Country+Research

= = http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA404228 Cuba

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1203299.stm#facts

=__Fast Facts:__=
 * 1. Location**
 * Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, 150 km south of Key West, Florida
 * Border countries: US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay 29 km
 * Guantanamo Naval Base is leased by the US and remains part of Cuba
 * 2. GDP (exchange rate) +per capita**
 * $57.49 billion (2010 est.)
 * $9,900 (2010 est.)
 * country comparison to the world: 110
 * $9,800 (2009 est.)
 * $9,700 (2008 est.)
 * 3. Economy Overview**
 * The government announced it would eliminate 500,000 state jobs by March 2011 and has expanded opportunities for self-employment
 * The government has introduced limited reforms, some initially implemented in the 1990s, to increase enterprise efficiency and alleviate serious shortages of food, consumer goods, and services
 * The average Cuban's standard of living remains at a lower level than before the downturn of the 1990s, which was caused by the loss of Soviet aid and domestic inefficiencies
 * Since late 2000, Venezuela has been providing oil on preferential terms, and it currently supplies about 100,000 barrels per day of petroleum products. Cuba has been paying for the oil, in part, with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela including some 30,000 medical professionals
 * 4. Type of Government**
 * Communist
 * Civil law system based on Spanish civil code
 * 5. Current leader/leaders**
 * President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers Gen. Raul CASTRO Ruz (president since 24 February 2008); First Vice President of the Council of State and First Vice President of the Council of Ministers Jose Ramon MACHADO Ventura (since 24 February 2008); the president is both the chief of state and head of government
 * Raul Castro, the world's longest-serving defence minister, took over as president in February 2008, succeeding his ailing brother Fidel, who had been in power for five decades
 * 6. Transnational Issues**
 * Air and water pollution; biodiversity loss; deforestation
 * US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the facility can terminate the lease
 * Cuba is a source country for adults and some children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; prostitution of children reportedly occurs in Cuba as prostitution is not criminalized for anyone above 16 years old
 * territorial waters and air space serve as transshipment zone for US- and European-bound drugs; established the death penalty for certain drug-related crimes in 1999 (2008)
 * 7. Other important information -> (i.e religion)**
 * Nominally Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Santeria
 * White 65.1%, mulatto and mestizo 24.8%, black 10.1% (2002 census)


 * __Media Today__**
 * Cuban media are tightly controlled by the government and journalists must operate within the confines of laws against anti-government propaganda and the insulting of officials which carry penalties of up to three years in prison
 * Private ownership of broadcast media is prohibited
 * Cuba is the only country in the Americas not to allow a non-state independent press

__**Terrorism/Disputes**__
 * The US also doesn't like the friends Cuba keeps, especially fellow State sponsor list members Iran and North Korea, with which Cuba has cooperation agreements in the areas of science and trade.
 * Cuba actively continued to oppose the U.S.-led Coalition prosecuting the global war on terror and has publicly condemned various U.S. policies and actions
 * Cuba did not attempt to track, block, or seize terrorist assets, although the authority to do so is contained in Cuba’s Law 93 Against Acts of Terrorism
 * According to the US, Cuba is harboring fugitives from American prosecution. These include murderers and hijackers, but no global terrorists of note. Cuba has agreed to stop providing safe haven to new US fugitives

According to the Cuban communist government and their relationship with the U.S, I think Cuba wouldn't work well because they were accused of harboring fugitives from American prosecution such as murderers and hijackers. Cuba also continued to oppose the U.S on the topic of global war on terror and didn't attempt to size or block terrorist assets. Also the economy of Cuba seems poorly constructed because there is problems with jobs because the government eliminated over 500,000 state jobs but expanded opportunities for "self employment"



Guantanamo Bay
[] >> **Cuba **: October 6: Cubana Flight 455 was bombed while flying from Barbados to Havana, killing 73 passengers plus crew members. Anti-Castro exiles with suspected ties to the CIA are involved, among them Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Victims included six Guyanese medical students and the entire Cuban youth fencing team >> **Cuba**: Luis Posada Carriles organized a string of bombings at luxury hotels in Cuba in 1997 in order to discourage the growth of the tourism industry. One Italian tourist died.
 * The US Government originally saw Guantanamo Bay as a point of strategic value to its Navy in protecting the Panama Canal
 * After the Cuban revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro asked for the return of Guantanamo Bay which the US refused. The Cubans responded by cutting off water and electricity supplies to the US naval base on Guantanamo Bay. The US military personnel stationed at Guantanamo Bay have been forbidden entry to Cuba
 * Guantanamo Bay detention camp facilitated by the United States and established in 2002 to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
 * 3 camps; Camp Delta, Camp Iguana and Camp X-Ray
 * 1) **Have any acts of terror occurred in your country? (Include the date, perpetrators, and their motives.) **
 * 2) [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Flag_of_Cuba.svg/22px-Flag_of_Cuba.svg.png width="22" height="11"]] **Cuba **: 1960, 5 March: The French freighter La Coubre explodes, killing between 75 and 100 people with 200 injured. The government suspects sabotage
 * 1) **What has your country done to combat terrorism? (Have they created new laws, organizations, campaigns etc. to deal with terrorism?) **
 * 2) Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982, the Government of Cuba maintained a public stance against terrorism and terrorist financing in 2010
 * 3) Cuba has been used as a transit point by third-country nationals looking to enter illegally into the United States
 * 4) **What actions has your country taken on the issue on an international level? Does you country help other countries who are victims on terrorism? If so, how do they? **
 * 5) Cuba remained opposed to the US-led Coalition prosecuting the global war on terrorism and actively condemned many associated US policies and actions throughout 2003
 * 6) With respect to domestic terrorism, the Government in April 2003 executed three Cubans who attempted to hijack a ferry to the United States. The three were executed under Cuba’s 2001 “Law Against Acts of Terrorism.”
 * 7) **Is you country a member of any international organization and/or coalition currently working to stop terrorism? **
 * 8) Cuba continued to provide support to designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as well as to host several terrorists and dozens of fugitives from US justice. The Government refuses to return suspected terrorists to countries when it alleges that a receiving government could not provide a fair trial because the charges against the accused are “political.”
 * 9) **What role would your country like to see the international community take to address the problem of terrorism? **

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA404228 http://www.cubaminrex.cu/english/Terrorism/Terrorism_%20index_tchtm.htm http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/the-cuban-5-victims-of-us-state-terrorism/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4708946.stm