The Special Period, officially the Special Period in the Time of Peace, was an extended period of economic crisis in Cuba that began in 1991 primarily due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Comecon. The economic depression of the Special Period was at its most severe in the early to mid-1990s. Things improved towards the end of the decade once Hugo Chávez's Venezuela emerged as Cuba's primary trading partner and diplomatic ally, and especially after the year 2000 once Cuba–Russia relations improved under the presidency of Vladimir Putin.
Cuban citizens resorting to horse-drawn carriage for transportation (1994)
A street in Trinidad, Cuba, in 2006
The "camel" (so called because of its two "humps") bus-trailers were introduced during the period. This one is from 2006 in Havana.
A camel and a taxi rickshaw in Havana, 2005
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, archipelagos, 4,195 islands and cays surrounding the main island. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 11 million inhabitants.
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba
A painting of the British capture of Havana in 1762
Slaves in Cuba unloading ice from Maine, c. 1832
19th century view of Havana
