The Republic of Cuba consists of a main island and several adjacent
small islands. It is located in the northern Caribbean only 90 miles southwest
of Key West, Florida. The primary language is Spanish. President Fidel
Castro has led Cuba since February 1959, but due to ill health delegated his
duties to Raúl Castro on July 31, 2006.
Cuba was first discovered during Christopher Columbus' initial trip to the Americas in 1492. It was inhabited by the Taino and Ciboney whose ancestors came from South America centuries before. Cuba remained under Spanish rule until the end of the Spanish-American War when it was placed under a 20-year United States trusteeship. When Theodore Roosevelt became President in 1901, he abandoned the 20-year trusteeship. Cuba gained its formal independence on May 20, 1902 and the first President of Cuba was Tomás Estrada Palma. The U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Naval Base was leased from Cuba in February 1903. Its termination requires the agreement of both the U.S. and Cuban governments.
On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his rebels took control of Havana from Fulgencio Batista. From 1959 to 1976, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado was a figurehead president with the real power residing in Castro. In 1976, Castro became President. In May 1961, Castro declared Cuba a socialist republic. In October 1962, the Cuban Missile crisis pitted Fidel Castrol against President John F. Kennedy over the deployment of Soviet missiles to Cuba.
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