Its people and its government make it seem like a bad place, but there is a lot more to it than that. Cuba is full of communism and is home to one of the most well known communist, Fidel Castro. .
Fidel Castro led a rebel army to victory in 1959. He had an iron rule as he has held the country together since then. Cuba's Communist revolution was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The country is now slowly recovering from a severe economic recession in 1990. The US put an embargo on Cuba so that we would not support the communist party of Cuba (1).
Cuba is located in the Caribbean. It is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Illegal migration by Cubans to the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, or falsified visas is a continuing problem. Some 2,600 Cubans attempted the crossing of the Straits of Florida in 2001. The reason so many Cubans are trying to get away from Cuba is that Communism is such a threat to their life that they would rather live in the US. The US Coast Guard apprehended only about 35% of the people who were attempting to get out of Cuba. Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US. Some 2,400 Cubans arrived overland via the southwest border and direct flights to Miami in 2000 (2, p. 324).
Cuba's climate is tropical, with the heat moderated by trade winds. The dry season is from November to April and the rainy season is from May to October. The east coast is subject to hurricanes from August to October. In general, the country averages about one hurricane every other year. Droughts in Cuba are a common thing since they are so close to the equator. Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean and the westernmost island of the Greater Antilles. The population of Cuba is 11,224,321. This estimate was taken in July of 2002. (1).
Cuba consists of 14 provinces and 1 special municipality. The provinces are Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Ciudad de La Habana, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba and Villa Clara(1).
