Caribbean Countries

Fidel Castro Has ruled Cuba since Cuban missile crisis October 1962.

Cuba has a command economy.

The United States Embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October It was enacted after Cuba expropriated the properties of United States citizens and corporations and it was strengthened to a near-total embargo in February 1962.Cuba Spanishblockadeembargo expropriated

There is a large African influence in Culture in the Caribbean.

Migrants have been founds on rafts or small boats made out of refrigerators, bathtubs, surfboards and inner tubes.

The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González (born December 6, 1993), was at the center of a heated controversy in 2000 involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, his father, his Miami and Cuban relatives, and the Cuban-American community of Miami. However, a district court's ruling that the Miami relative could not petition for asylum on the boy's behalf was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Elián González returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, on June 28, 2000.custodyimmigrationCubanCubaUnited StatesMiamiCuban-American11th Circuit Court of AppealsAtlantaU.S. Supreme Court

Haiti The most underdeveloped country in the Western Hemisphere.

The culture and people of the Dominican Republic, like its Spanish Caribbean neighbors, is a blend of the cultures of the Spanish colonists, African slaves, and Taíno natives.Spanish Caribbean

Commonwealth of the United States. They don’t have to pay any federal income tax.

Calypso music combines musical elements from Africa & Spain. Calypso songs are accompanied by steel drums and guitars. Reggae developed in Jamaica in the 1960s. Many reggae songs deal with social problems.

Central America Countries

Belize

English is the official language of Belize. It also has a large African population.

Guatemala

Has the largest native American population in Central America

Just over 60 percent of Guatemala's population are of mixed Amerindian-Spanish descent. The remaining 40 percent belong to one of 23 Mayan ethnic groups, making Guatemala one of the countries with the largest indigenous populations in Latin America.

El Salvador

MS-13 gangs in El Salvador Mara Salvatrucha Gang in San Salvador MS is known as being very violent

Honduras According to the World Bank, Honduras is the third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua.World BankWestern HemisphereHaitiNicaragua

Traditional economy

Chiquita Brands InternationalChiquita Brands International and the Dole Food Company and responsible for most Honduran banana production and exports.Dole Food Company

Nicaragua

Nicaraguan Civil War 1980’s Sandinistas vs. Contras

During the war against the Sandinista government, the contras carried out many violations of human rights. Their supporters in Miami and the White House usually countered that the Sandinista government carried out more such violations

Costa Rica most developed country in Central America

Eco tourism is becoming very popular in Costa Rica

River rafting in Costa Rica

Panama

Panama Canal finished in 1914

Was built by the US. Control of the canal was given to Panama in 1999.

Panama still uses the US dollars as their currency