REPUBLIC

OF CUBA
Submitted To: SIR FARAZ SHAFIQUE
Submitted By: MUHAMMAD MUAVIA KHAN
Reg. ID: SP09-MBA-081/CIIT/LHR
Section: “C”
Date Of Submission: 02/12/2009

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore

INTRO.
 REPUBLIC OF CUBA
Cuba is an archipelago of islands located in the Northern Caribbean Sea at the
confluence with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The United States
lies to the north-west, the Bahamas to the north, Haiti to the east, Jamaica and
the Cayman Islands to the south, and Mexico to the west. Cuba is the principal
island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands. The main island is 766 km
(476 mi) long and is the 16th island in the world by land area. The name "Cuba"
comes from the Taíno language and though the exact meaning is unclear, it
may be translated either as "where fertile land is abundant" (cubao) or as "great
place" (coabana).
HISTORY
 HISTORY
Island was discovered by CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS in 1492 followed
development as a Spanish colony during the next several centuries. Large
numbers of African slaves were imported to work the coffee and sugar plantations.

INDEPENDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES:

May 20, 1902: Cuba gained formal Independence from the United States as the
republic of Cuba. After the Spanish-American War, Spain and the United States
signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and
Guam were ceded to the U.S. for the sum of $20 million. Under the same treaty
Spain relinquished all claim of sovereignty over the title to Cuba.
Under the new constitution, however, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in
Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt
Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay naval base from Cuba.
HISTORICAL EVENTS THAT
SHAPED PRESENT
STRUCTURE OF COUNTRY
 HISTORY
2. BATISTA AS A PRESIDENT LATER AS DICTATOR:
Batista was elected as President democratically in the
elections of 1940 First as President, later as Dictator, for two
separate non-continuous terms. The preceding president,
Ramón Grau, lasted only a year before Batista forced his
resignation in 1934.  Batista was then the Army's Chief of
Staff, and very powerful in Cuba. His influence remained
very strong over the years.  In 1940, he was elected
President of Cuba, gaining approximately 60% of the votes.
In 1944, the hand-picked successor to Batista lost the
election to Ramón Grau.  Batista tolerated this temporary fall
from power until 1952.Batista staged a military coup in 1952,
overthrowing Carlos Prío and becoming Dictator of Cuba. 
After that point, Batista abandoned the Cuban constitution
by allowing only staged elections in which his victory would
be guaranteed. BATISTA
 HISTORY
2. CUBAN REVOLUTION:
On March 10, 1952, General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the president of Cuba, Carlos
Prìo Socarrás, and canceled all elections. This angered the young lawyer Fidel Castro,
and for the next seven years he attempted to overthrow Batista’s government. On July
26, 1953, Castro led an attack against the military barracks in Santiago, but he was
defeated and arrested. Although Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Batista
released him in 1955 in a show of supreme power. Castro did not back down and
gathered a new group of rebels in Mexico. On December 2, 1956, he was again
defeated by Batista’s army and fled to the Sierra Maestra. He began using guerrilla
tactics to fight Batista’s armed forces, and with the aid of other rebellions throughout
Cuba, he forced Batista to resign and flee the country on January 1, 1959. Castro
became the Prime Minister of Cuba in February and had about 550 of Batista’s
associates executed. One estimate is that 15,000 to 17,000 people were executed. He
soon suspended all elections and named himself "President for Life", jailing or
executing all who opposed him. He established a communist government with himself
as a dictator and began relations with the Soviet Union. At the beginning of his rule,
The Communist Party strengthened its one-party rule, with Castro as supreme leader.
the United States supported Castro in the start however, once he embraced
communism, the U.S. attempted to overthrow him.
 HISTORY
3. RAÚL CASTRO:
On July 31, 2006 Fidel Castro temporarily delegated his major duties to his
brother, First Vice President, Raúl Castro; Later Raúl was elected as the new
President. In his acceptance speech, Raúl promised that some of the
restrictions that limit Cubans' daily lives would be removed. In March 2009,
Raúl Castro purged some of Fidel's officials.

FIDEL CASTRO & RAÚL CASTRO

CURRENT POLITICAL SYSTEM
 CURRENT POLITICAL SYSTEM
No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on
the island, though the Communist Party of Cuba has held five party
congress meetings since 1975. In 1997 the party claimed 780,000
members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the
Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions
are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other
political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, while
activity within Cuba by opposition groups is minimal and illegal.
Political party: Cuban Communist Party (PCC); only one party
allowed. The country is subdivided into fourteen provinces and one
special municipality (Isla de la Juventud).
FOREIGN RELATIONS
 FOREIGN RELATIONS
CUBA & SPAIN:
Span is among the most important foreign investors in Cuba. The ruling
Zapatero government continues Spain's longstanding policy of encouraging
further investment and trade with Cuba. Cuba imports more goods from Spain
(almost 13% of total imports) than from any other country. Spanish economic
involvement with Cuba is exclusively centered on joint venture enterprises that
provide financial benefit to the Cuban Government through state-owned firms.
  Cuba has found a new source of aid and support in the People's Republic of
China, and new allies in Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela and Evo
Morales, President of Bolivia, both major oil and gas exporters.
CUBAN & AMERICAN:
The bad CUBAN-AMERICAN relations were exacerbated the following year by
the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Kennedy administration demanded the
immediate withdrawal of Soviet missiles placed in Cuba, which was a response
to U.S. nuclear missiles in Turkey and the Middle East.
 FOREIGN RELATIONS
The United States continues an embargo against the island of Cuba "so long as
it continues to refuse to move toward democratization and greater respect for
human rights“. United States President Barrack Obama stated on April 17, 2009
in Trinidad and Tobago that "the United States seeks a new beginning with
Cuba”, and reversed the Bush Administration's prohibition on travel and
remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.
CUBAN CURRENCIES
 CUBAN CURRENCIES
Cuba has two currencies in circulation: the Cuban peso (CUP) and the
convertible peso (CUC); in April 2005 the official exchange rate changed from $1
per CUC to $1.08 per CUC (0.93 CUC per $1) both for individuals and
enterprises; individuals can buy 24 Cuban pesos (CUP) for each CUC sold or
sell 25 Cuban pesos for each CUC bought; enterprises, however, must
exchange CUP and CUC at a 1:1 ratio.
Exchange rates:
Cuban pesos (CUP) per US dollar:
$0.9259 (2008 )
$0.9259 (2007)
$0.9231 (2006)
CUBAN EXPORT
 CUBAN EXPORT
Chief Cubans export is nickel which is by far the most important material that
has caused the boom in the economy. The amount for which nickel is exported
is considerably high when you consider the state wages that are paid to the
employees of the industry. It is estimated that nickel and cobalt exports yielded
about $1.3 billion in 2006. The amount of unrefined nickel that was exported
weighed in at 74,000 tons. The second biggest exports are in the form of
pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. Cuba also exports doctors to
Venezuela in return for which it is given a considerable amount of oil on credit.

Although sugar used to be one of the major exports of Cuba because of a huge
rain in the country. its production and consequently export has declined over the
years. This has been largely due to the lack of investment in the industry. The
tobacco and cigar industry has always been one of Cuba’s most steady
sources of production and it continues to form a great chunk of the international
export products. Other goods that form the exports of Cuba are shellfish, citrus
fruits, coffee and state sponsored labor.
SWOT ANALYSES
 SWOT ANALYSES
STRENGTHS:
• People of Cuba are one of the major strength as they are well educated and
the literacy rate touches 99.8% playing an important role in the country’s
progress.
• Geographical position of Cuba is very important as biggest economic state
America is just 90 miles away.
• Strong Health care system provides all of its citizens with free health care. Not
only the patients treated well, but the have the best doctor-patient ratio the in
world, which is “one doctor to every two hundred patients.

WEAKNESS:
• Dictatorship destroyed the institutional system of the country since 1952.
• Human resource condition in the country is alarming. People do not have
freedom of expression and facing political imprisonment, travel restrictions and
legal and institutional failings.
 SWOT ANALYSES
• Private sector is not contributing as their share in the past was just 8.2%.
OPPORTUNITIES:
•  By developing good relationships with Europe and especially with America
Cuba can open new door for its progress.
• Recent oil exploration has revealed that the North Cuba Basin could produce
approximately 4.6 billion barrels oil and there are more chances of oil
exploration which need more test drilling by foreign investment.
THREATS:
• Worse relationship with neighbor and other world doesn’t allow Cuba to
establish its economy.
• UN sanctions and travel ban on Cuba is directly affecting the Cuba and its
trade with other countries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html
• http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/places-timelines/14-cuban-timeline.htm
• http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/crevolution.htm
• http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/fulgencio_batista.html
• http://www.cuban.pro/articles/5305/Obama-and-Cuba