Cuba by the Numbers

by Ed Sawicki - March 21, 2016
updated December 2019

Cuba map

President Obama's visit to Cuba is long overdue. The United States should have reconciled with Cuba immediately after Russia pulled out of Cuba in the early 1990s. We didn't because the Cuban community in Miami is powerful politically and they didn't want reconcilliation as long as the Castros were still in power.

Comparison of Cuba to the U.S.
 U.S.Cuba
Population 318.9 million 11.27 million
Global Peace Index
(lower number is more peaceful)
94 82
Human Development Index<>(higher number is better) 0.915 0.769
Economic
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) $17.42 Trillion $78.69 Billion
GDP growth 2.0% 4.7 %
Public debt
(% of GDP)
104.5% 35.3%
Inflation 0% 4.4%
Percentage of population living
below poverty line
15.1% 1.5%
Moody's credit rating Stable Stable
Literacy rate 86% 99%
Unemployment 4.9% 3.8%
Health Care
Infant Mortality Rate
(deaths per 1000 births)
5.87 4.63
Health Care Cost
(% of GDP)
16% 7.3%
Number of doctors
(per 1000 people)
2.5 6.72
Suicide rate 12.1 11.4
Life expectancy
(average of male and female)
78 79
Guns
Guns per 100 people 112.6 2.0
Gun deaths per 100,000
(annually)
10.54 under 0.1
Military
Military spending
(% of GDP)
3.5% 3.5%
Military service volunteer 2 years
Cuba Timeline
1899 January 1
As a result of the Spanish-American War, control of Cuba passed from Spain to the United States. It is governed by a U.S. military administration until May 20, 1902.
1900 Nov 5 to 1901 Feb 21
Cuban constitutional convention
1901 March 2
The Platt Amendment stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish–American War.
1901 June 12
Cuba adopts a constitution that includes the provisions of the Platt Amendment.
1943
The Soviet Union opens an embassy in Havana.
1952 Mar 10
Former president Batista, supported by the army, seizes power once more.
1954 Nov
Batista dissolves parliament and is elected constitutional president unopposed.
1958 May
Batista sends an army of 10,000 into the Sierra Maestra to destroy Castro's 300 armed guerrillas and their supporters. By August, the rebels had defeated the army's advance and captured a huge amount of weaponry.
1959 Jan 1
President Batista resigns and flees the country.
1959 Jan 5
Manuel Urrutia named President of Cuba
1959 Jan 11
Fidel Castro appears on the Ed Sullivan show and on Face The Nation.
1959 Feb 16
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
1959 Apr 20
Fidel Castro speaks at Princeton University, New Jersey.
1960 Mar 17
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower orders CIA director Allen Dulles to train Cuban exiles for a covert invasion of Cuba.
1960 Jul 5
All U.S. businesses and commercial property in Cuba is nationalized.
1960 Aug 28
Declaration of San José
1960 Sep
Cuban literacy campaign begins
1960 Oct 19
U.S. imposes embargo prohibiting all exports to Cuba except foodstuffs and medical supplies.
1960 Dec 26
Operation Peter Pan begins.14,000 children of parents opposed to the new government are transported to the United States.
1961 Jan 1
Cuban government initiates national literacy.
1961 Apr 15
Bay of Pigs invasion.
1961 Nov 30
Operation Mongoose
1962 Jan 31
Cuba is expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS)
1963 May 23
Cuba sends medical mission to Algeria to replace French doctors who left. Cuba sent 29 doctors, 4 dentists, 14 nurses, and 7 health care technicians to Algeria after they gained their independence from France that year.
1963 Apr 24
Lisa Howard interviews Castro
1967 Oct 9
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was put to death by Bolivian soldiers, trained, equipped and guided by U.S. Green Beret and CIA operatives.
1976 Dec 2
Fidel Castro becomes president of Cuba
1980 Apr
The Mariel Boatlift. Cuban authorities allow up to 125,000 people to depart Cuba by boat from Mariel harbor for the U.S. The Cuban and U.S. governments agree to halt the exodus in October.
1996 Mar 6
Congress passes the Helms–Burton Act that strengthened and continued the United States embargo against Cuba.
2000 Dec 14
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Cuba and signs accords aimed at boosting bilateral ties.
2002 May 12
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Cuba. He praises the Varela Project and criticizes the U.S. embargo.
2006 Jul 31
Raúl Castro assumes the duties of president of Cuba while Fidel Castro recovers from an emergency operation.
2008 Feb 19
Fidel Castro resigns as President of Cuba.
2009 Apr 17
President Barak Obama reverses the Bush Administration's prohibition on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.
2014 Dec
The "Cuban Thaw"
2015 Jun 30
Cuba and the U.S. open embassys in each others country
2016 Mar 20
U.S. President Barack Obama begins a three-day visit to Cuba.
2016 Nov 25
Fidel Castro dies.
2017 June 16
Donald Trump stated that he was "canceling" the Obama administration's deals with Cuba.
2018 Apr 18
Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president
2021 Apr 19
Miguel Díaz-Canel becomes First Secretary of the Communist Party after Raúl Castro retires

Wikipedia: Timeline of Cuban history

John F. Kennedy

Cuba became communist in part because of the massive corruption caused by U.S. companies and the Mafia bribing the Batista government. President John F. Kennedy knew this. He said this in 1960:

“Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years… and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state – destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista – hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend – at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.”

In October 1963, he said this about Castro:

“I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country’s policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption.

I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.”

Castro's public appearances

Fidel Castro on the Ed Sullivan Show on January 11, 1959

Fidel Castro appeared on Face the Nation on January 11,1959

When Fidel Castro Charmed the United States

Operation Mongoose

Youtube: CIA Considered Bombing Miami To Blame Cuba!

Cuban Literacy

Bernie Sanders Was Right About the Cuban Literacy Campaign

Health care

Wikipedia: Healthcare in Cuba

NIH: Cuba's health care policy: prevention and active community participation

The Atlantic: How Cubans Live as Long as Americans at a Tenth of the Cost

References