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Havana | Food Dependent | Collapse | Rations
Havana
A City of Sophistication and Grandeur
Havana is one of the oldest and most elegant capitals in the Western Hemisphere. Founded almost 500 years ago, it was named the capital of Cuba by the Spanish in 1607.
Today Havana boasts a remarkable fusion of African and Latin culture, a reflection of its tumultuous history. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought to Cuba from Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries to work on Spanish sugar and tobacco plantations, and their descendants contribute much to the city's music, artistic and religious heritage.
A new phase of Cuba's political life began in 1959, with the toppling of the Batista dictatorship by a small guerrilla army led by Fidel Castro. Castro has remained in power ever since and is still a polarizing figure in world affairs. Many in Havana have become cynical about the slogans of the 42-year -old "revolution," and political freedoms are curtailed. But health care and education are better than in most countries in the region. And relations between people of European and African descent are more harmonious than in most other countries.
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