North & Central America and Caribbean

Cuba
Last reviewed: 10 July 2008

Country information

See entire profile

HISTORY

Pre-Colombian Cuba inhabited by Amerindian tribes: the Guanahatabey, Taínos, Siboneys and Caribs.
1492 Christopher Columbus lands on Cuba, the start of Spanish occupation.
1607 Havana replaces Santiago de Cuba as Cuba's capital
1762 British forces take control of Havana.
1763 British hand Cuba back to the Spanish in exchange for Florida.
1868-78 Ten Years War ends in Spanish victory over Cuban rebels.
1895-8 War of Independence: End of Spanish rule.
1899-1902 US Military occupation of Cuba.
1902 Republic of Cuba is created.
1934-58 Fulgencio Batista effective Head of State for 17 of these 25 years.
1959 Cuban Revolution. Fidel Castro Ruz takes control
1961 US sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion defeated. Castro proclaims Cuba a Socialist State and begins to ally it with the USSR. US declares trade embargo with Cuba.
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
1972 Cuba admitted to COMECON economic bloc.
1976 Promulgation of Cuba's new Socialist Constitution.
1980 Mariel rafter crisis - over 100,000 Cubans seeks asylum in the USA.
1990 'Special Period in Time of Peace' austerity programme in place throughout 1990s.
1991 End of Soviet subsidies to Cuba.
1996 US Helms Burton Act toughens US sanctions on Cuba.
1998 Visit to Cuba of Pope John Paul II.
2001 US exempts foodstuffs and medicine from trade embargo (US 2005 exports to Cuba are approximately US$500m).
2003 Crackdown on peaceful Cuban opposition leads to crisis in EU-Cuba relations.
2006 Fidel Castro is taken ill in July with intestinal illness. Raul Castro temporarily assumes leadership of the party and presidential responsibilities.
2008 Raúl Castro elected President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers.

Recent History

BBC News Country Timeline: Cuba

On 24 February 2008 the new National Assembly unanimously voted for Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro's younger brother, to become President of the Councils of State and of Ministers (and thus Head of State and Government) and Commander in Chief of the Cuban Armed Forces. Fidel Castro remains First Secretary of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, with Raúl Castro as Second Secretary. José Ramon Machado Ventura (78), became First Vice-President of the Council of State (the post Raul vacated by becoming President).

Raúl Castro had temporarily assumed power on 31 July 2006 when President Fidel Castro issued a proclamation announcing that he had undergone surgery for a severe intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding.