Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/836

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CUBA.

Constitution and Government.

Cuba, except for a brief period of British occupancy in 1762, remained a Spanish possession from the date of its discovery by Columbus until December 10, 1898, when the sovereignty was relinquished under the terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended the armed intervention of the United States in the struggle of the Cubans against Spanish rule. Cuba thus became an in- dependent State. A convention which assembled on November 5, 1900, drew up a constitution which was adopted February 21, 1901, under which the Island assumed a republican form of government, with a President, Vice-President, a Senate and a House of Representatives. A law was passed in Washington authorising the President of the United States to hand over the government to the Cuban people upon the undertaking that they should conclude no treaty with a foreign power that would endanger the independence of Cuba, that no debts should be contracted for which the current revenue, would not suffice, that the United States should have certain lights of intervention, and be granted the use of Naval Stations. On June 12, 1901, these conditions were accepted. On February 24, 1902, the election of the President and Vice-President took place, and the control of the Island was formally transferred to the national government on May 20. The coaling stations of Guantanamo Bay and Bahia Honda were leased to the United States for 2,000 dollars annually, on July 2, 1903. A reciprocal commercial treaty, December 27, 1903, further strengthened the ties between Cuba and the United States. After political disturbances, an American Commission formed a provisional government in August, 1906, which was continued until January 28, 1909, when the national government was resumed after the institution of electoral reforms.

President. — Alfredo Zayas. Born February 21, 1861. Inaugurated May 20, 1921 ; term expires May 20, 1925.

There is a Cabinet consisting of the Secretaries of State, of Justice, of War and Marine, of the Interior, of Finance, of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labour, of Public Instruction, of Public Works, and of Sanitation and Charity.

The National Congress is made up of a Senate (24 members, 4 for each province) and a House of Representatives (118 members, 1 for every 25,000 of the inhabitants).

Area and Population.

Cuba has an area of 44,21 f> square miles, with a population, according to the enumeration of November, 1919, of 2,898,905. The area, population, and density of population of each of the six provinces were as follows : —

Province

Area Population in 1319

Pop. persq. mile

Havana

Pinar del Rio ....

ToUl

Square miles J

3,174 697,583

5,212 260,l!'s


 * ."''|' '.704

657,097

228,913

14,227 785,8

441,215 !, 808,905

219-77 51-07 95-09 70-M •J'J-71 51-31

The population in 1919 has increased 261,369 over that of 1916. The whites formed 74 - 3 and the coloured 25"7 of the total population.