Interesting facts you should know about Cuba

In an effort to break down the decades-old US embargo and move towards normal relations, Barack Obama visited Cuba on March 21, becoming the first US president to do so since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

Here are a few interesting facts about the Caribbean island:

► Cuba, the 17th largest island in the world, has a 99.8% literacy rate, which is one of the highest in the world

► From the air, the island of Cuba resembles a crocodile or alligator and so Cuba is often referred to in Spanish as “El Cocodrilo” or “El Caimá”

► Cuba’s government is a Marxist-Leninist single party state that has been headed by a member of the Castro family for many decades

► Bacardi rum was originally manufactured in Cuba. However, the brand moved to Puerto Rico after Fidel Castro’s takeover

► A man left Havana in 1986 in a hot air balloon and is missing ever since

► Only two countries in the world are not allowed to sell Coca-Cola officially – North Korea and Cuba

► The dance forms of Bolero, Mambo and Cha Cha were invented in Cuba

► Cuba is famous worldwide for its cigars

► The worlds’ smallest hummingbird and smallest frog are found in Cuba

Fidel “El Comandante” Castro
► Fidel Castro was the world's third longestserving head of state. He was in power for 49 years — as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and as president from 1976 to 2008. In that time span, there were 10 US presidents

► Delivered one of the longest speeches at the UN: he went on for 4 hours and 29 minutes, on September 29, 1960

► His longest speech on record in Cuba was 7 hours and 10 minutes in 1986 at the III Communist Party Congress in Havana

► Had practical reasons for not shaving his beard. "If you calculate 15 minutes a day to shave, that is 5,000 minutes a year spent shaving," he said, adding that he would rather spend his time on more important activities

► Claims he survived 634 attempts on his life, allegedly masterminded by the Central Intelligence Agency

► Is fluent in English, but refuses to speak it anymore, even in public or private interviews, because he considers it to be "the language of his enemies"