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Yes, it is widely agreed that Cuba was second behind the USA in regular color TV broadcasts.
The Canadian government kept broadcasts in monochrome until 1966. When independent CFTO (9) came on the air in Toronto in 1961, it was completely equipped with color gear - but turned the color signal off. It appears that the government public broadcaster (CBC) had just spent millions getting their monochrome signal across their very vast country, and were afraid if independents went color, CBC would be expected to do a complete rebuild for color. They were kind of forced to give in when they did when Canadian viewers near the US border (MANY Canadians are) were watching USA (e.g., Buffalo and Detroit) stations to use the color TVs they had brought across the border. The second country to launch a broad color TV rollout was Japan, in 1960.
I'm very curious about the history of Habana's Canal 12 (I've heard it was called "Tele-Color S.A." and/or had the clever call sign COLOR, as the CO call sign block is allocated to Cuba).
Yes, it is quite obvious that Cuban analog TV is still going. Since the full-power analog transmitters in the US closed in June, 2009, and VERY few broadcasters chose to use lowband VHF for their digital transmitters, Cuban TV signals are seen far more frequently when sporadic-E ("VHF short skip") conditions permit. CMBA is very easy to recognize, as it is Tele-Rebelde and minus offset (55.24 MHz video). Some US TV DXers even call it a "pest"!
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