The country that lies closest to Cuba, lies about 50 miles east of Cuba. Which country is it?

While many people might guess the United States or Jamaica, Cuba's nearest sovereign neighbor actually lies to its east. The easternmost tip of Cuba, a cape known as Punta de Maisí, is separated from the western peninsula of Haiti by a strait called the Windward Passage. At their narrowest point, these two nations are only about 50 miles (or 80 kilometers) apart, a surprisingly short distance across the Caribbean Sea.

This proximity often comes as a surprise, as other neighbors (Review) are more frequently discussed. The Florida Keys are famously close, but the distance from Key West to Havana is roughly 90 miles, nearly double the distance to Haiti. Jamaica, to the south, is also about 90 miles away. It is the specific geography of Haiti, which occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, that allows its Tiburon Peninsula to jut out towards Cuba, closing the gap significantly more than any other country.

The Windward Passage itself is a historically and economically vital waterway, serving as a major shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean and the Panama Canal. This close geographical relationship has also fostered deep, albeit complex, historical and cultural ties between the two Caribbean nations, from migration patterns to shared Taino heritage, despite their different colonial histories under Spain and France.