Cuba

So...you're looking for Cuba Travel Guide. The Cubans will tell you that there is so much more to see and do in Cuba than just what you see in the brochure.

Whether its a holiday, on business, or for a short break Cuba continues to increase in popularity amongst us Brits - and rightly so!

That's why its important to get your travel plans sorted out properly, and in our opinion, flight, holiday and hotel specialists Opodo offer the best service online - but you can find that out for yourself here...

The Republic comprises the entire island, including many outlying islands such as the Isle of Youth, previously known as the Isle of Pine, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay, a naval base that has been leased by the United States since 1903. The mainland is the world's 16th largest island.

In July 1961, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed by the merger of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Revolutionary Movement, the People's Socialist Party (the old Communist Party) led by Blas Roca and the Revolutionary Directory March 13th led by Faure Chomón. On March 26, 1962 the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) which, in turn, became the Communist Party of Cuba on October 3, 1965 with Castro as First Secretary.

On July 26, 1953 Castro led a historical attack on the Moncada Barracks near Santiago de Cuba, but failed and was jailed until 1955, when amnesty was given to many political prisoners, including the ones that assaulted the Moncada barracks.

Lukumí ritual is highly secretive and primarily transmitted orally. Known practices include animal offering, ecstatic dance, and sung invocations to the Orishas. Chickens are the most common form of sacrifice; their blood is offered to the Orisha. Drum music and dancing are used to induce a trance state in specific participants, who may become possessed by an Orisha who then speaks through them. One's ancestors, egun, are held in high esteem in Lukumí.

The Cuban Government defaulted on most of its international debt in 1986 and does not have access to credit from international financial institutions like the World Bank, which means Havana must rely heavily on short-term loans to finance imports, chiefly food and fuel. Because of its poor credit rating, and $11 billion hard currency debt, and the risks associated with Cuban investment, interest rates have reportedly been as high as 22 percent.

Thus, there were now two separate economies, the dollar-economy and the peso-economy, creating a social split in the island because those in the dollar-economy made much more money (such as in the tourist-industry). However, in October 2004 the Cuban government announced an end to this policy: from November dollars would no longer be legal tender in Cuba, but would instead be exchanged for pesos, with a 10% commission payable to the state.

African slaves were imported to work the plantations in order to replace the field labor. Slavery became especially important when Cuba's sugar plantations became important world producers. By the end of the 19th century Slavery was abolished.

The Palo belief system rests on two main pillars: the belief in natural (“earth”) powers, and the veneration of the spirits of the dead. Thus, natural objects, and particularly sticks (hence the word “palo”, meaning “stick”), can be infused with powers, often linked to the powers of spirits. These objects are known as “nganga” and are the physical centre of Palo rituals. Manipulation of the "nganga" is often considered a form of magic (particularly "black magic") and thus highly secretive.

The Platt Amendment was abolished in 1934 and the Guantanamo Naval Base agreement was renegotiated granting Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modifying the lease payment from $2,000 in gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 U.S. Treasury Dollars, and adding a requirement that termination of the lease requires the consent of both the U.S. and Cuba governments, or the abandonment of the base property by the U.S.

The Organization of American States, under pressure from the US suspended Cuba's membership in the body on January 22, 1962 and the United States Government banned all US-related Cuban imports and exports a couple of weeks later on February 7. The Kennedy administration extended this on February 8, 1963 making travel, financial and commercial transactions by US citizens to Cuba illegal.

To help keep the economy afloat, Havana actively courts foreign investment, which often takes the form of joint ventures with the Cuban Government holding half of the equity, management contracts for tourism facilities, or financing for the sugar harvest. Cuban officials said in early 1998 that there were a total of 332 joint ventures. Many of these are loans or contracts for management, supplies, or services normally not considered equity investment in Western economies.

Most Cubans began to support annexation from Cuba to join as a slave state to the United States. This movement ended at the end of the American civil war. Cuba had no interest in abolishing slavery. After this Cuba began a revolution called the Ten Year War, which ended in Spain abolishing slavery in Cuba. The abolishment of slavery in Cuba slowly killed off the Sugar plantations.

Cuba Travel Guide and Cuba online resources.