Today we are celebrating Cuba’s independence day. This Caribbean country gained independence on October 10th, 1902 from Spain. The milestone did not come easy, and was a culmination of a 10 year war, with over 200,000 lives lost, and a US intervention that lasted for 3 years.
(A street in Cuba)
The original inhabitants of Cuba are the Taino people. During the transAtlantic slave trade, more than 800,000 enslaved Africans were taken to the islands to work the fields. This number was double the amount of Africans brought to the United States during this period. Today, race in Cuba is a complicated identity that is tightly woven with privilege and power. Official statistics of the country’s ethnic demographic varies, because many Cubans of color consider themselves white, even though they may be of mixed ancestry and are seen as non-white to others.
(Cubans standing on a sidewalk)
The capital’s city, Havana, is famous for its vibrant culture and music. In 2019, the World Bank reported Cuba’s population at approximately 11,333,000. The country’s exports consist of sugar, pharmaceuticals, fuel, nickel and tobacco. The food and culture of the country is a mixture of Taino, African and Spanish influences.
(Ropa Vieja, a Cuban beef stew and rice dish)
Cuba shook the world when it refused to hand in Assata Shakur, the legendary Black Panther Party leader, who in 1979 escaped from prison while serving a life sentence and absconded to Cuba. This freedom fighter was the first woman to be put on America’s Most Wanted Terrorist List. In 1984, she received a political pardon by Fidel Castro’s government. Many African-American revolutionaries sought political refuge in Cuba, notably in the 1960s.
(Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of Cuba)
Cuba’s current president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, is the country’s first President in 60 years who is not of the Castro family. In 1960. Fidel Castro established Cuba as the Western Hemisphere’s first Communist society, and today, Cuba is one of the few Communist countries in the world.
The principles of communism, founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, forbids private ownership in its varying forms of education, labor, transportation systems and more, with the belief that private ownership stimulates greed in a society.
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