and his communist rebels seized power from the pro-US Batista regime. President Eisenhower

was adversarial to Castro’s takeover and for decades the US held an embargo against

Cuba. But the US has since eased the embargo and Cuba relaxed its strict communist economy.

In light of its turbulent history, we wanted to know, just how powerful is Cuba?

Well at roughly 43 thousand square miles, Cuba is about the size of the US state of

Virginia and is by far the largest country in the Caribbean. Cuba is home to more than

11 million people, rivaling its neighbors, Haiti and the Dominican Republic in population.

In fact, a quarter of Caribbean residents live in Cuba.

But given its size and relatively large population, Cuba actually has a very weak military. Shortly

after Castro took over in 1959, Cuba gained military support from the Soviet Union as

a communist friendly country. This military relationship even nearly led to nuclear warfare

during the otherwise Cold War, with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. At the time, the Soviet

Union attempted to store nuclear missiles in Cuba, which is within striking distance

of the US. This led to an intense standoff between Russia and America, which was resolved

after a series of diplomatic agreements. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba fell

into a fiscal crisis that decimated their military. Today, Cuba only spends about 1%

of its GDP on defense, compared to the NATO recommended minimum of 2.5%, and the US’s

3.5%.

But with a GDP of about $77 billion dollars Cuba has somewhat recovered from that economic

downturn. Since 1996 its GDP has steadily risen every year. And since Fidel Castro transferred

his presidential duties to Raul in 2006, the Cuban government has begun to let some private

industries flourish. As of 2011, Cubans can legally buy electronics, stay in hotels and

sell their cars and houses.

Still, the country remains communist, and the government controls nearly all means of

production. As a result, the average salary in Cuba is just $22 dollars a month, and standards

of living haven’t changed much since the 1980s. In fact, many Cubans have left the

country in search of better economic opportunities. Since Castro took over in 1959, more than

one million Cubans have migrated to the US via homemade rafts, using fake visas, and

other illegitimate means. This has left Cuba’s population stagnant over the last 20 years.

So how powerful is Cuba? Well on a global scale the country is not very influential,

as economic disparity lingers from the country’s violent and complicated history. However Cuba’s

recent uptick in tourism and deregulation of private industries shows the country is

making huge advances.

Cuba’s former ally, Russia, is not the Soviet Union superpower it used to be...or is it?

Find out in our video. Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to like and subscribe for new videos.