Interesting facts about Cuba:

    • Around 85% of Cubans have Internet access. 
    • The Cuban summer starts in June and ends in September. For Europeans, it is scorching hot and unbearably humid.
    • The second-largest city in Cuba is Santiago de Cuba. This is where the Cuban revolution starts from.
    • 2 million Cubans live in the USA and mostly in Miami. 
    • The Cuban national hero Ernesto Che Guevara was born in 1928 in Argentina and was a dentist. 
    • On the morning of the 16th of October 1962, the national security advisers inform president John Cenedy that the American Intelligence has detected Soviet missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from the USA. This marks the beginning of the Caribbean Crisis, which almost ignites a nuclear war that thankfully did not happen.
    • Cuba is world-famous for its rum and cigars. Tobacco is cultivated mainly in the west part of the country in the valleys of the Pinar del Rio Province.
    • 90 % of the Cubans own a home.
    • Industriales is Havanians’ favourite baseball team. There are often baseball derbies with the Matanzas team.
    • Nearly 22 % of the country is covered with protected areas. The largest of them is Guamа.
    • Pico Real del Turquino is the highest peak in Cuba. The variety show performed on the top floor of Havana Libre Hotel is named after the peak. 
    • The Revolution against Batista and American Colonialism starts with the attack on the barracks Moncada in Santiago de Cuba on the 26th of July 1953.
    • Safra for the Cubans is the gathering of sugar cane and one of the main farming activities in Cubа.
    • Yucca is a local plant with thick fruits that can be boiled or fried and eaten. 
    • Bananas are of great significance in Cubа. Here they are called platano. There are different sorts of platano and its fruits are consumed in all kinds of ways. The vianda sort is used for cooking. 
    • Since 2019 more Cubans have had Internet access. 
    • The main food in Cuba is rice, brought to the island from abroad.
    • There are so many doctors in Cuba that often some of them are sent to countries with lack in this respect. These are mostly the African countries and Venezuela.
    • The US Maine ship was blown in Havana bay in 1898 and causes the death of 250 people. The reason for the explosion was aimed at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.
    • The 90s in Cuba are popular as “the special period”. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the food and goods import Cuba falls into starvation and deprivation. Electricity is accessible only 4 hours a day. Some of my elderly Cuban friends told me that they used to go to school drinking only water with sugar for energy. 
    • Cubа is the motherland of tobacco. It takes up 3% of the cultivated land. 
    • Up to 1993, the Cubans were not allowed to use American dollars. 
    • The first Independence war in Cuba was led by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1868 and lasted for 10 years.
    • Between 1899 and 1902, Cubа is controlled by An American military government and before the Revolution, it is controlled by a popular American scheme for world colonisation supported by pro-American politicians, the Cuban case – Batista. 
    • In 2008 after 49 years of power, Fidel Castro resigns as a president due to weak health. Then he hands the presidency down to his brother Raul Castro. 
    • In 2000 Fidel Castro established a John Lenon statue in Havana, calling him a real revolutionary. 
    • Cuba is often called El Crocodrilo, which in Spanish means crocodile because of its geographical resemblance with the reptile. Just take a look at the map…
    • Cuba is the home of the small Colibri birds which are only 2 cm long. 
    • Cuba is quite rich in nickel. It is responsible for 21% of the global export. 
    • Cubans are allowed to have 2 houses – one in the city they live in and one in the province.
    • Cuban education is accessible and free for the citizens. However, after graduating every young person has to work for half a salary for some time. 
    • Cubа is the most populated country in the Caribbean region with 11 million people. 
    • Cuba is 110 860 sq m large.
    • After 1959 the USA impose an economic and political blockade on Cuba. 
    • Cuba cannot import anything that comes from factories trading with the US. Cuban ships cannot enter American harbours. 
  • For 24 years now Cuba imports in the UN а resolution for ending the blockade imposed on Cuba by the US, which is voted negative only by America, Israel and Palau.
  • The hurricane season in Cuba starts from the end of July until the end of September.
  • The Island was found on the 30th of October 1492 by Christopher Columbus and was joined to Spain. Back then the sailor thought he found India.
  • Initially, Cuba was called Juanita, but then the Indian name of the island comes back.
  • Cubа has a mixed population with 1% Chinese, 11% Afro-Americans, 37% white people and 51% mullets. 
  • Since 2016 Cubans have WIFI access but only at particular places. These spots are mostly parks, gardens and hotel surroundings and can be found in all of the big cities. 
  • Raul Castro officially resigned from the post of president in 2018 due to weak health. Now the power is in the hands of Camello Diaz.