Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet.
History
On New Year’s Day, 1959, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Two years later Castro proclaimed the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution. Cuba became economically isolated from its northern neighbor as it developed close links to the Soviet Union. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s isolated Cuba still further, bringing on what Cubans euphemistically call the período especial ("special period"), a time of widespread shortages and financial uncertainty. By the early 21st century, Cuba had loosened some of its more-restrictive economic and social policies, but the United States continued its decades-long economic embargo against the Castro regime, though the December 2014 announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries held promise of the embargo’s removal. Their current president is Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Leaders (mentioned in Oversimplified)
Provinces
- Pinar del Río
- Artemisa
- La Habana
- Mayabeque
- Matanzas
- Cienfuegos
- Villa Clara
- Sancti Spíritus
- Ciego de Ávila
- Camagüey
- Las Tunas
- Granma
- Holguín
- Santiago de Cuba
- Guantánamo
- Isla de la Juventud
| Countries in the Cold War (template) |
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United States • United Kingdom • France • Norway • Denmark • West Germany • The Netherlands • Belgium • Luxembourg • Spain • Portugal • Iceland • Greece • Turkey • Italy Soviet Union • Polish People's Republic • Czechoslovak Socialist Republic • Hungarian People's Republic • Socialist Republic of Romania • People's Republic of Bulgaria • East Germany Cuba • China |