Area: 110,860 sq km (slightly smaller than Pennsylvania)
Population: 11,047,251 (July 2014 est.)
Median age: 39.9 years
Capital: Havana
Ethnic Groups: white 64.1%, mulatto and mestizo 26.6%, black 9.3% (2012 est.)
GDP: $121 billion (2012 est.)
GDP per capita: $10,200 (2010 est.)
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October 2011 – One of the Cuban Five, Rene Gonzalez, is released on probation after serving 13 years in prison.
February 24, 2013 – Raul Castro is re-elected to a second five-year term. Later during a nationally televised speech, Castro announces that he will step down from power in 2018 when his term is over.
February 2014 – Cuban Five member Ruben Campa (aka Fernando Gonzalez) is released from prison after serving more than 15 years.
December 17, 2014 – Cuba releases American contractor Alan Gross as a “humanitarian” gesture after five years in prison. As part of a deal between the United States and Cuba, the U.S. releases three Cuban intelligence agents convicted of espionage in 2001; in return, Cuba frees an unidentified U.S. intelligence source who has been jailed in Cuba for more than 20 years.
December 17, 2014 – U.S. President Barack Obama announces plans to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba and ease economic restrictions on the nation, a policy shift he called the end of an “outdated approach” to U.S.-Cuban relations that, “for decades, has failed to advance our interests.” Obama said the U.S. will move towards re-opening its embassy in the communist nation and allow some travel and trade that had been banned under a decades-long embargo instated during the Kennedy administration.
January 12, 2015 – Cuba has released a total of 53 political prisoners as part of its rapprochement deal with the United States, according to a U.S. official.
January 15, 2015 – The Obama administration announces details of the softened travel regulations: Cuban Americans visiting family, U.S. officials on government trips, journalists on assignment and regular citizens visiting for educational, cultural, or religious reasons will no longer need permission first. Americans will also be able to use credit cards, a prior restriction.
