Cuba

So...you're looking for Hotel Playa Pesquero Cuba. 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 Cuban economy was hit hard in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Comecon economic bloc, with which it had traded predominantly. More recent problems include high oil prices, recessions in key export markets such as sugar and nickel, damage from hurricanes (most recently an estimated 1 billion dollars economic damage from hurricane Charley), depressed tourism, and faltering world economic conditions. In late 2003, and early 2004, both tourism levels and nickel prices increased.

Cuba once had a small but vibrant Jewish population, and Havana still has one or two active synagogues.

Many (especially US) historians believe that a long, protracted stalemate as in the Ten Years' War was likely without US intervention; others (especially Cubans) prefer to characterize US intervention as an unnecessary mopping up operation in a war largely already won by the Cuban revolutionaries. Spain sent over one million men to Cuba, and only about 200,000 returned. The rest died in combat, succumbed to tropical diseases, or stayed in Cuba to avoid the widespread poverty in Spain.

Cuba and its originally Amerindian population (Taino, Siboney and Guanajatabey) came under Spanish control in the 16th century. The colony's struggle for independence started in 1868 and continued during the 19th century until the Spanish-American War of 1898. The United States occupied the island until its independence was granted in 1902, though limited by the Platt Amendment (revoked in 1934), after which the US continued to have a major influence in Cuban affairs.

In the mid 1990s tourism surpassed sugar, long the mainstay of the Cuban economy, as the primary source of foreign exchange. Tourism figures prominently in the Cuban Government's plans for development, and a top official cast it as the "heart of the economy." Havana devotes significant resources to building new tourist facilities and renovating historic structures for use in the tourism sector.

The new revolutionary government adopted land reforms and confiscated much of the property of those foreign companies. As a result, relations with the USA rapidly deteriorated. At first, Castro was reluctant to discuss his plans for the future, but eventually he declared himself a communist, explained that he was trying to build socialism in Cuba, and opened diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

Che Guevara, Fidel Castro Rus, Camilo Cienfuegos, Raúl Castro Rus and their rebel army were one of many guerilla groups that opposed the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro's 'July 26 Movement' subsumed these other groups quickly and took over Cuba's government in 1959, following its victory against Batista's military forces. At the time when Batista was deposed, 75% of Cuba's farmable land was owned by foreign individuals or foreign companies (mostly US companies).

Cuba was the last major Spanish colony to gain independence, following a 50-year struggle begun in 1850. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes led the first major uprising, the Ten Year War, which began on October 10, 1868 with the issuing of the Grito de Yara. Neither the Cuban rebels nor the Spanish government were able to defeat the other, and the war dragged on for ten years, hence its name.

Cervera attempted an escape on July 3 beginning the Naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba. In a matter of hours, Cervera's fleet was destroyed, ensuring a swift end to the war. On October 1, Spain capitulated in the Treaty of Paris, yielding to the United States the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands.

The Spanish were interested in keeping their trade routes and slave trade routes protected. Nevertheless, Cuba's vast size and abundance of natural resources made it an ideal place for becoming a booming sugar producer.

He was succeeded by Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín, a populist physician who had briefly held the presidency in the 1933 revolutionary process. President Grau passed a number of populist measures favoring workers and also was instrumental in passing the 1940 Constitution, which has been widely regarded as one of the most progressive ever written in terms of worker protection and human rights.

To alleviate the economic crisis, the government introduced a few market-oriented reforms including opening to tourism, allowing foreign investment, legalizing the US dollar, and authorizing self-employment for some 150 occupations. These measures resulted in modest economic growth; the official statistics, however, are deficient and as a result provide an incomplete measure of Cuba's real economic situation.

Some non-violent initiatives have been launched by Cubans in the island, aiming at political reform. In 1997, a group led by Vladimiro Roca, a decorated veteran of the Angolan war and the son of the founder of the Cuban Communist Party, sent a petition, entitled La Patria es de Todos ("the homeland belongs to all") to the Cuban general assembly requesting democratic and human rights reforms. As a result, Roca and his three associates were sentenced to jail, from which they were eventually released.

The Native Cuban Indian population, including the Ciboney and the Taíno, were forced in to reservations during the Spanish subdual of the Island of Cuba. Many Natives were put in reservations. One famous reservation was known as Guanabacoa, today a suburb of Havana.

President Gerardo Machado, originally elected by popular vote in 1925, was constitutionally barred from reelection. He decided to stay in power anyway as the head of a military government with some support from the United States. In 1933, a number of liberal Cubans staged an uprising which deposed Machado and led to a series of short-lived governments.

Hotel Playa Pesquero Cuba and Cuba online resources.