Understanding Cuba:
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- Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Understanding Cuba
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILIty
The environment or area of the location of a country has a significant influence on its effect on the region. We will discuss Cuba in terms of topography, location, climate, and natural resources.
location
Cuba is a nation found to the north in the Carribean sea, with an area of 109,884 km2. It is the 8 th largest island in the world; its capital is Havana (Berg, 2017). It is also 140 km north of Jamaica and 77 km west of Haiti and 150 km south of Florida.
Topography
It is spectacular and is named the pearl of the Antilles with coastline marked by bays, small islands, and reefs. On its southern coast, it has lowlands and swamps such as Zapata swamp.it is very mountainous with mountains around a quarter of its area (Berg, 2017). Its eastern region is mostly sierra maestro. Centrally it has Trinidad mountains with the flat ground(Berg, 2017). to the west, it has sierras de Los Organos. Its largest river flows westwards for 249 kilometers and is used for commercial navigation.
Climate
In Cuba temperatures, arrange from the 70s to 80s F all year long. During winter temperatures don’t fall below 60, it is rainy between April and November, and heavy rains are experienced in June and October (Berg, 2017). December to April is Cubas’s dry season.
Natural resources
Significant resources in Cuba include cobalt, nickel, iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, and silica (Berg, 2017). It is a significant producer of the metal, petroleum started being mined in i917, its leading resource is cobalt, and it is the fifth-biggest producer of refined cobalt.
Th country s location has been fundamental in helping it to form meaningful trade and political relations.majorly, its location has enabled it to trade with the USA. However, it was isolated after the USSR fell apart (Berg, 2017). It has entered bilateral cooperation with Venezuela and Bolivia. It also has deep relations with china and Rusia (Kumaraswami et al., 2017). it has formal relations with 160 nations. It is the 138 th largest export, and 75th most complex it benefits trade wise with Venezuela, nickel, pharmaceutical products it also trades mostly with brazil (Kumaraswami et al., 2017), Canada and spain.the surface features have profoundly affected to differences in the regions as the geographical features cause there to be a division in the different areas of Cuba. The inland waterways, including its biggest river Cauto, is used to carry goods into and out of the country. These rivers enable products into and out of Cuba, therefore, acting as trade routes (Kumaraswami et al., 2017). The climate also affects the business since it is a significant tourist attraction; during the summer, the season is notably higher, and the visitors are more. The discovery of minerals has contributed significantly to the growth of Cuba as an economy example being cobalt and nickel, which has dramatically boosted the economy in terms of exports (Fauriol et al., 2019). Cuba, however, is in dire need of improvement many of its roads and communications has not improved since the 1950s this has mainly caused the country to be low in business since as anticipated (Fauriol et al., 2019). An improvement in the infrastructure will genuinely open up the country and send its economy through the roof. Cuba, however, has seen some disasters, including the embargo since 1959, all Cubans would receive less than 20 dollars a month, which was barely enough (Lambe, 2017). In u.s embargo, the Cubans lost their primary income source in the sugarcane exports. Resulting in severe poverty, however, paved the way for Canadian and European tourism.
Socio-cultural forces
Cultural aspects constitute physical artifacts, behaviors, and attitudes passed from a generation to the next. It affects how we think of some habits the kind of art we consume and our attitudes towards some communal or individual aspects.it is also an impact on our religious beliefs. This affects own behavior such that if a particular tribe is believed to be skilled in a specific profession, those arising from such a community are likely to have these attributes (Fauriol et al., 2019). It may even affect the person one will marry, and the kids the individual may end up having.
The dominant religions in Cuba include the roman catholic church, Afro Cuban, and African religions; roman catholicism is also widely practiced in Cuba (Grey 2019). Materialistically Cuba had always been held in high awe, and well valued however after Fidel Castro felt that the rich were living lavishly at the expense of the unfortunate things turned upside down the rich housed were used for purposes such as schools and the ownership of such expensive goods was criticized (Grey 2019). This paved the way for socialism and equality; the middle class was thus encouraged further to prevent enormous differences between the rich and the poor (Feinberg 2016). Public education is the most crucial aspect of the Cuban government. In 1959 president Batista was determined to eliminate illiteracy in the country, and three years later, illiteracy had dropped from 23.6% to 3.6% (Feinberg 2016). it has one of the highest literacy rates worldwide. Education is entirely free and available to all in all stages of schooling (Kumaraswami et al., 2017). communication, however, has not recently improved, and it varies in many areas. Telephone lines are few and not sufficient to serve Cubans; however, tourists can enjoy call services from hotels (Feinberg 2016).
However, the infrastructure is rising slowly but surely. Spanish is the primary language, and the diverse ethnic groups have caused speech alterations. It yet has few local dialects.cubans are very rich in non-verbal communication, and it is said that they focus more on gestures rather than on actual words (Kumaraswami et al., 2017). In Cuba, men greet with handshakes; women kiss each other on the cheek while offering greetings. Putting a thumbs up also means hostility. When it comes to business, Cubans, prefer a straightforward deal s, and if there are no benefits that accrue to them, then it is a hard pass on you. Cuba, however, may not be the best country to trade. It has a harsh business environment, a challenging economic culture, and low purchasing power.
Conclusion
Cuba, however, has many good qualities that encourage businesses, including a large population with high dement for goods from other states. Secondly, Havana is close to the port of Miami; therefore, it is easy to trade; it also a tourist attraction and European companies have smoothened the way for business (Feinberg 2016). Its infrastructure is also steadily growing, and the new port Mariel will boost trade (Grey 2019). however, it has drawbacks example, it has a dual currency system (Lambe, 2017), it has extreme government regulations that restrict business, and it has the poor infrastructure to support the sound business.
Reference
Fauriol, G. A., Weiss, J. C., Swynnerton, H. T. O., & Thomas, H. S. (2019). The Cuban Revolution: 25 Years Later. Routledge.
Feinberg, R. (2016). Open for business: Building the new Cuban economy. Brookings Institution Press.
Gey, P. (2019). Cuban Economy Under a New “System of Management and Planning”: Success or Failure?. In Crisis and reform in socialist economies (pp. 71-98). Routledge. (Berg, 2017)
Kumaraswami, P., Kapcia, A., & Nehru, M. (2017). Literary culture in Cuba: Revolution, nation-building, and the book.
Lambe, J. (2017). Drug Wars: Revolution, Embargo, and the Politics of Scarcity in Cuba, 1959–1964. Journal of Latin American Studies, 49(3), 489-516.
Berg, M. G. (2017). Impossible Returns: Narratives of the Cuban Diaspora.