REPUBLICOF CUBA

Submitted To: SIR FARAZ SHAFIQUESubmitted By: MUHAMMAD MUAVIA KHAN

Reg. ID: SP09-MBA-081/CIIT/LHRSection: “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

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.

HISTORY

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.

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.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

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 ANALYSESSTRENGTHS:• 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.

• 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.

SWOT ANALYSES

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