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Thousands gathered in front of the capitol to hear President Ramon Grau San Martin, elected in 1944, address the nation and protest the increased living costs. (AP File Photo)

A 30-foot-high marble bust of Lenin stares northeast toward Russia at Lenin Park in Havana. (AP Photo)

By Aileen S. Yoo
Washingtonpost.com Staff
Updated December 1998

Havana is Cuba's capital and largest city with 2 million people. Founded by Spanish conquerors in 1519, the city became the gateway for Spain's treasure-laden fleets en route to Mexico, Peru and Panama and was proclaimed the capital by 1607. Today, Havana remains Cuba's cultural, economic and political center.

Government
Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel Castro, who is both chief of state and head of government, First Secretary of the Communist Party and commander in chief of the armed forces.

Legislative:
Castro is President of the Council of State, a 31-member body that is the highest representative of the State. Castro's brother Raul is first vice president, making him Fidel Castro's successor. Cuba's 601-member legislative body, the National Assembly, elects the Council of State. Cubans went to the polls and cast secret ballots to directly elect their legislators for the first time in 1993.
Executive:
Executive and administrative authority is vested in the Council of Ministers, which enforces laws, directs government agencies and conducts Cuba's foreign policy and is appointed by the president.
Judicial:
The People's Supreme Court is Cuba's highest court; justices are elected by the National Assembly. Cuba's lower courts include 14 provincial and 170 municipal courts throughout the island.
PCC:
Under the 1976 constitution, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only legal political party. The PCC is made up of a Central Committee of 225 deputies who elect members to the Politburo, which forms the ruling body. The party controls all print and electronic media and almost every facet of government, from the institutions and positions to judicial offices. While non-party members are allowed to serve in the National Assembly, party members hold higher positions and advance faster than non-party members. PCC membership was selective until the 1990s when it lifted its 25-year policy of barring the religiously faithful from party membership and tried to attract young people, woman and minorities.
Constitution:
From the time he overthrew the Batista regime in January 1959, Fidel Castro ruled by decree until December 1976 when a new constitution was drafted to replace the 1959 Fundamental Law of the Republic. The 1976 constitution cemented the Communist Party's supremacy by banning opposition parties and declared Cuba a socialist republic in which all power belongs to the workers and the state provides work, education, medical care, food, clothing and housing. It also forbade the practice of faith or the establishment of religious organizations in opposition to revolutionary principles.

The parliament's 1992 constitutional revision was touted as a modernizing force to Cuba's system without compromising the power of the Communist Party. Faced with an economic crisis brought on by the absence of Soviet assistance, one revision eased restrictions on foreign trade designed to stimulate investment. The amendments also allowed voters to directly elect representatives to the National Assembly, declared religious discrimination illegal and designated Cuba a "secular" rather than an atheist state.

Human Rights
According to the U.S. State Department, the Cuban government frequently uses repressive tactics, such as threats of physical violence, imprisonment, exile and search and seizure of private property to squelch dissent among pro-democracy and human rights activists. It estimates the Castro government is holding hundreds of political prisoners. In 1996, the government began a crackdown on Concilio Cubano, an umbrella organization of human rights groups denied recognition by the government. Over a three-month period, about 200 Concilio leaders and supporters were interrogated, harassed and arrested.