Background
The Embassy of India in Havana gives the official name of the country as the Republic of Cuba. Its capital is Havana, with a population of about 2 million, and its area is 110,860 Sq. Kms. The language is Spanish and the currency is the Cuban Peso, abbreviated CUP. Besides the capital, the major cities listed are Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Guantanamo, Holguin, Camaguey. Nickel, Copper, Sulphur and some Oil are given as the major natural resources. Sugarcane, Citrus, Coffee, Tobacco, Potato, Rice are given as the principal crops. Cuba keeps standard time five hours behind GMT.
Official name:
Republic of Cuba
Capital:
Havana
Area:
110,860 Sq. Kms.
Language:
Spanish
Currency:
Cuban Peso
Why it matters for exams: Capital, currency, language, area and principal crops of a country in the news are the plainest one-mark questions in both PSC and UPSC preliminary papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CUP Cuban Peso — The currency unit of Cuba.
GMT GMT — The world reference time against which a country's standard time is measured.
Background
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre record for Cuba shows 9 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, 7 of them cultural and 2 natural. Cuba's ratification of the World Heritage Convention is dated 24 March 1981. The cultural properties are Old Havana and its Fortification System, Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios, San Pedro de la Roca Castle, Santiago de Cuba, the Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba, Viñales Valley, the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos and the Historic Centre of Camagüey. One of the two natural properties is Desembarco del Granma National Park; the other is Alejandro de Humboldt National Park. Cuba keeps 14 sites on its Tentative List and has held 4 mandates on the World Heritage Committee. It is counted in the Latin America and the Caribbean region of the Convention.
Properties inscribed:
9
Cultural properties:
7
Natural properties:
2
Convention ratified:
24 March 1981
Sites on the Tentative List:
14
Why it matters for exams: The number and the split of a country's World Heritage properties, and the names of the best known of them, are a standing favourite in both prelims papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Tentative List Tentative List — A country's own inventory of the properties it intends to consider for future nomination to the World Heritage List.
Ratification Ratification — The formal step by which a country becomes bound by a treaty it has signed.
Background
The UNESCO record of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Cuba shows 8 elements inscribed. They are La Tumba Francesa; Rumba in Cuba, a festive combination of music and dances and all the practices associated; Punto; the Festivity of Las Parrandas in the centre of Cuba; Knowledge of the light rum masters; Bolero: identity, emotion and poetry turned into song; Traditional knowledge and practices for the making and consumption of cassava bread; and The practice of Cuban Son. All eight are on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, kept under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted in 2003. Cuba's ratification of the Convention is dated 29 May 2007, and UNESCO lists Cuba twice as a Committee Member of the Intergovernmental Committee.
Elements inscribed:
8
Convention ratified:
29 May 2007
Earliest inscription:
La Tumba Francesa
Latest inscription:
The practice of Cuban Son
Why it matters for exams: Intangible heritage inscriptions are asked as match-the-pair questions, and Cuban music forms are among the most frequently listed of them.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Intangible Cultural Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage — Living practices such as music, dance, craft knowledge and festivals, as distinct from monuments and sites.
Representative List Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — The main UNESCO list on which living heritage practices are inscribed.
Background
The United Nations lists Cuba among the Original 51 Members of the Organization - that is, Cuba was an original Member of the United Nations, from its founding year. India, Haiti, Mexico and the United States are on the same list of original Members. The World Trade Organization's member information page for Cuba records that Cuba has been a member of the WTO since 1995, and a member of GATT since 1 January 1948. Cuba also appears on the WTO list of the 128 countries that had signed GATT by 1994, which makes Cuba one of the oldest participants in the post-war trading system.
Original UN Members:
51
Year of UN founding membership:
1945
WTO membership:
1995
GATT membership:
1 January 1948
Countries that had signed GATT by 1994:
128
Why it matters for exams: Which states were original Members of the United Nations, and which were GATT members before the WTO existed, are both standard objective questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade — The tariff-cutting agreement that governed world trade before the World Trade Organization replaced it.
Original 51 Members Original 51 Members — The states that took part in founding the United Nations and signed its Charter at the start.
Background
The Embassy of India in Havana records that India was among the first countries to extend recognition to the new Cuban government following the Cuban revolution in January 1959. The visit of Che Guevara to India from 30 June to 4 July 1959 consolidated the ties, which led to embassies being opened in the two capitals; the first head of the Mission presented credentials on 12 January 1960 in Havana. The two countries maintain close contacts with each other in UN, NAM and other international fora, and the brief records the first ever visit by the President of India to Cuba. India has extended five Lines of Credit to the tune of $243 million to the Government of Cuba, in agriculture, agro-food, and renewable energy. Cuba is a member country of the International Solar Alliance and holds its Vice-President position for the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Indian exports to Cuba are led by pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals, while imports from Cuba consist mainly of pharmaceutical and tobacco products. Cuba has 70 slots under India's technical and economic cooperation programme, and India donated 60 tractors to Cuba to assist its agriculture sector.
Credentials of the first head of the Mission:
12 January 1960
Che Guevara's visit to India:
30 June to 4 July 1959
Lines of Credit:
5, worth $243 million
Training slots offered to Cuba:
70
Tractors donated:
60
Why it matters for exams: India's bilateral relations with a country in focus are asked on when relations were established, what credit was extended and which multilateral bodies the two share.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NAM NAM — The movement of countries that chose not to side with either power bloc in the Cold War; Cuba has hosted its summits and India is a founder of it.
Lines of Credit Lines of Credit — A concessional loan India extends to a partner government for named projects, usually tied to Indian goods and services.
Background
The World Health Organization announced that Cuba became the first country in the world to receive validation from WHO that it had eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. WHO/PAHO had been working with partners in Cuba and other countries in the Americas since 2010 on a regional initiative for that purpose. An international expert mission convened by PAHO/WHO visited Cuba in March 2015 and, during a five-day visit, saw health centres, laboratories and government offices across the island; its members came from Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Suriname, the United States of America and Zambia. The country had worked to ensure early access to prenatal care and testing, treatment for women who test positive and their babies, and services delivered through an equitable, accessible and universal health system. In 2013, only two babies were born with HIV in Cuba, and only 3 babies were born with congenital syphilis. WHO uses validation to attest that a country has met the internationally set targets at a specific point in time, and countries are required to maintain ongoing programmes.
Standing:
first country in the world
Expert mission to Cuba:
March 2015
Babies born with HIV in Cuba in 2013:
two
Babies born with congenital syphilis in 2013:
3
Regional initiative running since:
2010
Why it matters for exams: Firsts recognised by a UN specialised agency are asked directly, and this one also tests what WHO means by validation as against eradication.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PAHO PAHO — The health body for the Americas that works with WHO as its regional office for that continent.
Validation Validation — WHO's formal attestation that a country has met set targets at a point in time; it is not the same as permanent eradication.
Background
The Indian Embassy in Havana records that India and Cuba established diplomatic relations after the Cuban revolution of 1959, and that the first head of the Indian mission presented credentials on 12 January 1960. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara visited India from 30 June to 4 July 1959, a visit the Embassy describes as instrumental in consolidating the early ties between the two countries. The Embassy describes the relationship as traditionally warm and friendly, with continued collaboration in the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and other international fora. Current engagement runs through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme, whose Cuban alumni were celebrated in March 2026, and through cultural work such as the Indian Film Festival held in Cuba in September 2025. India also delivered humanitarian assistance and disaster relief material to Cuba in November 2025.
Credentials presented by first head of Indian mission:
12 January 1960
Che Guevara's visit to India:
30 June to 4 July 1959
Shared fora:
United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement
Training programme:
ITEC
Why it matters for exams: The Havana mission and Che Guevara's India visit are the two anchors of the India-Cuba story.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ITEC Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation — India's programme of training courses and technical assistance for officials and professionals from partner countries.
Credentials — The formal letter a head of mission presents to the host state before taking charge.
HADR Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief — Aid in the form of relief material and services sent to a country hit by a disaster.
Background
The World Health Organization places Cuba in its Region of the Americas, the region served by the Pan American Health Organization. PAHO is both the health agency of the Americas in its own right and the WHO regional office for the Americas, so a health programme in Cuba is run through PAHO on WHO's behalf. WHO maintains a country office in Cuba, with its own Spanish-language site, and a country cooperation strategy for Cuba. This is why reports on Cuban health programmes, such as the HEARTS package for cardiovascular care in primary health, are published by PAHO rather than by WHO headquarters. WHO's country page for Cuba also carries its 2015 news release validating the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba.
WHO region:
Region of the Americas
Regional office:
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
WHO presence in Cuba:
A country office with a country cooperation strategy
Why it matters for exams: Candidates are regularly asked which WHO region a country belongs to, and the Americas is the one region whose office is a separate organisation with its own name.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
WHO region — One of the six groupings of countries through which the World Health Organization organises its work.
Country cooperation strategy — A medium-term plan agreed between WHO and a country setting out what they will work on together.