X-Nico

41 unusual facts about Cuba


1887 Atlantic hurricane season

Although the hurricane passed far to the south of Cuba, it caused several vessels to sink at Batabanó and brought heavy rain and flooding to the islands interior.

1906 Atlantic hurricane season

This first hurricane of the season's effects were first noted in Santa Clara, Cuba, where rainy and windy conditions were observed on the afternoon of June

Alfredo Rostgaard

Alfredo Rostgaard (1943 – December 27, 2004) was a Cuban graphic designer and artist.

Born in Guantanamo in 1943 Rostgaard studied at the Jose Joaquin Tejada school of art in Santiago de Cuba.

Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asis

The basilica and the monastery of San Francisco de Asis (Saint Francis of Assisi) were built in Havana, Cuba at the end of sixteenth century (1580–91) as the home of the Franciscan community, and were altered in the baroque style in 1730.

Caimito

Caimito, Cuba, a town in Artemisa Province (before 2011 in Havana Province)

Centro de hoja

Centro de hoja or Center of the sheet is a kind of Cuban postage stamps where there are intersecting gutters between four panes of stamps.

Cuba Township, Becker County, Minnesota

It was named for Cuba, New York, the former hometown of the early settler Charles W. Smith.

Cuba-Rushford High School

Cuba-Rushford High School is a public high school located in Cuba, Allegany County, New York, U.S.A., and is the only high school operated by the Cuba-Rushford Central School District.

Cuba, an African Odyssey

From Che Guevara's tragicomic epic in the Congo up to the triumph of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola, this film tells the story of the internationalists whose saga is at the basis of today's word: they won all the battles, but end up losing the war.

African revolutionaries like Patrice Lumumba, Amílcar Cabral and Agostinho Neto call on Cuban guerrillas to help them in their struggle.

CUBA: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism

The two film makers visited Cuba by joining a solidarity brigade organised by Rock Around the Blockade.

CUBA: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism is a documentary film produced by Rock Around the Blockade in 2010.

Cuba: My Revolution

Cuba: My Revolution is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Inverna Lockpez with art by Dean Haspiel and colours by Jose Villarubia.

Egbert B. Brown

He died in the home of a granddaughter at West Plains, Missouri, on February 11, 1902, and was buried next to his wife in Cuba, Missouri.

ELAM 10 Rafael Ferro Macias

ELAM 10: Rafael Ferro Macias is a faculty of the Escuela Latinamericana de Medicina (known as the Latin American School of Medicine) located in Sandino, in the province of Pinar del Río, Cuba.

Felipe Pazos

Felipe Pazos (September 27, 1912 – February 26, 2001) was a Cuban economist who initially supported the Cuban Revolution of Fidel Castro, but became disillusioned with the increasingly radical nature of the revolutionary government.

Florencia

Florencia, Cuba, a municipality and city in the Ciego de Ávila Province of Cuba

Guamá

Guamá (died c. 1532) was a Taíno rebel chief who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba in the 1530s.

Guama

Guamá, Cuba, a municipality in Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba

History of Havana

After the revolution of 1959, the new regime promised to improve social services, public housing, and official buildings; nevertheless, shortages that affected Cuba after Castro's abrupt expropriation of all private property and industry under a strong communist model backed by the Soviet Union followed by the U.S. embargo, hit Havana especially hard.

Later, they emigrated towards Miramar, and today, evermore to the west, they have settled in Siboney.

Conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar founded Havana on August 25, 1515 or 1514, on the southern coast of the island, near the present town of Surgidero de Batabanó, or more likely on the banks of the Mayabeque River close to Playa Mayabeque.

Isla de Cuba

Isla de Cuba, a Spanish second-class protected cruiser in service from 1887 to 1898 that fought in the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.

USS Isla de Cuba, a U.S. Navy gunboat in service from 1900 to 1904.

Joaquín de Agüero

Despite the common public outcry to abolish slavery, Agüero's action was declared as a serious breach of law, and to escape the inquiry of the authorities, he had to leave Cuba with his family for the United States.

Jonder Martínez

Jonder Martínez Martínez (born June 22, 1978 in Mariel, Havana Province, Cuba) is a right-handed pitcher for Habana of the Cuban National Series and the Cuban national baseball team.

Julio Garceran de Vall

Julio Garceran de Vall (1907–1989) is a former Supreme Court Justice of Cuba.

Latino children's literature

Whether born in Puerto Rico or the United States, or emigrated from such countries as Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, or Cuba, the term includes their significant contributions to the field of writing for children in the United States.

Leoncio Vidal

Leoncio Vidal y Caro (September 12, 1864 - March 23, 1896) was a Cuban revolutionary that fought in the Cuban War of Independence.

Manuello Paganelli

In the late 1980s he was one of the few US photographers to visit Cuba.

McCoy Air Force Base

A few hours into his mission, Anderson's aircraft was engaged by a Soviet-manned SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile site in the vicinity of Banes, Cuba.

Michelle Loughery

She has been instrumental in beginning world class mural projects in Cuba, Missouri, USA; Vernon, British Columbia and continues to work in the Country Music Capital of Canada, Merritt, British Columbia.

Rubén López Sabariego

Rubén López Sabariego was a Cuban bus driver working on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, whose mysterious disappearance and death there became a cause celebre in Cuba.

Saturnino and Mariano Lora

The War of Independence of Cuba started on 24 February 1895, under the intellectual leadership of the writer and philosopher José Martí, often called Father of the Country in Cuba.

Spanish reconquest attempts of Mexico

Thus began patrols of the Mexican squadron in Spanish waters, which culminated in the unsuccessful Battle of Mariel on February 10, 1828, in which Porter commanded the brig Guerrero, mounting 22 guns, and one of the finest vessels in the small Mexican Navy.

Timeline of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season

EDT (0000 UTC September 5) – A tropical depression forms northeast of Santa Clara, Cuba.

Timeline of the Cuban Revolution

1957 July 30 Cuban revolutionary Frank País is killed in the streets of Santiago de Cuba by police while campaigning for the overthrow of Batista government

Union blockade

The blockade runners were based in the British islands of Bermuda and the Bahamas, or Havana, in Spanish Cuba.

Valerio De Los Benidos

Valerio De Los Benidos (1905–1975) was a Cuban activist who was involved in preaching to his local community.

Year of the Lash

Year of the Lash (in Spanish, Año del Cuero) is a term used in Cuba in reference to 1844.


1960 Caribbean Series

The XII edition of the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was a baseball tournament held from February 10 through February 15, 1960 featuring the champion teams from Cuba (Cienfuegos), Panama (Marlboro), Puerto Rico (Caguas) and Venezuela (Rapiños).

1979 in Afghanistan

Taraki leaves for Havana, Cuba, to represent Afghanistan at the sixth summit conference of nonaligned nations, leaving the government in the hands of Amin.

2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw

Cuban Yarelis Barrios looked set to build upon her World and Olympic silver medals from the last two years and Aimin Song had also performed well during the season.

2nd Combat Engineer Battalion

In the 1970s and early 1980s the battalion furnished Combat Engineer Support to the Battalion Landing Teams (BLT) in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, 29 Palms, Norway, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Aldama

Yamilé Aldama (born 1972), a triple-jumper from Cuba who has represented both Sudan and Great Britain

Aldo Rafael Forte

Aldo Rafael Forte (b. Havana, Cuba, 1953 ) is a renowned American composer of Cuban descent .

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park

16 of Cuba's 28 endemic plant species are protected in the park including such fauna as Dracaena cubensis and Podocarpus ekman.

Alton Adams

In 1931 Adams's unit was transferred to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, when the naval government of the islands was replaced by a civilian administration, thus separating Adams from family, friends, and his source of social influence.

Anne Aghion

In 1996, her first documentary Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin American Documentary on Latin America" at the Havana Film Festival in Havana, Cuba.

César Portillo de la Luz

The Miami Herald described Portillo as "a fundamental author of Latin American music" and "one of Cuba’s most celebrated composers".

Cordelia Botkin

Unfortunately for him, his own work as a reporter was overshadowed by the more impressive reports sent from Cuba by Stephen Crane and Richard Harding Davis.

Descemer Bueno

Bueno soon moved back to Cuba and began producing, arranging, and composing music for many young Cuban musicians including Haydée for Haydée Milanés, La Isla Milagrosa for William Vivanco, and Breathe for Yusa.

Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II

His father, the then Captain Edward Otho Cresap Ord (October 18, 1818 Maryland–July 22, 1883 in Havana, Cuba and buried on July 22, 1898 in Arlington National Cemetery), married Mary Mercer Thompson (January 22, 1831 Virginia–July 15, 1894 San Antonio, Texas) on October 14, 1854.

El Escorial

All of the wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande, on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba.

Emilio Echevarría

Echevarría also had small parts in two international productions, first as Raoul, a Cuban agent in the James Bond film Die Another Day and then as Antonio López de Santa Anna in The Alamo.

Energy security and renewable technology

Physicist Amory Lovins has said that following hundreds of blackouts in 2005, Cuba reorganized its electricity transmission system into networked microgrids and cut the occurrence of blackouts to zero within two years, limiting damage even after two hurricanes.

Erick Baker

He ended the year performing at the official Belk Bowl FanFest in Charlotte, North Carolina, along with McCain and the rock band Daughtry, as well as at a New Year's Eve show for the U.S. troops stationed at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Florida State Road 989

By the late 1960s, the State Road was realigned to Moody Drive to provide increased access to the base's two northern entrance gates as the increasing intensity of the Cold War and the rise to power of Fidel Castro in nearby Cuba amplified the importance of Homestead Air Force Base to the national security of the United States.

Foreign policy of Evo Morales

December 30, 2005: Evo Morales visits Cuba after celebrating his democratic victory in his base town of Orinoca.

Frei Betto

The prize was awarded on 28 January in Havana, Cuba, at the Third International Conference on World Balance, being held to mark the 160th anniversary of José Martí’s birth.

Ghulam Rabbani

Abdul Al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani (born ca. 1969), Pakistani citizen held by the US military at the Guantanamo camps in Cuba

Havana Sugar Kings

However, the next year, Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned enterprises in Cuba, and on July 8, 1960, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick (under pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter) announced that the Sugar Kings would be moving to Jersey City, New Jersey and be renamed the Jersey City Jerseys.

JMWAVE

Under Ted Shackley's leadership from 1962 to 1965, JMWAVE grew to be the largest CIA station in the world outside of the organization's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, with 300 to 400 professional operatives (possibly including about 100 based in Cuba) as well as an estimated 15,000 anti-Castro Cuban exiles on its payroll.

José Ardévol

He was a professor in Cuba from 1936 to 1951, teaching in universities in Havana and Oriente.

Kelvis Ochoa

They rapidly met with success, with the hit record Havana Abierta on the Spanish label BMG Ariola, sold-out concerts in Spain in the 90s, a triumphant return to Cuba in 2003 for a memorable show at La Tropical and a documentary film directed by Jorge Perugorría and Arturo Soto.

Lajos Virág

Virag made his official debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where he placed second in the preliminary pool of the men's 96 kg class, against Cuba's Ernesto Peña and United States' Garrett Lowney.

Laughlin Air Force Base

The film from Major Heyser's mission was developed, analyzed and the photos were shown to the United Nations Security Council on October 22, 1962, proving to the world, that offensive missiles were on the island of Cuba.

Loren Ross

Lost to Pablo Romero (Cuba) at the World Amateur Championships in 1986 (4-1) for the 178 pound title.

Manny Alvarez

Manny Alvarez is a Cuban-American OB-GYN who serves as a senior medical contributor for the Fox News Channel and managing health editor of FoxNews.com, appearing on America's Newsroom, Fox & Friends, Fox News Live, America's Pulse, The Live Desk and Fox News Weekend.

Mel Chin

Mel Chin has also exhibited in numerous group shows including the Fifth Biennial of Havana, Cuba; Seventh Architectural Biennial in Venice, Italy; Kwangju Biennale, Korea; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art; P.S.1

NAO Dance Technique

Elchak is a passionate mother, dancer, choreographer, and educator, trained with teachers from the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, The International Ballet of Cuba, the Denishawn School, and Isadora Duncan Dance.

New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema

In addition, a number of Ibero and Latin American filmmakers visited the festival, including Julia Solomonoff (Argentina), Javier Fuentes León (Perú), Cecilia Domeyko (Chile), Miguel Gomes (Portugal), Pedro Ruiz (Venezuela), Ishtar Yaseen Gutierrez (Costa Rica), Ian Padrón (Cuba), Rafi Mercado (Puerto Rico), Miguel Coyula (Cuba) and Carlos Marques Marcet (Spain).

Padilla Maduro

The ends and the top represent pen points and are a tribute to his father, Cuban ex-patriate, poet, writer and teacher Heberto Padilla.

Palmar de Junco

It is located at Calzada Esteban between Monserrate and San Ignacio streets in the neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas, Cuba.

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church

Two years later, Pullen also became a sister-church with the First Baptist Church of Matanzas, Cuba.

Rafael Quintero

Artime, Quintero and Felix Rodriguez moved to Nicaragua creating an army of 300 men and obtained weapons, supplies and boats to invade Cuba.

Redstar2000

Experiences such as this, as well as meetings with Che Guevara and Fidel Castro while with a group of students in Cuba in 1964, give weight to his writings amongst those who share his ideas.

Robert S. Folkenberg

Folkenberg’s education up to Grade 4 took place in Puerto Rico, before attending schools in Cuba, entering high school in California and completing high school in Milo, Oregon in 1958.

Sam Green

In this "live" documentary, Green narrates the 75-minute film while a live band performs the soundtrack; the film examines various topics, including an American exile in Cuba, the world's largest shopping mall (located in China), the treatment of mass graves, and the history of the man-made language Esperanto.

Serafín García Menocal

In 1956, under his leadership, the Scouts of Cuba bought the national training grounds Campo Escuela Nacional Mayabeque at Mayabeque, in the margins of the river of the same name, near Catalina de Güines in Havana Province within 50 km of the capital.

Soledad Bravo

Considered to be one of the best voices in Latin America, one of her most popular and best known songs is Hasta Siempre, a cover of a Cuban hymn by Carlos Puebla to Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall

Bremmer's J Curve describes the relationship between a country's openness and its stability; focusing on the notion that while many countries are stable because they are open (the United States, France, Japan), others are stable because they are closed (North Korea, Cuba, Iraq under Saddam Hussein).

Thomas Whitcombe

During his career he also painted scenes showing the Cape of Good Hope, Madeira, Cuba and Cape Horn.

Trocha from Júcaro to Morón

The Trocha from Júcaro to Morón was a fortified military line built between 1869 and 1872 in Cuba by slave work force and Chinese immigrants to impede the pass of insurrectionist forces to the western part of the island during the 1st War of Independence (1868–1878) and was 68 km long between Júcaro and Morón.

Tropidophis fuscus

Found in Cuba where it is known only from two areas, Cruzata and Minas Amores, in northeastern Guantánamo Province.

Tropidophis xanthogaster

Guanahacabibes dwarf boa, Tropidophis xanthogaster, is a newly described species of dwarf boa endemic to the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, in the province of Pinar del Río, western Cuba.

Wasta

Roughly equivalent words in other languages include Sociolismo in Cuba; Blat in Russia; Guanxi in Chinese and Vetternwirtschaft in German, protektzia in Israeli slang; in Brazilian-Portuguese it is called "Pistolão", or in the slang "peixada".

William R. Royal

He moved to Manatee County, Florida during the Great Depression and operated a passenger airplane service in the Bahamas and Cuba in the late 1930s.