CUBA POR DENTRO

CUBA Facts

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

Chief of state: President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers Fidel CASTRO Ruz (prime- minister from February 1959 until February 1976 when office was abolished; president since December 1976); First Vice President of the Council of State and First Vice President of the Council of Ministers Gen. Raul CASTRO Ruz (since December 1976); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
only party - Cuban Communist Party or PCC [Fidel CASTRO Ruz, first secretary

Location
Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North
Atlantic Ocean, 150 km south of Key West,FLORIDA.
Geographic
coordinates: 21 30 N, 80 00 W
total area: 110,860 sq km
Geographic
coordinates: 21 30 N, 80 00 W
total area: 110,860 sq km
11,224,321 (July 2002 est.)
population (2002 est.
mulatto 51%,
white 37%,
black 11%,
Chinese 1%
12.08 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
7.35 deaths/1,000Partos atendidos en instituciones hospitalarias: 99.8%
Tasa mortalidad materna: 2.4/10 000 nacidos vivos
Esperanza de vida al nacer: 75 años (1999)Médicos (1998): 65 000 (un médico/170 habitantes)
Estomatólogos: 9600 (un estomatólogo/1148 habitantes)
Hospitales: 281
Población con acceso a servicios de salud: 100%
Población con acceso a agua potable: 91%
Escuelas: 12 223 (9481 primarias, 1891 educación media y 32 educación superior)
Personal docente por mil habitantes: 18.1Alumno por maestro (primaria): 13.0
Alumno por maestro (nivel medio): 10.1
Alumno por profesor (nivel superior): 4.9
Gastos de educación/PIB: 10.0%
Tasa escolarización:
6-11 años: 99.7%
12-14 años: 92.3%
Centros de investigación: 140
Telephone system: among the world's least developed telephone systems
domestic: principal trunk system, end to end of country, is coaxial cable; fiber-optic distribution in Havana and on Isla de la Juventud; 2 microwave radio relay installations (one is old, US-built; the other newer, Soviet-built); both analog and digital mobile cellular service established
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)
Teatros y salas teatro: 51
Bibliotecas: 357 (no incluye las bibliotecas independientes que el gobierno no
reconoce y que han sido
cerradas costandole duras condenas de carcel a los bibliotecarios)
Galerías de arte: 123
Museos: 222
Casas de cultura: 262
Cines: 743
Salas de video: 156
Población económicamente activa femenina: 37.4%
Mujeres dirigentes (1996): 29.2%
Mujeres en fuerza técnica y profesional: 64.0%
Títulos ganados en juegos deportivos:
Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe (1978-1998): 1783 (1065 de oro)
Panamericanos (1979-1999): 1155 (539 de oro)
Olímpicos (1972-1996): 97 (40 de oro)

LA OPOSICION CUBANA
ECONOMY

Overview:
The average Cuban's standard of living remains at a lower level than before the severe economic depression of the early 1990s, which was caused by the loss of Soviet aid and domestic inefficiencies. High oil prices, recessions in key export markets, and damage from Hurricane Michelle hampered growth in 2001. Cuba paid high prices for oil imports in the face of slumping prices in the key sugar and nickel industries and suffered a slowdown in tourist arrivals following September 11. The government aimed for 3% growth in 2002, but growth was held back by hurricanes, depressed tourism, and faltering world economic conditions, including low world sugar prices and a economic embargo by the USA lasting more than 40 years and has yet to yield results, prompting even conservatives to call for an end

The Cuban economy is still recovering from a decline in gross domestic product of at least 35% between 1989 and 1993 as the loss of Soviet subsidies laid bare the economy's fundamental weaknesses. To alleviate the economic crisis, in 1993 and 1994 the government introduced a few market-oriented reforms, including opening to tourism, allowing foreign investment, legalizing the dollar, and authorizing self-employment for some 150 occupations. These measures resulted in modest economic growth; the official statistics, however, are deficient and as a result provide an incomplete measure of Cuba's real economic situation. Living conditions at the end of the decade remained well below the 1989 level. Lower sugar and nickel prices, increases in petroleum costs, a post-September 11, 2001 decline in tourism, devastating hurricanes in November 2001 and August 2004, and a major drought in the eastern half of the island caused severe economic disruptions. Growth rates continued to stagnate in 2002 and 2003, while 2004 promised to be little better. Moreover, the gap in the standard of living has widened between those with access to dollars and those without. Jobs that can earn dollar salaries or tips from foreign businesses and tourists have become highly desirable. It is not uncommon to see doctors, engineers, scientists, and other professionals working in restaurants or as taxi drivers.

Castro’s regime has pulled back on earlier market reforms and is seeking tighter state control over the economy. The Cuban Government is aggressively pursuing a policy of recentralization, making it increasingly difficult for foreigners to conduct business on the island. Likewise, Cuban citizens are adversely affected by reversion to a peso economy.

In the mid-1990s, tourism surpassed sugar as the primary source of foreign exchange. Tourism figures prominently in the Cuban Government's plans for development, and a top official cast it as at the "heart of the economy." Havana devotes significant resources to building new tourist facilities and renovating historic structures for use in the tourism sector. Roughly 1.7 million tourists visited Cuba in 2001, generating about $1.85 billion in gross revenues; in 2003, the number rose to 1.9 million tourists, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of $2.1 billion.

Remittances also play a large role in Cuba's economy. Cuba does not publish accurate economic statistics, but academic sources estimate that remittances total from $600 million to $1 billion per year, with most coming from families in the United States. U.S. regulation changes announced in June 2004 allow remittances to be sent only to the remitter's immediate family; they cannot be remitted to certain Cuban Government officials and members of the Cuban Communist party; and the total amount of family remittances that an authorized traveler may carry to Cuba is now $300, reduced from $3,000

toGDP: $18.6 Bln. (1999 reported) per capita $1,676
GDP BY SECTOR: agriculture: 7.4% (1997 estimated)
BUDGET: Revenue $13.5 Bln.; Expenses $14.3 Bln. (2000 reported)
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION: 14.2 Bln KwH (1998 reported)
IMPORTS: $2.4 Bln. (1995 reported); Spain 16%, Venezuela 15%, Mexico 7%
EXPORTS:
$1,600 Mln. (1995 reported); Russia 25%, the Netherlands 23%, Canada 16%
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS:
sugarcane, tobacco, citrus, coffee, rice, potatoes, beans, livestock
AGRICULTURALPRODUCTS: sugar cane,
Tobacco,citrus,coffee,rice,potatoes,beans,
FORESTED AREA
(% of land, 1995): 16.8Highways:
total: 60,858 km
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION: sugar, food, tobacco, textiles, chemicals, paper and wood products, metals, cement, fertilizer, consumer goods, agricultural machinery
OIL PRODUCTION: Refining capacity is 130,000 barrels/day (BOPD) from 4 refineries. Heavy oil production is primarily in north central Cuba. Medium oil production is centered in the Central Basin. There are presently 24 fields containing proven reserves totaling in excess of 2 billion barrels of heavy, medium, and light oil and gas that have been reported discovered in Cuba, mostly along the north coast.
VISITORS/TOURISM: 1.71 million (2000 reported)
CURRENCY: 1 Cuban Peso (Cu$) = 100 centavos = U. S. $ 1.00 (published rate) Government exchange offices sell at 30 pesos/dollar and buy for 25pesos/dollar. La Moneda
Transportation
Railways:
total: 4,807 km
standard gauge: 4,807 km 1.435-m gauge,
in public use (147 km electrified)
note: in addition to the 4,807 km of standard-gauge track in public use, 7,162 km of track is in private use by sugar plantations; about 90% of the private use track is standard gauge and the rest is narrow gauge (2000 est.)
Waterways:240 km
Ports and harbors:
Cienfuegos, Havana, Manzanillo, Mariel, Matanzas, Nuevitas, Santiago de Cuba
Merchant marine:
total: 14 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 44,187 GRT/63,416 DWT
ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 6, liquefied gas 1, petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated
cargo 3 (2002 est.)
Airports: 172 (2001

Economics Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez projected nine per cent growth for the Cuban economy in 2005, saying that the island's services sector was especially dynamic this year, state media reported Friday.

Cuba in recent years has been using its own formula to calculate gross national product, including the communist nation's broad social safety net and heavily subsidised services in the mix and making it difficult to compare the island's economic growth to that of other nations using a standard formula.

Cuba's economy grew by 5 per cent in 2004. But the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, using traditional criteria for calculating gross national product, said Cuba's economy grew three per cent.

In recent years, the Cuban government strengthened investment management and increased the income of foreign-and-state-invested enterprises. As a result, the country’s monetary market is stable.

The Cuban party and state have launched a national campaign to combat social evils, strengthen market management capacity and give severe punishment to corruption and illegal trading

Cuba’s bilateral relationship with Venezuela has helped keep the Cuban economy afloat. The "Integral Cooperation Accord" signed by Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October 2000 laid the groundwork for a quasi-barter exchange of Venezuelan oil for Cuban goods and services that has since become a lifeline for Cuba. For Cuba, the benefits of the cooperation accord are subsidized petroleum and increased hard currency flows. The original agreement allowed for the sale, at market prices, of up to 53,000 barrels per day of crude oil and derivatives (diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, etc.) by PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned petroleum company, to its Cuban counterpart, CUPET. The number of barrels of oil Venezuela began selling to Cuba has risen to 90,000 barrels daily. Under the accord, PDVSA extended preferential payment terms to CUPET, including 90-day short-term financing instead of the 30 days offered to its other customers and, in lieu of a standard letter of credit backed by an international bank, PDVSA accepted IOUs from Cuba's Banco Nacional, the central banking entity responsible for servicing Havana's foreign debt. In August 2001, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez amended the 2000 accord to allow Venezuela to compensate the Cuban Government in hard currency for any and all Cuban products and services originally intended as in-kind payment for Venezuelan oil. As a result, Cuban exports of goods and services to Venezuela climbed from $34 million in 2001 to more than $150 million in 2003. Venezuelan ministries are contracting with Cuba for everything from generic pharmaceuticals to pre-fabricated housing and dismantled sugar mill equipment. On April 28, 2005, Chavez and Castro signed 49 economic agreements in Havana, covering areas as diverse as oil, nickel, agriculture, furniture, shoes, textiles, toys, lingerie, tires, construction materials, electricity, transportation, health, and education. Venezuela is also committed to sending more than $400 million in various products duty free to Cuba and plans to open an office of state-owned commercial Venezuelan Industrial Bank (BIV) in Havana to finance imports and exports between the two countries, while Cuba will open an official Banco Exterior de Cuba in Caracas. Increased economic engagement along with the rapid growth in Cuban sales to Caracas has established Venezuela as one of the island's largest export markets.

A series of recent economic agreements between Cuba and China have strengthened trade between the two countries. Sino-Cuban trade totaled more than $525 million in 2004, according to China Customs statistics. This represents an increase of more than 47% over 2003. Most of China’s aid involves in-kind supply of goods or technical assistance. During President Hu-Jintao’s visit to Cuba in November 2004, China signed investment-related memorandums of understanding (MOUs) estimated at more than $500 million, according to press reports. If these MOUs are fully realized, they would represent a sharp increase in known Chinese investments in Cuba. In addition to these MOUs, a number of commercial accords were signed at the first-ever Cuba-China Investment and Trade Forum. China also plans to invest approximately $500 million in a nickel operation in Moa in the eastern province of Holguin. According to the MOU, Cuba will own 51% of the enterprise and Chinese-owned Minmetals the remaining 49%. Chinese and Venezuelan economic support, including investment and direct aid, have given Cuba the space to eliminate many of the tentative open market reforms Cuba put in place during the depth of its mid-1990s economic crisis.

Despite what is often written,
Cuba is not a tiny island:

Square Miles

Population

Anguilla

35

7,000

Antigua

171

84,000

Austria

32,377

7,584,000

Bahamas

5,382

243,000

Barbados

166

255,000

Belgium

11,783

9,862,000

Costa Rica

19,730

2,990,000

Cuba

42,804

10,440,000

Denmark

16,638

5,135,000

Grenada

133

95,000

Hungary

35,920

10,580,000

Iceland

39,769

248,000

Jamaica

4,244

2,470,000

Netherlands

16,133

14,815,000

Portugal

35,516

1,044,500

Puerto Rico

3,515

3,301,000

Saint Christopher-Nevis

104

47,000

Saint Lucia

238

148,000

Saint Vincent

150

125,000

Switzerland

15,943

6,590,000

Trinidad and Tobago

1,980

1,295,

Biotechnology
Cuba has had 30 plus years of research and commercial development on the pharmaceutical field , one of the cuban jewls is Melagenina, is marketed for use in patients with vitiligo. Melagenina stimulates reproduction of melanocytes and synthesis of melanin. It is not available in the USA due to the Embargo against importation of Cuban biotechnology products into the USA.
Cuba harvested its first lot of high quality interferon in May, 1981. Cuba used its interferon during a 1981 dengue epidemic to decrease morbidity and mortality in children infected with the Flavivirus. Today, Cuba uses interferon domestically and exports interferon to other countries for its use in a variety of disease conditions.
Cuba has also embarked on manufacturing anti-retroviral agents to combat HIV . If Cuba can produce an excess of its needs, then Cuba intends to sell these anti-viral pharmaceuticals to other nations, esp. in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In the first 10 months of 2002, the use of Cuban manufactured anti-HIV medications sharply reduced morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS . At yearend 2002, Cuba produced anti-HIV medicine for about 1/3 of its HIV/AIDS patients. By yearend 2003, it is expected Cuba will produce enough anti-HIV medicine to care for 75% of its HIV/AIDS patients.
Clinical trials in Cuba to develop an effective HIV vaccine have been jointly undertaken by the Findlay

Institute and the IPK Tropical Medicine Institute. Because vaccines are not yet successful in preventing HIV and HIV drug-resistant strains are increasing, Cuba will also be pursuing RNA interference research, which, if successful, not only would be useful in combating HIV but also many other viral diseases.
Today, Cuba is best known for its successful development of an effective vaccine to prevent Type B meningococcal meningitis. The USA government has made an exception with this vaccine (since the disease occasionally is epidemic in the USA) and is allowing clinical trials that may eventually lead to its use in the USA. Cuba also produces many other vaccines for human and domestic animal use.
Cuba is always interested in pursuing development and sales of biotechnology products and services to the World. Cuba has recently entered into alliances with India and Southeastern Asian countries. Additionally, Cuba has ongoing joint ventures with Canadian and Japanese companies. Of concern to the USA is the licensing of Cuban biotechnology procedures and techniques to Iran. There is a possibility Iran will use biotechnology procedures and techniques licensed by Cuba to develop wmd (weapons of mass destruction ). The USA and its allies are closely monitoring these developments for any evidence of malice.
Cuban biotechnology is among the most advanced in areas such as the production of monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic vaccines, and other molecules of pharmaceutical interest

the country intends for the first time to produce antibodies industrially with a purification system based on genetically modified plants.

If achieved, it would be an important Cuban contribution to the battle against Hepatitis B: a disease that kills nearly a million people every year worldwide.

Cuba has also discovered that the expression and characterization in transgenic plants of the monoclonal antibody HR3, used in the treatment of cancer, showed the same effect in preclinical trials as the anti-tumor product obtained from mammal cells.

Cuba is very active in the investigation of transgenic plants although nothing has reached a commercial level. He pointed out that the three most advanced projects are insect-resistant rice, sweet potatoes and corn. In addition Cuba is searching for varieties that can survive conditions of drought and high soil salinity.

There is also research underway on transgenic tilapia as well as studies on all the genes involved in immune response.

"Today the country is the largest medicine exporter in Latin America and has more than 50 nations on its client list. Cuban meds cost far less than their first-world counterparts, and Fidel Castro's government has helped China, Malaysia, India, and Iran set up their own factories: 'south-to-south technology transfer.' ...Castro made biotechnology one of the building blocks of the economy... Still, if pharma is to become an economic engine, Cuban researchers acknowledge that they'll have to join the international business community. South-to-south transfers simply don't raise enough cash."

CUBA AND THE INTERNET - ONLINE POPULATION (October 16, 2001)
The internet is a tightly controlled privilege in Cuba, reserved for the trusted elite. Information is not freely exchanged. The government of Cuba reports 40,000 people online in Cuba, and one computer for every 100 people. The International Telecommunications Union reports 60,000 internet users in Cuba. This figure is widely disputed by those in the know, when connecting to the internet is important. With two percent (2%) of Cubans having telephones, and the five ISPs being restricted to serving government, some post offices and the larger hotels in major cities, even those clandestine "DOTCommies" have it tough.
There are approximately 18,000 Cuban-based pages available, getting 15 million page views each week. There are five ISPs in Cuba providing internet access. Access in Cuba is limited to citizens who can prove they are engaged in research or connected to an accredited and approved institution.
Cuba registers its Domain names through ICANN. The Cuban top-level Domain is CENIAI internet, known as NS.CENIAI.NET.CU. Other Domain servers listed order are: NS1.GIP.NET., NS2.GIP.NET, NS3.GIP.NET, NS.RIPE.NET, and RIP.PSG.COM. The most rapidly-growing Domain extension in recent years has been "net," which experienced growth of over 1000
Private persons in Cuba cannot legally buy computers or sign up for regular Internet service without government permits that are almost impossible to obtain, so the nation's 335,000 desktops and laptops belong largely to the government, state enterprises and special individuals such as trusted doctors.
Internet cafes aimed at foreigners charge up to a month's wage -- $15 -- for an hour of surfing and ban locals. But a black market for illegal passwords has emerged, where users ''rent'' time slots from
The government blames its cyberspace inadequacies on the United States. At an Internet summit in Tunisia this month, Cuba used the international stage to argue that the U.S. economic embargo prevents it from buying not only software and servers, but marine fiber-optic cables that would allow it to plug into the Internet at higher speeds and lower costs.
The Cuban and other delegations also pushed to break the U.S. monopoly on Internet domain names, saying it amounts to a worldwide impediment.
Despite this reality, computers and access to the Internet are part of Cuban life. . They are prioritized for use in places where utilization is on a collective and massive scale, such as in elementary and secondary schools, which have a ratio of 20 students per computer, universities, health and cultural centers and many other social institutions. Even children in preschools have computer access to educational software. There are 600 Computer and Electronic Youth Clubs (http://www.jovenclub.cu/) in existence throughout the country. These are places where everybody of all ages can not only access computers and the Internet, but can also take short courses in order to learn how to use them.,
Acording to de Cuban goverment: “An Information Society in Cuba is defined as the process of ordered and massive utilization of the new computer science and communication technologies to satisfy the need of society for information and knowledge.” It puts knowledge and the use of these technologies at the disposal of society and the advancement of the country. Additionally, efforts are made to ensure that scarce computer access is equally distributed. For Cubans, computers serve a social function
There were many other issues around computers and information science , also noted that several universities throughout the country develop software. Currently there are 26 specialized computer science polytechnic institutes located in every province with more than 40,000 students who will participate in the efforts of the newly developed Cuban software industry. Additionally, graduates work teaching classes in a variety of operating systems including Linux, programming, web design, and more at the 600 computer clubs.
The embargo also affects telephone service from the United States, excessively charging those who want to call Cuba. Recent technology affecting telephone calls is called Voice over Internet Protocol, (VOIP). Telephone calling cards use this technology and its use has considerably reduced the cost for international calls. However, telephone calls from the United States to Cuba are still much more expensive than to most other countries. A four-hour call to Caracas, Venezuela from Los Angeles, California can be made for only $5.00. Five dollar telephone cards to call Cuba can be found on the Internet beginning at $.43 per minute and quickly go up to well beyond $1.20 per minute. Phone cards to Cuba and their vendors in the greater Los Angeles area, as international as it is, are difficult to come by compared to the ease of buying inexpensive phone cards to call almost anywhere else in the world.
Despite the very tight control, the Internet is opening a window of freedom in Cuba and the audience of the country’s independent journalists has expanded. The creation abroad (mainly in Miami) of websites or web pages carrying news they send out by phone or fax means wide distribution for material they still cannot publish in Cuba. Their articles are now stored and accessible to the whole world when before they were only to be fleetingly heard on Radio Martí (US government-funded and operating from the US), which is not picked up easily in Cuba.

News such as the arrest of a regime opponent, a social trend among the population or initiatives by civil society groups - things that used to be ignored abroad - are thus now immediately reported to the outside world and increasingly reproduced by the international media, a sign of the independent journalists’ growing credibility and professionalism.

The Blockade or Embargo

For almost forty years, Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States. In fact, during this period of time, the U.S. has placed an embargo on Cuba, hoping to bring down the government of Fidel Castro

In 1996, the Helms-Burton Act (HBA) was swiftly passed and signed by President Clinton into law. Its aim, in keeping with the Cuban-American relationship, purports to be the precipitation of democratic reforms, i.e., the introduction of Democracy and the free market economy in Cuba.

The HBA empowers U.S. citizens to bring suit against foreign nationals or entities whose business is to "traffic" U.S. property seized by the Cuban government subsequent to the Cuban Revolution. Further, it empowers the United States government to deny entry to foreign nationals and their families who have been found guilty of violating the Act, and have been found "trafficking" in seized U.S. property.

Cuba aims to find new sources of trade, aid, and foreign investment and to promote opposition to U.S. policy, especially the trade embargo and the 1996 Libertad Act. Cuba has relations with over 160 countries and has civilian assistance workers--principally physicians and nurses--in more than 20 nations.

The world cannot allow Cuba to implode economically the way many former Soviet states have. Castro's revolutionary claims may seem hollow to many Cubans and outsiders, but in a world riven by great inequities Cuba has shown that socioeconomic equality and improved lives can happen simultaneously. Indeed Cubans appear healthy and adequately nourished. The State still provides milk to children under five and liberal maternity leave. The infant-mortality rate is equal to that of the US. By any basic living-standard or quality-of-life measurement, Cuba is leagues ahead of most developing nations. Recently UNESCO cited Cuba for some of the highest achievements on international tests administered to school-age children. In mathematics and language achievement many Cuban elementary students scored higher than their counterparts in the US, Europe and Japan.

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