Cuba: 12 Views of Holidays in Havana's Sun

Men pose with a gay pride flag during the opening of the gay and lesbian community's summer beach season on the outskirts of Havana, June 14, 2008.

Much has changed in Cuba since the 1960s, when homosexuals were sent to work camps, and the 1970s, when gay men and women were denied certain jobs because they were classified as "ideological deviants."

In some of the latest changes since President Raul Castro took office, Cuban doctors are allowed to perform sex change operations, and parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions.

Photo: Claudia Daut/Reuters

Soldiers perform during a fireworks show celebrating the 49th anniversary of Fidel Castro's 1959 entrance into Havana, January 8, 2008.

Photo: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters

Schoolchildren leave after throwing flowers into the sea in honor of rebel hero Camilo Cienfuegos from Havana's seafront boulevard "Malecon," October 28, 2011.

Cienfuegos was a commander of Fidel Castro's rebel army but died less than a year after its victory. His plane disappeared over the ocean on October 28, 1959, enroute from Havana to Camaguey. The plane and his body were never found. Every year on October 28, Cubans toss flowers into the sea in his honor.

Photo: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters

People walk among clouds of insecticide in the wake of a fumigating truck in Havana. Cuban authorities rely on fumigation campaigns to prevent dengue fever.

Photo: Jorge Silva/Reuters

People dance on a street in Old Havana, September 29, 2007.

Cubans celebrated the 47th anniversary of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). The CDRs are assigned to every block of houses in Cuba to take care of medical assistance if needed. The CDRs also guard neighborhoods by controlling people's movements and activities.

That's one solution for healthcare.

Photo: Claudia Daut/Reuters

A man walks past a graffiti that reads "Long Live Fidel" in Santiago de Cuba.

On January 1, 2009, Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Castro's socialist government has remained one of the most controversial in history. The U.S. is holding fast to its condemnation of socialism, while some South Americans praise the Cuban system.

Whatever your opinions on the island nation's economic and crowd-control policies, if you've ever wanted to visit Cuba, now is the time. Traveling restrictions have uncertain futures. That cigar aficionado trip of a lifetime could be now or never.

Photo: Claudia Daut/Reuters