retary

International organization participation: CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-77,
IAEA, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, ILO, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer),
NAM, OAS (excluded from formal participation since 1962), PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO,
WTrO

Diplomatic representation in US: none; note - Cuba has an
Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy, headed by Principal Officer
Fernando REMIREZ DE ESTENOZ; address: Cuban Interests Section, Swiss
Embassy, 2639 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009; telephone: [1]
(202) 797-8518 through 8520

US diplomatic representation: none; note - the US does have an
Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy, headed by Principal Officer
Joseph G. SULLIVAN; address: USINT, Swiss Embassy, Calzada Entre L Y
M, Vedado Seccion, Havana; telephone: 33-3551 through 3559, 33-3543
through 3547 (operator assistance required); FAX: 33-3700;
protecting power in Cuba is Switzerland

Flag: five equal horizontal bands of blue (top and bottom)
alternating with white; a red equilateral triangle based on the
hoist side bears a white five-pointed star in the center

Economy
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Economic overview: The state retains a primary role in the economy
and controls practically all foreign trade. The government has
undertaken several reforms in recent years designed to stem excess
liquidity, raise labor incentives, and increase the availability of
food, consumer goods, and services from depressed levels. The
liberalized agricultural markets introduced in October 1994, where
state and private farms are authorized to sell any above-quota
production at unrestricted prices, have broadened legal consumption
alternatives and reduced black market prices. The government's
efforts to reduce subsidies to loss-making enterprises and shrink
the money supply caused the black market exchange rate to move from
a peak of 120 pesos to the dollar in the summer of 1994 to 25-30
pesos to the dollar at yearend 1995. The number of self-employed
workers licensed by the government increased more slowly in 1995,
from 160,000 at yearend 1994 to 190,000 in July 1995 and to about
210,000 in January 1996. Discussions continue within the leadership
over the relative affluence of self-employed workers and the growing
inequality of income in what has historically been a strictl