Cuban Provinces & Cities

Pinar del Rio Province

Pinar del Rio City Vinales

Havana Province

Havana City Playa del Este

Matanzas Province

Matanzas City Varadero Cardenas

Villa Clara

Santa Clara

Cienfuegos Province

Cienfuegos City

Sancti Spiritus Province

Sancti Spiritus Trinidad

Ciego de Avila Province

Ciego de Avila City Jardines del Rey

Camaguey Province

Camaguey City

Las Tunas

Granma

Bayamo

Santiago de Cuba Province

Santiago de Cuba City

Guantanamo Province

Guantanamo City Baracoa

Holguin Province

Holguin City

Isla de la Juventud

Nueva Gerona Cayo Largo

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Crime & Punishment

Unless you enjoy eating cockroaches and rice everyday, don't be stupid when traveling to or while in Cuba. The last place you want to find yourself is in a Third World prison. There are no health clubs, TV's, movies, exercise time or "prisoners rights" in Cuba. You will do hard labor, in shit conditions and you will do ALL of your sentence.

• Drugs - Still relatively unheard of, they are slowly creeping into Cuban society. It seems Cuba's isolation from the rest of the region lends itself as a suburb smuggling point. I have been personally offered drugs walking along La Rampa. "Psssst....cocaine, marijuana....". Of course, I didn't even acknowledge their presense, nor should you. I'm not sure if it was an undercover policeman testing a tourist or a legitimate offer but I didn't care. Expect to do hard time for drugs.

On a personal note - I met a really nice casa owner in Santa Clara on a trip last year and we quickly became good friends (a common event in Cuba). On a trip back, I called several times to make casa arrangements to stay there again. To make a long story short, he was caught with some marijuana and is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence! Not a position you want to put yourself in.

• Pornography & Sex - pornographic material is against the law...period. Taking pictures of naked Cubana(o)'s constitutes pornography. Get the picture? The legal age of consent in Cuba is sixteen between Cubans, not with foreigners. Eighteen is the legal age of consent for tourists by the way. Technically, US citizens can be prosecuted by the US government for having sex with minors even outside US jurisdiction. If that, along with your conscience, isn't enough to deter you consider this: In the US, pedophiles are typically separated from the general prison population to protect them from other prisoners (remember, even murderers have kids and hate pedophiles). In Cuba, to the best of my knowledge, no such precautionary measures exist.

And who said there's no justice in Cuba?

The bottom line is that if you get caught breaking the law in Cuba, chances are they will be merciless in their punishment. Sure, you can plead your case to your embassy, but generally speaking, they won't be much help. You are bound to the laws of the country you are in. They tend not to be very sympathetic to your stupidity. Also, remember that, at least technically, the US does not have diplomatic relations with Cuba.

• Addresses of Cuban Embassies and Consulates all over the world
• Travel information ... read this before you go ...