere.

History

As part of Spain

In 1492, Cuba was Christopher Columbus's first sight in his first and most famous voyage to the Americas. Spain took control of the mainly complacent colony in 1511.

Over three hundred years later, in 1868, a Creole farmer, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, started a revolution for independence from Spain. Spain put down the insurgency after a ten-year struggle.

Under Spanish rule, Cuba relied on slavery longer than all nations in the Western Hemisphere except Brazil. Cuba had a slave trade from 1521 to 1886. In 1880, the Spanish Cortes approved the abolition law, which provided for an eight-year period of patronato (tutelage) for all slaves liberated according to the law. This only amounted to indentured servitude ^{[Who says?]} as slaves were required to spend those eight years working for their masters at no charge. On October 7, 1884, slavery was finally abolished in Cuba by a Royal Decree that also made the patronato illegal. In 1893, Cuba granted equal rights to all.

Transition (as US colony)

By 1895 200,000 Spanish soldiers were in Cuba. Americans were shocked at how Spain sent tens of thousands of Cubans to concentration camps, where many died of starvation or disease. After increasing tension between the United States and Spain. When the USS Maine blew up while docked in Cuba, Spain was blamed and the United States declared the Spanish American War. President McKinley approved this Resolution of Congress:

Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle ship, with 266 of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured ...

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives ... That the people of the island of Cuba are and of right ought to be free.

However, per the treaty, Cuba would serve 20 years as an United States territory.

Independence

Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded McKinley, abandoned the 20 year deal and Cuba became an independent nation in 1901, on the condition that the United States would keep Guantanamo Bay.

Batista's coup

In 1940 after a series of rulers, Fulgencio Batista ran for presidency and won. A year later, Batista's administration formally took Cuba into World War II as a U.S. ally, declaring war on Japan on December 9, 1941, then on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941. At the end of his term in 1944, Batista stepped down and Ramón Grau was elected to succeed him.

In 1952, Batista again ran for office, however popularity polls showed he was a distant third to Roberto Agramonte and Dr. Aurelio Hevia. When it became apparent to Batista that he could not win, he stage a coup, whereby he again took office. In 1954, due to United States pressure, Batista agreed to hold elections, however ex-President Grau, the leader in the polls, withdrew from the race amid allegations that Batista was rigging the elections. In April 1956, Batista gave orders for Ramon Barquin to become General and Chief of the Army, however Barquin had already planned another coup to overthrow Batista. The coup was overthrown, and the officers were sentenced to the maximum terms allowed by Cuban Martial Law. Barquin was sentenced to solitary confinement for 8 years.

Revolution

In 1956, a party of rebels led by Fidel Castro, landed in a yatcht from Mexico and tried to start an armed resistance movement. In Mexico, the army was strengthened by the cooperation of Ernesto Che Guevara, who later became one of the most important people in the Cuban revolution. Throughout 1957 and 1958, opposition to Batista grew. In response to Batista's plea to purchase better arms from the U.S. in order to root out the insurgents in the mountains, the United States government imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban government on March 14, 1958. Later in 1958, the rebels achieve significant victories, and Batista fled the country. Castro’s rebel forces entered the capital on January 8, 1959. Short after Dr. Manuel Leo Urrutia assumed power, to be followed by the February election of Castro to Prime Minister. Later in April, seeking to end the embargo as the new government had taken over, Castro, then a staunch United States supporter, flew to the United States to meet with President Eisenhower, however rather than meet with Castro, Eisenhower decided to play in a golf match. The action marked the beginning of deteriorating relations between the two countries. In 1960, Castro officially declared Cuba communist.

In 1962, the Soviet Union, placed missile in Cuba while the United States was under the rule of President John F. Kennedy. They argued that the missiles were fair ground due to the United States having placed missiles in Turkey in a previous year. The high-pressure controversy that resulted quickly subsided when both sides withdrew.

Government

To this day Cuba's lone party has been ruled by Fidel Castro. In 1960, Cuba became a communist nation, and the United States and Cuba relationship went into turmoil. The US trade-embargo on Cuba last to this day.

Due to Cuba's Communist philosophy, many are not allowed to freely travel or move, thus, those who disagree with the Communist teachings or Fidel Castro, will risk their life to escape it - often attempting to reach Havana, Florida. Each year since Castro's oppressive regime was installed, tens of thousands have done so.

Health-care

Health care in Cuba follows the model of socialized medicine; all doctors are employees of the government, and the government does not charge citizens for health care, though many believe the services provided are alarmingly inferior for anyone but the party elite. Fred Thompson wrote:

Castro won't allow observers in to monitor his nation's true state, but defectors tell us that many Cubans live with permanent malnutrition and long waits for even basic medical services. Many treatments we take for granted aren't available at all -- except to the Communist elite or foreigners with dollars. For them, Castro keeps "show" clinics equipped with the best medicines and technologies available.

The country's chief neurosurgeon, Hilda Morina, publicly protested the government's role in the deterioration of the health care system.

Education

According to the CIA World Factbook, the education system has achieved a 97% literacy rate on the island.