A piece of Cuba for your heart
When we talk about Cuba, What comes first to our minds? What do we think? Do you think about the revolution, the communism or perhaps Fidel Castro? However, Cuba is more than that, Cuba is culture, Cuba is its own world in the globe. Cuba is an island in the Caribbean, about 90 miles southeast to Key West, Florida. Cuba is the only communist state in the Americas. In October 28, 1492 the famous explorer, Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba during his first trip toward the New World. In honor to Catholic Kings’ daughter, the Kings’ that paid for his trips, Columbus called it Juana Island. That was the first of various names that this island has received at this time. We call it Cuba, a variant of her aboriginal name: Cubanascan.
During the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, sugar cane became Cuba’s single most important crop and even up to this day, this is one of Cuba’s most important export products. Sugar cane grows on large plantations depending heavily on human labor. The desire for cheap labor for the plantations led to the importation of African slaves to Cuba. During the 1800’s, Cubans began to call for independence from Spain. However, in 1898, they achieved their independence from Spain with the help of the United States. After helping Cuba with the independence, United States had a military government that ruled Cuba from 1899 until 1902 and intervened in the island’s internal affairs. During the 1930’s to the 1950’s Cuba was controlled by a dictator named Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. This man in 1959 was overthrown from his power by a famous man that we all know as Fidel Castro, and later a Communist government was created with Castro as its head.
After the revolution that pu...
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... or other monetary benefits) covers the vast majority of the labour force. However, the government controls the distribution and the pricing of the medicines and other goods, although there are some independently operated markets where hard currency is used to obtain the merchandise. The nursing homes are under the direction of the Ministry of Public Health, which makes this service cost free. The Federation of Cuban Women runs the Childcare institutes and these institutions free women to work. In addition, Physical education and sports are an integral part of the Cuban education.
In brief, the Cuban culture has experienced changes since its discovery from the economy of slavery, to the revolutionary changes, at the present in 2014. They have the best food diversity, the best education system and health system in the world. They are Cubans and they are proud.
On July 26, 1953, the war for Cuba’s independence began, and for 6 years many Cubans fought for their freedom. The most famous of these revolutionary icons being Fidel Castro, who led the main resistance against the Cuban government. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban's succeeded. This revolutionary war went on to affect the entire world and Eric Selbin believes it is still affecting it. Throughout Eric Selbin's article, Conjugating the Cuban Revolution, he firmly states that the Cuban revolution is important in the past, present, and future. Selbin, however, is wrong.
Whether it 's for the music, people or food, Cuba is a popular and interesting place to visit. Cuba is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. At 42,426 square miles, Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the 105th largest country in the world. Cuba has a population of 11.1 million. Out of that 11.1 million, Havana is home to 2.1 million (Nation Facts). The official language of Cuba is Spanish, but English and French are spoken throughout the country. The most practiced religion of Cuba is Roman Catholicism, but a large number of people follow the Afro-Cuban and Protestant religions. The president of Cuba is currently Raúl Castro, which is Fidel Castro 's brother. The currency of Cuba is the Cuban peso (Cuba).
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
The Cuban Revolution began in 1959 when a small group of guerrillas overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. There were several main goals to the revolution that revolved around improvement of the lives of Cuban citizens. Even though these goals were not all completely successful, most of the fundamentals of...
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Americans were losing patience over the whole Cuban affair because Spain cut shipping and economic interests from Cuba. Americans wanted the economic situation resolved so they could get back to the economic fortunes they were used to; therefore, the worsening economy was one of the main causes of the War of 1898. When the United States finally denounced the dominance of the Spanish government in Cuba, Spain cut its economic ties with the United States. Trade for the United States was impacted greatly. Due to the sharp drop of sugar prices that took place from early 1884, the old Cuban “sugar nobility,” unable to mechanize and cut costs, began to disintegrate and lose its dominant role in the island’s economy and society (Hernandez). This facilitated the United States’ penetration of the Cuban economy, and the United States took over sugar estates and mining interests. It was American machinery, technicians, and capital that helped save the Cuban sugar mills.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Many Cubans in exile, such as my neighbor, Roca Beiro, a professional caterer whom I had the opportunity to interview, informed me that many Cubans have cut down on the starches they consume and that they try to follow a healthier diet. Due to the lack of time in their day to day life, many buy products, such as black beans, because preparing them from scratch is very time consuming. In addition, Cubans have added more salads to their diet, use less sauces, and prepare fewer potajes (stews). They have also adapted more American foods into their daily life since their children are exposed to them at school and through their acquaintance with endless chains of fast food restaurants in their communities. For example, breakfast in Cuba usually consists of café con leche and tostada (coffee with milk and Cuban toast).
The culture of Miami has various influences, but for the majority it is Latin. People from Latin America including places like Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and many others have inhabited Miami for many of years now. While over half of the population were born in a foreign country it is common that people speak English just as much as Spanish. A key part to the Cuban community is called Little Havana, which gets its name from the Cuba’s capital city. This is a place fu...
The exodus of the majority of skilled workers brought about a rapid change in the methods employed in educating Cuba’s population. If the revolution was to be successful, Cuba needed to replace the skilled workers that left with other skilled workers in the shortest amount of time possible. In 1961, the revolutionary government developed a nationwide campaign to rid Cuba of illiteracy. The program was given slogans like “ The people should teach the people and If you don’t know learn; if you know teach”. This program consisted of volunteer teachers who would help illiterate Cubans increase their education by teaching them the fundamentals. According to Fitzgerald, “(The literacy campaign) helped to integrate town and county and to galvanize support for revolutionary goals by bringing urban and rural populations into direct contact. ( p. 41)” Also, according to Fitzgerald, “ Enrollment in adult education rose dramatically from 66,577 students in the 1960-1961 school year to a peak of 842,024 students in the 1964-1965 school year, but plummeted to 309,717 students in 1969-1970. (P. 42)” This program benefited the poorer citizens of Cuba who remained in Cuba. They w...
...tals.Cuba’s exporting dropped substantially due to the global economic downturn. Having low exporting rates called for huge losses in infrastructure and economy. Cuba’s previous investments in human development through past decisions have made for a great workforce. The problem is the economy’s insufficiency hasn’t been able to make good use of the this great work force. Because of Cuba’s commitment to education, health and a stable government, they have the potential for future growth as a country.
Cuba had a long history regarding its countries state from the Cuban revolution till now. To start off, Cuba is the biggest island in the Caribbean and one of the closest to the United States. Because of its location it played an important role for America. The revolution lasted for 7 years but eventually the Cuban people were successful.
When we think about Cuba people imagine poverty, hostages, and undeveloped societies. Of course Cuba has its cons, when we think about the government, but is Cuba really that bad? I think people have been influenced by the only thing the media shows, the negative things in Cuba! Cuba and the US have had no ties for over 50 years and that’s in part because, “By 1960, Castro 's government had seized private land, nationalized hundreds of private companies. Including several local subsidiaries of U.S. corporations, and taxed American products so heavily that U.S. exports were halved in just
The country’s culture is one of its kinds. The rich history of the island is evident by the people’s customs, traditions and architecture. The Cubans are famous for their artistic involvement which includes ballet, and in popular and classical music. The lists of international awards won by the Cuban artists are long and critically acclaimed. The restoration of its historic cities and the care of its beautiful countryside are acclaimed by conservationists all over the world. Those who appreciate the Arts, colourful history, wonderful weather, good food and absolute exclusivity find Cuba hard to resist (cubaheritage.com).
However the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backe...