Havana

V

Economy

As the principal city and national capital, Havana's economy dominates much of the nation. The city's port receives the vast majority of the nation's imports and handles a significant proportion of its exports. The harbor also supports a fishing fleet that is important nationally. Prior to the revolution the city supported comparatively little manufacturing activity, although rum production, cigar making, and shipbuilding have been mainstays of the city's economy since the colonial period. In the late 1990s industrial activity included light manufacturing industries, vehicle assembly, meatpacking, food processing, and petrochemical processing.

However, Havana’s economic development has come up against a series of major problems over the last three decades. Since the early 1960s the United States has enforced an economic embargo against Cuba. It has prohibited the export of most goods and supplies to Cuba, which has resulted in many shortages. The loss of financial support from the USSR following the collapse of its Communist government during the late 1980s and early 1990s has resulted in extreme austerity measures. These measures have completely paralyzed some manufacturing activities. The government has called this period of austerity the Special Period, and most of Havana's residents have experienced extreme economic hardship as a result of the economic problems caused by the Special Period.

The city's role as the chief governmental and administrative center also contributes to its economic mix. Tourism has become increasingly important in the local economy since about 1990 when the government began promoting it as a means of providing employment and access to foreign currency.

Havana is also the focus of the nation's transportation system. José Martí International Airport is located just south of the city and handles all commercial air traffic to national and international destinations. The Carretera Central, a multilane divided highway over much of its length and the backbone of the nation's highway system, connects Havana with the country's other major population centers in the east and the west. Intercity buses and trucks account for almost all highway passenger traffic between Havana and other points. Similarly the country's principal rail lines converge in Havana, connecting the city with Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, Cienfuegos, and Pinar del Río.

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The quality and quantity of intercity transportation has deteriorated tremendously during the Special Period as fuel and replacement parts have become scarce. The same is true of the city's transportation system. Private automobiles are nearly nonexistent, and taxis are scarce. Buses, which run infrequently, are extremely crowded. Use of bicycles has exploded during the 1990s. Many Habaneros, faced with a nearly paralyzed system of public transportation, walk many kilometers a day back and forth to work or to shop.

VI

Government

The city of Havana, known officially as the Provincia de la Ciudad de Habana, is composed of 15 municipalities. A mayor and city council govern the city. The Communist Party and the national government essentially control their selection. Despite an array of local councils and bodies that allow citizen participation, such as the Neighborhood Popular Councils, most real power lies in the hands of national government officers and agencies. Municipalities have almost no sources of revenue aside from that provided by the national government, and they have few significant responsibilities. Municipal governments are responsible for garbage collection and fire protection, but water, sewer, and electric power are provided by state agencies.

At the neighborhood level in Havana, and in all urban areas in Cuba, each block is organized into Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. These organizations exert considerable influence over the daily lives of Habaneros. Their responsibilities include maintaining public sanitation, implementing public health campaigns, and mobilizing neighborhoods and 'volunteer' work crews as needed by government authorities. The organizations also serve a police function as they monitor the activities of block residents reporting both suspicious behavior and rules violations to police authorities.

VII

History

The Spanish founded Havana at its present site on the western margin of Havana Bay in 1519, after attempts to found a city by the same name on Cuba's south coast failed. The city's location was adjacent to a superb harbor at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico and with easy access to the Gulf Stream—an ocean current that navigators followed when traveling from the Americas to Europe. This location led to Havana’s early development as the principal port of Spain's New World colonies.

The city and its port quickly became the staging site for the departure and arrival of Spain's trading fleets, which sailed twice a year in massive convoys to and from Spain. Although not originally the capital of the Cuban colony, Havana became the effective capital in 1592 when the Spanish moved the governor's residence there from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. In 1607 it was named as the official capital.

Wealth and power concentrated naturally in the city because of its dual role as Cuba's colonial capital and as the focus of the Spanish colonial trading system. Havana soon boasted much monumental architecture and many lavish colonial mansions. However, as a major seaport and trading center, it also had dangerous, rough-and-tumble quarters replete with bars and brothels. During most of the colonial period, Havana was the third largest city in Spanish America after Mexico City and Lima, Peru.

The 'Pearl of the Caribbean,' as Havana was sometimes known, was a frequent target for attack by pirates who were often commissioned by Spain's colonial competitors—the French, the Dutch, and the English. The city experienced major attacks in 1538, 1555, 1622, 1623, and 1638. As a consequence, the Spanish built walls around the city and four massive forts, which survive to this day.

Spain allied with France against Great Britain during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). As a consequence, English military forces attacked Havana. After a three-month siege the city fell. The English occupied and administered the city for a scant six months, but they initiated a major change. They eliminated the restrictive trading rules imposed by the Spanish crown, which had permitted trade only with Spain. This opened the city to international trade, revolutionized its commercial life, and promoted even greater economic growth. These new regulations remained in effect even after the English exchanged Havana for Spain’s Florida territory at the end of the war.

While most of Spain's American colonies achieved independence in the early decades of the 1800s, Cuba did not; Havana remained a Spanish colonial city throughout the 1800s. Its population stood at about 100,000 in 1800, growing to over 160,000 by the 1860s, when the government tore down Havana’s colonial walls to make room for expansion of the city. Railroad construction, focusing on Havana, began in the 1830s, and major water aqueducts were completed in 1835 and 1893. The city boomed during the 1800s, due in large part to the country's profitable sugar industry. But it was also the scene of increasingly violent confrontations as Cubans struggled to gain their independence from Spain during the Ten Year's War (1868-1878) and the War of Independence (1895-1898).

In early 1898 the U.S. battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor. A U.S. Navy study published in 1976 suggested that spontaneous combustion in the ship’s coal bunkers caused the explosion; however, many Americans blamed the Spanish for the explosion. Reaction to the sinking led the United States to declare war on Spain in 1898. The Spanish-American War concluded before the end of the year and left Havana in American hands until 1902, when Cuba achieved independence.

During their time in Cuba, the Americans initiated a series of public health measures. With the help of a Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay, yellow fever was eliminated as a major health hazard on the island. Infrastructure projects were also begun, notable among these was the construction in 1901 of the famous Avenida Malecón along the city's waterfront.

American influence grew throughout the next 50 years, as American investors and businessmen increasingly dominated much of the economic activity of Havana and Cuba. By the 1930s Havana had become a popular destination for American tourists, and luxury hotels, nightclubs, and casinos grew up in response to their increasing presence. Gambling and prostitution played an important role in the tourist trade, and the influence of organized crime groups from the United States was significant. In 1958 about 300,000 American tourists visited the city.

Beginning in the 1920s a string of dictatorial leaders governed the country. As opposition groups tried to overthrow the dictators, Havana was the frequent site of political violence. Finally in the 1950s a range of revolutionary groups sought to rid the island of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro gained the upper hand in 1958, and Batista fled the island on January 1, 1959.

Since the revolutionary government took control in 1959, Castro has instituted fundamental changes in the nation’s social and economic systems. American economic influence and control disappeared, as did the hundreds of thousands of American tourists that once visited Havana annually. The national government actively sought to reduce the dominance of the city, cutting investment and maintenance of its basic infrastructure. Much of the city has taken on a dilapidated and decaying air as a consequence.

However, the government has also diversified the city’s economic base, promoting a range of industrial activities. In addition, it provided a more equitable distribution of housing, education, and health services to the population, reducing the extreme economic differences between social classes that existed before the revolution.

Nevertheless, life in Havana in the late 1990s was difficult for most citizens. The U.S. trade embargo, the loss of economic support from the USSR, and the inefficiencies of Cuba's state-directed economic system combined to make living conditions austere. Food was in short supply, basic commodities such as soap and toilet paper were often unavailable, and public and private transportation were almost non-existent. Foreign tourism increased considerably in the 1990s, as a result of government efforts to attract additional revenue. For most Habaneros, however, this did little to improve their daily lives.

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