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| Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean |
ON October 28, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Cuba and claimed it for Spain.
1. In 1762, the British seized Cuba from Spain but gave it back a year later in exchange for Florida.
2. The Cuban national anthem, La Bayamesa, was written in 1868 at the Battle of Bayamo when the Cubans overthrew the Spanish authorities.
3. The third and fourth verses of the anthem include very derogatory remarks about Spain and the Spaniards. These verses are no longer sung.
4. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the second most populous, after Hispaniola.
5. Cuba is said to be the only country where the total forest area is greater than 50 years ago.
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| Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba in 1492 |
6. President Fidel Castro declared a nationwide ban on Beatles music in Cuba in 1964…
7. …but he relented in 1990 when he unveiled a bronze statue of John Lennon sitting on a bench at John Lennon Park, Havana.
8. Lennon’s glasses have been stolen so often from the statue that they are now kept by a guard who puts them on the statue when visitors approach.
9. Cuba has one doctor for every 170 people. This is the world’s highest doctor-patient ratio.
10. Christmas was a normal working day in Cuba from 1969-1998. It became a holiday again after a visit by Pope John Paul II to Cuba in 1998.
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