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Location of Cuba in the Caribbean
Republic of Cuba
República de Cuba (Spanish)

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, archipelagos, 4,195 islands and cays surrounding the main island. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 11 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.

Cuba is a socialist state, in which the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian government where political opposition is not permitted. Censorship is extensive and independent journalism is repressed; Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries for press freedom. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America. It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the Taíno Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of enslaved Africans and a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. (Full article...)

El Palacio de Aldama
The Palacio de Aldama is a neoclassical mansion located diagonally opposite to the old Plaza del Vapor (Parque del Curita), and in front of the old Campo de Marte; present day Parque de la Fraternidad, in Havana, Cuba. Built in 1840 by the Dominican architect and engineer Manuel José Carrera, its main facade of columns spans one block on Calle Amistad between Calles Reina and Estrella. (Full article...)
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1938 photograph from Cine-Mundial

Eusebia Cosme Almanza (5 March 1908 – 11 July 1976) was a Cuban poetry reciter and actress who gained widespread fame in the 1930s. Because of racial segregation, Cosme did not pursue an acting career in the traditional Cuban theater, instead focusing on the art of declamation, or poetry reading. She was the sole Cuban woman and one of the few black women to participate in African-themed declamation. Her performances went beyond reciting the poems, as she used gestures, facial expression and vocal rhythm to convey the emotion of the written word. Focusing on works that served as social commentary on race, gender, and the disparity of the position of blacks in both Latin America and the United States, Cosme was recognized as a master of her craft. Beginning her career in variety shows, she performed in Cuba until the late 1930s, before embarking on international tours.

In 1938, Cosme moved to the United States. She became a naturalized US citizen in the 1940s. She performed to sold-out houses at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall, and historically black universities. She performed with both Marian Anderson and Langston Hughes, and brought the works of African-American poets to Hispanic audiences via The Eusebia Cosme Show, which aired on CBS Radio from 1943 to 1945. She performed recitations in the United States through the late 1950s, worked as an abstract painter in the 1960s, and began acting in film and television in 1964. Cosme lived in Mexico City from 1966 to 1973, when she appeared in such films as The Pawnbroker and White Roses for My Black Sister. Her most noted role was as "Mamá Dolores", which she played repeatedly in her career. She first played this character, from Felix B. Caignet's radio drama El Derecho de nacer (The Right of Birth), in a 1955 stage performance in New York City. She repeated it in both the 1966 film and telenovela by the same name. In 1971 she filmed a spin-off, Mamá Dolores. Her performance in the 1966 film was recognized with the Premio Ónix as best actress. (Full article...)

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Enrique González Castillo (1890 – January 1, 1957), nicknamed La Pulga (The Flea), was a Cuban singer-songwriter from Santiago de Cuba. His two most famous works are the boleros "Injusta duda" and "Lupina", which have been recorded by artists such as Arsenio Rodríguez and Compay Segundo, respectively. The latter was written for danzonete singer Pablo Quevedo in 1934. His repertoire included boleros, canciones, guarachas and guajiras written by himself. The height of his career took place in the 1930s and '40s in Havana, where he was the guitarist for Benny Moré before he joined Conjunto Matamoros to tour Mexico. In addition, he was part of several other vocal groups, collaborating with famous guarachero Ñico Saquito.

In March 2014, Cuban trova musicians paid homage to González in his hometown of Santiago. (Full article...)
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Havana harbour in 1912
Havana harbour in 1912
Credit: C. E. Doty. Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs
View of Havana harbour, with vessels of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in the distance. 1912.

More did you know - show different entries

  • ...that Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker who wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, and is known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba?
  • ...that Baconao, a large park region, located about 20 kilometers away from the city of Santiago de Cuba, was declared a World Heritage Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO?
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