January 1st, 2016 marks the 57th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba.
Castro and his communist rebels seized power from the pro-US Batista regime.
President Eisenhower was adversarial to Castro’s takeover and for decades the US held an embargo
against Cuba.
But the US has since eased the embargo and Cuba relaxed its strict communist economy.
In light of its turbulent history, we wanted to know, just how powerful is Cuba?
Well at roughly 43 thousand square miles, Cuba is about the size of the US state of
Virginia and is by far the largest country in the Caribbean.
Cuba is home to more than 11 million people, rivaling its neighbors, Haiti and the Dominican
Republic in population.
In fact, a quarter of Caribbean residents live in Cuba.
But given its size and relatively large population, Cuba actually has a very weak military.
Shortly after Castro took over in 1959, Cuba gained military support from the Soviet Union
as a communist friendly country.
This military relationship even nearly led to nuclear warfare during the otherwise Cold
War, with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
At the time, the Soviet Union attempted to store nuclear missiles in Cuba, which is within
striking distance of the US.
This led to an intense standoff between Russia and America, which was resolved after a series
of diplomatic agreements.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba fell into a fiscal crisis that decimated
their military.
Today, Cuba only spends about 1% of its GDP on defense, compared to the NATO recommended
minimum of 2.5%, and the US’s 3.5%.
But with a GDP of about $77 billion dollars Cuba has somewhat recovered from that economic
downturn.
Since 1996 its GDP has steadily risen every year.
And since Fidel Castro transferred his presidential duties to Raul in 2006, the Cuban government
has begun to let some private industries flourish.
As of 2011, Cubans can legally buy electronics, stay in hotels and sell their cars and houses.
Still, the country remains communist, and the government controls nearly all means of
production.
As a result, the average salary in Cuba is just $22 dollars a month, and standards of
living haven’t changed much since the 1980s.
In fact, many Cubans have left the country in search of better economic opportunities.
Since Castro took over in 1959, more than one million Cubans have migrated to the US
via homemade rafts, using fake visas, and other illegitimate means.
This has left Cuba’s population stagnant over the last 20 years.
So how powerful is Cuba?
Well on a global scale the country is not very influential, as economic disparity lingers
from the country’s violent and complicated history.
However Cuba’s recent uptick in tourism and deregulation of private industries shows
the country is making huge advances.
Cuba’s former ally, Russia, is not the Soviet Union superpower it used to be...or is it?
Find out in our video.
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