Facts About Cuba
More than half of Cuba’s population is mixed race. As such, racial relations are more harmonious there than in many other Carribean or Latin American nations.
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Beginning with Castro’s ascension to power in 1962, Cuba was officially atheist, despite the fact that the majority of Cubans are either Catholic or Afro-Cuban (such as Santeria). In 1992, however, the Cuban Constitution was amended, declaring Cuba “secular.”
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In 1996, Pope John Paul II came to Cuba at Castro’s invitation. Here, he said four publis masses, signaling a return of Roman Catholicism to Cuban society. Two years later, Christmas was reinstated as a national holiday.
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Cuba, while officially Socialist, has a dual economic system. Domestically, all social and employment services are state-run, and economic exchange is government-controlled.
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By contrast, the Cuban tourist industry runs on a free-market system, channeling revenue into the state system. Recent reforms in state agricultural policy (allowing surplus production and removing price caps) have increased the value of the Cuban peso by 600%.
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Sugarcane and tobacco are Cuba’s primary exports. Coffee, too, has a strong product.
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