Galería fotográfica de Paul Stafford sobre el tema cubano.

BACKGROUND TO CUBA

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean with a rural landscape of sugar plantations, forest swamp and rolling hillsides. Today, little remains of its original Indian population. Most Cubans are of mixed race: Creoles are Cubans born of European descent and Mullatos, a mixture of European and African. There is large population of pure African descent - one in eight Cubans are black, descended mainly from West African slaves.

The island has endured a turbulent history and external influence dating back to its "discovery" by Columbus in 1492. For the next four hundred years, both Spain and the USA retained a strong colonial interest in Cuba, mainly for its sugar. The Spanish finally left in 1899 and self-rule of a kind was established, but in 1902 the Americans passed a law giving them the right to invade Cuba at any time to "preserve its independence". The naval base of Guantanamo was developed on a 99 year lease.