Cuba travel guide

Cuba has always been the scene of a struggle with Western colonial influences, ever since Columbus landed at what would become Guantanamo Bay in 1494. The native Taíno and Ciboney were displaced or killed by Spanish settlers, with others dying of diseases such as smallpox.

For centuries, French, Spanish, British and Americans staked their interests in the island, shipping in slaves and carving it up between them. Despite independence finally being declared in the 1890s, the US quickly stepped in, taking control of sugarcane plantations, exports and the economy. They were legally allowed to perform military interventions at any time – and they used this power at will. By the 1950s, Cuba had become a hotbed for casinos and criminals, mafia and debauchery, the gringo colonisers taking over the island with booze and bawdiness.

A young politician named Fidel Castro, whose election bid was unsuccessful due to a coup, fled the country for Mexico where he teamed up with a passionate Argentine doctor – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. They and a group of disillusioned Cubans sailed to the island in a mission that, initially, seemed doomed. Based in the harsh Sierra Maestra, the guerrillas initiated strikes, rebellions and violent uprisings, spreading their message of revolution across Cuba. They finally broke into Havana on New Year’s Day 1959, and the revolution began. Healthcare was provided for all, all industries were nationalised and illiteracy was eradicated.

Relations with the US rapidly soured, and the attempted invasion of the Bay of Pigs took place in 1961, followed by a succession of the CIA’s famed, failed assassination plots – which reportedly number over 600. The country’s darkest era began with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Known as the “Special Period”, exports to the USSR were halted immediately. Cuba no longer had access to oil and mass starvation spread across the island, forcing it to become self-sufficient overnight.

But over half a century and 12 US presidents on, Cuba’s communist government remains. Fidel Castro died in 2016, having handed over power to his brother Raúl in 2008, ensuring a smooth transition. As home ownership, small enterprise and the Internet are arriving on the island, many average Cubans are excited about hurtling into the 21st century, and – for many – having their first ever glimpse of capitalism, along with the benefits and complications that this may bring for a country which was, until very recently, frozen in the 1950s.