CUBA

CUBA

By: Errol Orion Farley

CUBA

Geography of Cuba

• Cuba occupies a small spit of land (approx.. 111,000 sq. km, slightly smaller than Pennsylvania) in the Atlantic Ocean lying 150km south of Key West, Florida.

• Cuba borders the U.S. naval base Guantanamo bay which is currently being ‘leased’ from Cuba.

• Cuba’s east coast is subject to Hurricanes between August and November.

• Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean.

Geography 1

Geography of Cuba• Hot, sub-tropical climate all year. Most rain falls between May

and October and hurricanes can occur in autumn (June to November). Humidity varies between 75% and 95%. Cooler months are January to April when the least rain falls.

• Except in the mountains, the climate of Cuba is semitropical or temperate. The average minimum temperature is 21° C (70° F ), the average maximum 27° C (81° F ). The mean temperature at Havana is about 25° C (77° F ). The trade winds and sea breezes make coastal areas more habitable than temperature alone would indicate. Cuba has a rainy season from May to October. The mountain areas have an average precipitation of more than 180 cm (70 in); most of the lowland area has from 90 to 140 cm (35–55 in) annually; and the area around Guantánamo Bay has less than 65 cm (26 in). Droughts are common. Cuba's eastern coast is often hit by hurricanes from August to October, resulting in great economic loss.

Geography 2

The People of Cuba• Besides it popularity for the cigars, the

country of Cuba has another claim to fame as a political state. To talk about Cuba people there must be a mention of the revolutionary face of the country. It is not only the political face of Cuba that is so popular, but the cultural and traditional aspects are also very interesting. The cultural aspects of Cuba reflect influences of the Spanish culture and the African traditions too. The total population of Cuba is almost 11,000,000. However, Cuba people come from a religious background. Among this huge population, almost 50% people are from the Catholic background. Then there are other religions too such as Protestant, Santería and so on. To talk about language, Spanish is the official language in Cuba.

People 1

Cubans and their SportsPeople 2

The Cuban people are very enthusiastic about their sports. This Cuban taekwondo competitor, Angel Matos, threw a sneaky high kick at a referee’s face right after he was disqualified from his Olympic bronze medal match in Beijing of 2008. Sportsmanship at its worst. This violent display of power in a time of frustration was this Cuban’s only was of showing his true emotions at the time of his failing his country of an Olympic Medal.

Cubans are also very enthusiastic about Boxing, Baseball, Chess and Soccer.

The Cuban Image of Identity: Travel as Transformation

• - By 1910, every corner of the U.S. was covered in railroad tracks that all lead to Havana in Cuba. • - By 1927 Cuba became the first country to have an international airport.• Many flocked to Cuba to consume alcohol and spectate Horse Races, both things illegal at the time in

the U.S. Americans also came here to watch boxing matches, play on supreme golf courses, dine, gamble and get away.

• - Many bartenders and bar owners in America packed up shop and moved their unique trade down to Cube when the prohibition started. This combined with the fact that Cuba was geared towards American tourists lead Cuba in an interestingly integrated direction.

• - At least a dozen movies from 1929-1959 glorified Havana as an ideal romantic vacation location.• - Cuba has been called “the isle of self-indulgence”, where no sin goes punished and a place “where

you can do anything you want” (p 187). • - For the first half of the century Cuba existed mostly as a playground for the wealthy in America.• - After Cuba was locked out of the American marketplace it kept many of our favorite customs.

Culture 1

• - Popular dances included the rumba and the son. Both dances widely considered underclass and uncivilized yet they only grew in popularity from the 1920’s on.

• - The rumba was a sexual pantomime danced between a man and a woman and would most likely be found in

• a shady back alley nightclub.• - By the 1940’s nearly 50 bands in Havana were playing the son and Americans

liked it so much because “it was polished and primitive, lush and sensuous, eminently danceable- a perfect musical accompaniment to romance, “a dance of Dionysian movement” wrote musicologist Cristobal Diaz Ayala.– - To this day Cuba still has that ‘old- timey’ feel to it like if you got sent in a time machine back

60 years to the glory days when the white man was on top and the rest of the world was on the bottom, just taking what it had coming to it – the wrath of the American dollar being spent by the American Dreamer.

Culture 2

The U.S. Embargo against Cuba• March 17, 1960 – President Eisenhower plans to overthrow Castro by ending sugar purchases, oil

deliveries, continuing arms embargo from 1958, and organizing a raid of Cuba by Cuban exiles.• October 19, 1969 – U.S. decides to allow food and medicine trade with Revolutionary Cuba by

passing The Foreign Assistance Act.• 1962 – President Kennedy banns all trade with Cuba (and anyone/thing associated with Cuba)

right after getting 1,200 of their finest Cigars for himself.• 1963 – President Kennedy makes travel and all transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. citizens.• March 19, 1977 – President Carter lifts the ban on travel and U.S. spending in Cuba.• January 1, 1979 – Cuban-Americans are allowed to visit relatives in Cuba and nearly 100,000

visits take place during this year.• April 19, 1982 – The Reagan Administration reestablishes the travel ban, prohibits U.S. citizens

from spending money in Cuba, and allows the 1077 finishing accord to lapse.• October 4, 1985 – Reagan bans Cuban and Communist party officials, students, scholars and

artists from traveling to the United States.• October 26, 1994 – The United Nations General Assembly votes 101 – 2 (with 48 abstentions) for

the U.S. to end it’s embargo on Cuba. Only Israel votes with the U.S. in favor of the ban. • November 12, 1996 – The vote is up to 137-3. • November 5, 1997 – The vote is 143-3.• October 16, 1998 – The vote is 157-2 (still U.S and Israel in favor of the ban).• October 10, 2003 – President George W. Bush establishes the Committee for Assistance to a Free

Cuba. This committee’s name is deceptive in a way that it does not help Cuba to be free at all.• November 8, 2005 – The vote is 182-4.• March 1, 2007 – U.S. senator Michael B. Enzi stood up on the Congress floor and said “if we keep

doing what we’ve been doing then we’ll keep getting what we’ve been getting.. We are not hurting the Cuban government but we are hurting the Cuban people. It’s time for a different policy”. This act of courage is just one more in the right direction for a more peaceful world.

History 1

Cuba’s Races• Cuba has a real problem with racism.

Statistics are mixed but about 65% of it’s citizens are white, 25% are black and 10% are mulattoes (according to 2002 Cuban census). According to the University of Miami 68% of Cubans are black. Obviously there are some real disputes between the facts. Cuba has 11,000,000 people living in only 109,000 sq. km. and they don’t seem to know who they really are demographically. Cubans speak mostly spanish, some english and some Haitian Creole. Cuban ancestry is made of Russian, Italian, Irish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Lebanese, Australian, Spanish, Catalan, Canarian, Austrian, Haitian and Andalusian.

History 2

Sources slide• http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blccuba.htm (Slide 2 )• http://www.worldtravelguide.net/cuba/weather, http://

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Cuba-CLIMATE.html (Slide 3)• http://www.mapsofworld.com/cuba/cuba-people.html (Slide 4)• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/978326/cuban_kicks_referee_in_the_face_after.html (Slide 5)• http

://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MNKK134oqYUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=cuban+culture&ots=sp-ybGoAUP&sig=JsAfPgvkDQDtf7HgdS7KcLeefds#v=onepage&q&f=false ( slide 6 &7)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba , http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/embargo.htm (slide 8)

Sources