Bizarre facts on Cuba?

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Ludd Zarko

Cuba is located in the center of the Caribbean. Its strategic location makes it a very favorable place for commerce.

Cuba has a very fertile soil, especially for sugar cane and other tropical crops. Also has mineral reserves and excellent beaches.

Ah, beardo, you read that old story. Yes, the British took the Habana in 1762 and ruled for 11 months.
The situation of the European countries at the moment. War, the usual

Among the bravest defensors were Cuban officers.

By the way, beardo, what the British did was to use the churches as stables. No British would ever dream of worshiping in a Catholic church. Politics, you know

There is a story about a British soldier that saw in the hand of one of the saints , a silver ring. Of course, he considered it as property sizable as war loot.
He climbed to get the ring, but the figure fell on the soldier, killing him.
His companions were more concerned with finding the ring than with their companion's death. You know
But they could not find it.
After the British left, somebody found the ring, and the figure was remembered as the saint who killed an enemy
Politics, you know

Rick

Well, Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus, but despite that, the yanks never admit that Cuba is part of America

Cuba is the first country in America to have a comunist government. Sadly, it seems that it will not be the last

Does that count ?

fidel has been talking crap for 50 years and turned his country into a prison. Its inhabitants into slaves. In spite of that, he is admired, worshipped, and followed all over the world

Beardo, and what is the point of being a comunist coutry and the salsa music ? Enlighten me, because I don't see the relationship

el loco

When Christopher Columbus discovered America, we were one of the first territories he visited, and he said: "this is the most beautiful land that human eyes ever saw"

We were colony of Spain, and during that time, Spain forbid the commerce with any other country. Economics, you know.

But despite that, in Bayamo many people participated in contraband, making a very active commerce, and there were things that you could acquire in Bayamo that you could not in Habana

nadie

We have the honor of being the first comunist country in America, and to make things more interesting, the USA have done NOTHING to eliminate fidel, despite having fidel done all the harm it could.

How on earth can you leave a deadly enemy in your own back yard ?

Luckily for the yanks, Gorbachov destroyed comunism in Russia. Otherwise fidel would be knocking at the doors of the white house and telling bush to get out because he was taking charge

To Luis M:
If you want to hear only what you want to hear, you can record your own answers on a recording device and listen to it.

But if you want to hear the reality, even if it is ugly and unpleasant, we will tell you.

If the USA does not allow its citizens to visit Cuba, that is totally unimportant. I agree that instead of doing that, they should have been more active to remove fidel from power.

Then, none of us would be forced to come here. We would stay home

harry k

Follow the link:
http://www.therealcuba.com/index.htm

It will give you all the facts you need to know.

Arawak (or Taino) Indians inhabiting Cuba when Columbus landed on the island in 1492 died from diseases brought by sailors and settlers. By 1511, Spaniards under Diego Velásquez had established settlements. Havana's superb harbor made it a common transit point to and from Spain.

In the early 1800s, Cuba's sugarcane industry boomed, requiring massive numbers of black slaves. A simmering independence movement turned into open warfare from 1867 to 1878. Slavery was abolished in 1886. In 1895, the poet José Marti led the struggle that finally ended Spanish rule, thanks largely to U.S. intervention in 1898 after the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor.

An 1899 treaty made Cuba an independent republic under U.S. protection. The U.S. occupation, which ended in 1902, suppressed yellow fever and brought large American investments. The 1901 Platt Amendment allowed the U.S. to intervene in Cuba's affairs, which it did four times from 1906 to 1920. Cuba terminated the amendment in 1934.

In 1933 a group of army officers, including army sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew President Gerardo Machado. Batista became president in 1940, running a corrupt police state.

In 1956, Fidel Castro Ruz launched a revolution from his camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Castro's brother Raul and Ernesto (Ché) Guevara, an Argentine physician, were his top lieutenants. Many anti-Batista landowners supported the rebels. The U.S. ended military aid to Cuba in 1958, and on New Year's Day 1959, Batista fled into exile and Castro took over the government.

The U.S. initially welcomed what looked like a democratic Cuba, but a rude awakening came within a few months when Castro established military tribunals for political opponents and jailed hundreds. Castro disavowed Cuba's 1952 military pact with the U.S., confiscated U.S. assets, and established Soviet-style collective farms. The U.S. broke relations with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, and Castro formalized his alliance with the Soviet Union. Thousands of Cubans fled the country.

In 1961 a U.S.-backed group of Cuban exiles invaded Cuba. Planned during the Eisenhower administration, the invasion was given the go-ahead by President John Kennedy, although he refused to give U.S. air support. The landing at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961, was a fiasco. The invaders did not receive popular Cuban support and were easily repulsed by the Cuban military.

A Soviet attempt to install medium-range missiles in Cuba—capable of striking targets in the United States with nuclear warheads—provoked a crisis in 1962. Denouncing the Soviets for “deliberate deception,” on Oct. 22 Kennedy said that the U.S. would blockade Cuba so the missiles could not be delivered. Six days later Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered the missile sites dismantled and returned to the USSR, in return for a U.S. pledge not to attack Cuba.

The U.S. established limited diplomatic ties with Cuba on Sept. 1, 1977, making it easier for Cuban Americans to visit the island. Contact with the more affluent Cuban Americans prompted a wave of discontent in Cuba, producing a flood of asylum seekers. In response, Castro opened the port of Mariel to a “freedom flotilla” of boats from the U.S., allowing 125,000 to flee to Miami. After the refugees arrived, it was discovered their ranks were swelled with prisoners, mental patients, homosexuals, and others unwanted by the Cuban government.

Cuba fomented Communist revolutions around the world, especially in Angola, where thousands of Cuban troops were sent in the 1980s.

Russian aid, which had long supported Cuba's failing economy, ended when Communism collapsed in eastern Europe in 1990. Cuba's foreign trade also plummeted, producing a severe economic crisis. In 1993, Castro permitted limited private enterprise, allowed Cubans to possess convertible currencies, and encouraged foreign investment in its tourist industry. In March 1996, the U.S. tightened its embargo with the Helms-Burton Act.

Christmas became an official holiday in 1997 for the first time since the revolution, in response to Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit to Cuba, which raised hopes for greater religious freedom.

In June 2000, Castro won a publicity bonanza when the Clinton administration sent Elian Gonzalez, a young Cuban boy found clinging to an inner tube near Miami, back to Cuba. The U.S. Cuban community had demanded that the boy remain in Miami rather than be returned to his father in Cuba. By many accounts, the influential Cuban Americans lost public sympathy by pitting political ideology against familial bonds.

In March and April 2003, Castro sent nearly 80 dissidents to prison with long sentences, prompting an international condemnation of Cuba's harsh crackdown on human rights.

The Bush administration tightened its embargo in June 2004, allowing Cuban Americans to return to the island only once every three years (instead of every year) and restricting the amount of U.S. cash that can be spent there to $50 per day. In response, Cuba banned the use of dollars, which had been legal currency in the country for more than a decade.

In July 2006, Castro—hospitalized because of an illness—turned over power temporarily to his brother Raúl. In October it was revealed that Castro has cancer and will not return to power.

In January 2008, 17 months after his emergency intestinal surgery, 81 year old Castro wrote a public statement that he was not healthy enough to campaign in the upcoming parliamentary elections, though he has not withdrawn from the election. Castro's announcement was followed by a national television broadcast showing a recent meeting between himself and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil where he told the Brazilian president that he was feeling very good.

In the January 2008 parliamentary elections, both Fidel and Raúl Castro were re-elected to the National Assembly as well as the other 614 unopposed candidates presented to voters.

In February 2008, Fidel Castro ended 49 years of power when he announced his retirement. The 81 year old, who ruled Cuba since leading a revolution in 1959, said he would not accept another term as President. Raúl Castro succeeded his brother, becoming the 21st president of Cuba on February 24, 2008.

At the United Nations in February 2008, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ensures citizens political and civil freedom, and the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights gaurantee the right to work, fair wages, social security, education, and high standards of physical and mental health. Roque also announced that in 2009 the United Nations Human Rights Council will be allowed to examine Cuba at will.

In March 2008, the Cuban government lifted the ban on purchasing computers and other consumer electronics including DVDs and microwaves, which may signal greater tolerance of internet use in the future.

To louis m

the US is not the most powerful country. But it is unfortunate that every idiotic decision they make has a catastrophic effect on the rest of the world

physician

Harry K has given the best answer

To mc:
I must say that is is the first time that I have seen so good a description of the history of my country.
Very well said

the big

Sing, what is strange about the chinese in cuba ?

There are just a very few, because most have died

Victor

It was one of the first places where Christopher Columbus arrive when he discovered America. The name Cuba is from the natives.
Columbus named the island "Juana" but the name didn't stick

To mc:
I must congratulate you for the accurate description of the history of my country. Only certain aspects are not precise, but in general is a very good explanation. I am impressed

Where did you find that information ?

♡♪♡

Their are actually Chinese Cubans! 8D

Der Schreckliche

Can you be a little more precise about what do you mean by bizarre facts ?

Luis M

You are in the wrong section. Go to the spanish section and ask in Spanish. You will only get negative answers from people in United States.
You want to hear a bizarre thing:
People from the most powerful country in the world, United States are not free to go to Cuba. Isn´t that bizarre ! ! !
And they are talking aboutt freedom old the time.
Funny.............
Best to you.

Beardo

A communist country which dances to a salsa beat.

A province and the main propaganda paper are both called Granma, which is a variation of grandma.

The forts at the mouth of Havana bay were built by the Spanish to keep the British out. They didn't work, as the British forces landed along the coast and came round the back.
The British ruled Havana for a little under a year. Then they swapped it back to the Spanish in exchange for Florida.
During that time, the British used a church in Havana for their worshipping. After the Spanish returned, they refused to use that church again, regarding it as defiled.

mobilemark

you cant not fly from the US to Cuba (without Goverment approval)

HumanToe

If you rearrange the letters, it's Buca.

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