Cuba Issues - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the facility can terminate the lease

Trafficking in persons

current situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba and Cubans abroad; individuals are forced or coerced into participating and threatened to stay in labor export programs, most notably foreign medical missions; sex trafficking and sex tourism occur within Cuba; traffickers exploit Cubans in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the US; foreigners from Africa and Asia are subject to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts; the government uses high school students in some rural areas to harvest crops without pay, claiming that the work is voluntary

tier rating:

Tier 3 — Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government made some efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict sex traffickers and sex tourists and identified and provided assistance to some victims; however, no efforts were made to address forced labor; there was a government policy or pattern to profit from labor export programs with strong indications of forced labor, particularly in foreign medical missions; authorities did not protect potential trafficking victims, leaving them at risk of being detained or charged for crimes their traffickers forced them to commit (2020)

Illicit drugs

Cuba is not a major consumer, producer, or transit point of illicit drugs; strict policing on smuggling, production and consumption; prescription drug abuse is increasing

NOTE: The information regarding Cuba on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cuba 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cuba 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.