rred its democratic development. Although still a largely
agricultural country, it has achieved a relatively high standard of
living. Land ownership is widespread. Tourism is a rapidly expanding
industry.

Cote d'Ivoire:
Close ties to France since independence in 1960, the
development of cocoa production for export, and foreign investment
made Cote d'Ivoire one of the most prosperous of the tropical
African states. Falling cocoa prices and political turmoil, however,
sparked an economic downturn in 1999 and 2000. On 25 December 1999,
a military coup - the first ever in Cote d'Ivoire's history -
overthrew the government led by President Henri Konan BEDIE.
Presidential and legislative elections held in October and December
2000 provoked violence due to the exclusion of opposition leader
Alassane OUATTARA. In October 2000, Laurent GBAGBO replaced junta
leader Robert GUEI as president, ending 10 months of military rule.

Croatia:
In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom
known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia
became an independent communist state under the strong hand of
Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from
Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often
bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared
from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision the last Serb-held enclave
in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998.

Cuba:
Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959; his iron
rule has held the country together since. Cuba's communist
revolution, with Soviet support, was exported throughout Latin
America and Africa during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The country is
now slowly recovering from a severe economic recession in 1990,
following the withdrawal of former Soviet subsidies, worth $4
billion to $6 billion annually. Havana portrays its difficulties as
the result of the US embargo in place since 1961. Illicit migration
to the US - using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, or falsified
visas - is a continuing problem. Some 3,000 Cubans took to the
Straits of Florida in 2000; the US Coast Guard interdicted only
about 35% of these.

Cyprus:
Independence from the UK was approved in 1960 with
constitutional guarantees by the Greek Cypriot majority to the
Turkish Cypriot minority. In 1974, a Greek-sponsored attempt to
seize the government was