Central America and the Caribbean > Cuba > Military

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Armed forces growth	-64		[125th of 132]
Armed forces personnel	58,000		[60th of 166]
DEFINITION: Total armed forces (2000)
SOURCE: calculated on the basis of data on armed forces from IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Arms imports > constant 1990 US$	96,000,000 constant 1990 US$		[41st of 100]
DEFINITION: Arms transfers cover the supply of military weapons through sales, aid, gifts, and those made through manufacturing licenses. Data cover major conventional weapons such as aircraft, armored vehicles, artillery, radar systems, missiles, and ships designed for military use. Excluded are transfers of other military equipment such as small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services.		View time series
SOURCE: IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Branches Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, FAR): Revolutionary Army (ER; includes Territorial Militia Troops, MTT), Revolutionary Navy (Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria, MGR; includes Marine Corps), Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force (DAAFAR), Youth Labor Army (EJT)
DEFINITION: The names of the ground, naval, air, marine, and other defense or security forces
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Conscription Conscription exists (AI and NISBCO).
DEFINITION: A description of the status of conscription in the nation in 1997.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Expenditures	3.8 % of GDP		[17th of 87]
SOURCE: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997. Data collected from the nations concerned, unless otherwise indicated. Acronyms: Amnesty International (AI); European Council of Conscripts Organizations (ECCO); Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC); International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHFHR); National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO); Service, Peace and Justice in Latin America (SERPAJ); War Resisters International (WRI); World Council of Churches (WCC)		View time series
Expenditures > Dollar figure	$572,300,000.00		[37th of 111]
DEFINITION: Current military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the gross domestic product (GDP) calculated on an exchange rate basis not purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. Dollar figures for military expenditures should be treated with caution because of different price patterns and accounting methods among nations, as well as wide variations in the strength of their currencies		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Manpower > Availability > Females	3,024,876		[62nd of 162]
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008		View time series
Manpower > Availability > Males	3,094,388		[66th of 210]
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008		View time series
Manpower > Availability > Males age 15-49	3,120,700		[66th of 175]
DEFINITION: The total numbers of males aged 15-49. This statistic assumes that every individual is fit to serve.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Manpower > Availability > Males age 15-49	3,134,622		[66th of 175]
View time series
Manpower > Fit for military service > Males age 15-49	1,929,370		[71st of 174]
DEFINITION: The number of males aged 15-49 fit for military service. This is a more refined measure of potential military manpower availability which tries to correct for the health situation in the country and reduces the maximum potential number to a more realistic estimate of the actual number fit to serve.		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Manpower > Military age	17 years of age
DEFINITION: The minimum age at which an individual may volunteer for military service or be subject to conscription.		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Manpower > Reaching military age annually > Males	79,945		[86th of 226]
DEFINITION: The number of draft-age males and females entering the military manpower pool in any given year and is a measure of the availability of draft-age young adults.		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
personnel	76,000		[62nd of 170]
DEFINITION: Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces.		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
personnel > % of total labor force	1.41 %		[56th of 168]
DEFINITION: Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces. Labor force comprises all people who meet the International Labour Organization's definition of the economically active population.		View time series
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Service age and obligation 17-28 years of age for compulsory military service; 2-year service obligation; both sexes subject to military service
DEFINITION: This entry gives the required ages for voluntary or conscript military service and the length of sevice obligation.		View time series
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Tanks	420 tanks		[21st of 22]
DEFINITION: Approximate number of tanks.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Weapon holdings	2,490,000		[33rd of 137]
SOURCE: Dr T.R. O'Connor, (05/15/04)
WMD > Overview Fidel Castro spearheaded Cuba's communist revolution by leading a rebel army to victory in 1959. Relations between Washington and Havana deteriorated rapidly; the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in October 1960 (which is still in effect today) and broke diplomatic relations in January 1961. Taking advantage of Cuba's fear of U.S. armed aggression against the island, the Soviets persuaded Cuba into adopting closer economic and political ties, including military and defense arrangements; later that year, Castro formally embraced Marxism. Tensions between the United States and Cuba peaked during the October 1962 missile crisis. Under Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. Massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities and expand its military presence abroad, spending millions of dollars in exporting revolutions, most visibly in Angola, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. Cuba's support for these guerrilla movements, its Marxist-Leninist government, and its alignment with the USSR led to its isolation in the hemisphere. Cuba does not possess nuclear weapons, and there are no credible reports of Cuban efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2002, Cuba acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), ratified the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), and has an Additional Protocol with the IAEA. Cuba is not reported to possess chemical weapons (it acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention [CWC] in 1993), nor are there credible reports of Cuban possession of long-range ballistic missiles. Cuba is generally regarded as having a program of research on biological warfare (BW) agents, though the scope and focus of this effort remains obscure and controversial. Numerous US administrations have claimed that Cuba possesses a limited offensive biological weapons program and has provided dual-use biotechnology to other nations—suspicions that stem from Cuba's possession of one of the most advanced biomedical industries in Latin America and its large-scale production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Cuba has been a member of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) since 1976. In 1990, Cuba's Air Force, with about 150 Soviet-supplied fighters, including advanced MiG-23 Floggers and MiG-29 Fulcrums, was probably the best equipped in Latin America. In 1994, Cuba's armed forces were estimated to have 235,000 active duty personnel. Cuban military power has been sharply reduced by the loss of Soviet subsidies. By 1999, the Revolutionary Armed Forces numbered about 60,000 regular troops.
DEFINITION: An overview of the nation's situation with regards to the possession and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction
SOURCE: Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)

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