Following the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military and economic aid. Castro was able to build a formidable military force with the help of Soviet equipment and military advisors. The KGB kept in close touch with Havana, and Castro tightened Communist Party control over all levels of government, the media, and the educational system, while developing a Soviet-style internal police force.
Castro's alliance with the Soviet Union caused something of a split between him and Guevara. In 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia in an ill-fated attempt to stir up revolution against the country's government.
On August 23, 1968, Castro made a public gesture to the USSR that caused the Soviet leadership to reaffirm their support for him. Two days after
"Cuba has a unique symbolic allure. It is the small country that confronted the U.S. empire and has survived despite the attempts by all U.S. presidents since to subdue its communist government. It is the island with iconic leaders like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and the Latin American country that in the language of revolutionaries everywhere embodies the struggle of socialist humanism against the materialism of capitalist societies. Cuba is also the small nation that in the past sent its troops to die in faraway lands in Latin America and even Africa fighting for the poor."
During the Cold War, Cuba's influence in the Americas was inhibited by the
a month-long visit to Chile. The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the internal politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public advice to Salvador Allende, was seen by those on the political right as proof to support their view that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba.[10]
During the Cold War, Africa was a major target of Cuba's influence. Fidel Castro stated that Africa was chosen in part to represent Cuban solidarity with its own large population of African descent. Exporting Cuba's revolutionary tactics abroad increased its worldwide influence and reputation. Wolf Grabendorff states that "Most African states view Cuban intervention in Africa as help in achieving independence through self-help rather than as a step toward the type of dependence which would result from a similar commitment by the super-powers."[11] Cuban Soldiers were sent to fight in the Simba rebellion in the DRC during the 1960s. Furthermore, by providing military aid Cuba won trading partners for the Soviet bloc and potential converts to Marxism.[9]
Starting in the 1970s, Cuba's intervened in 17 African nations including three insurgencies.[9] Cuba expanded military programs to Africa and the Middle East, sending military missions to Sierra Leone in 1972, South Yemen in 1973, Equatorial Guinea in 1973, and Somalia in 1974. It sent combat troops to Syria in 1973 to fight against Israel. Cuba was following the general Soviet policy of détente with the West, and secret discussions were opened with the United States about peaceful coexistence. They ended abruptly when Cuba sent combat troops to fight in Angola in 1975.[12]
Castro never disclosed the number of casualties in Soviet African wars, but one estimate is that 14,000 Cubans were killed in Cuban military actions abroad.[15][16]
Intervention in Latin America
In addition, Castro extended support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, such as aiding the
In the 1970s, Fidel Castro made a major effort to assume a leadership role in the non-aligned movement, which include over 90 countries. Cuba's intervention in Angola other military advisory missions, economic and social programs were praised fellow non-aligned member. The 1976 world conference of the non-aligned Movement applauded Cuban internationalism, stating that it "assisted the people of Angola in frustrating the expansionist and colonialist strategy of South Africa's racist regime and its allies." The next non-aligned conference was held in Havana in 1979, and chaired by Castro, who became the de facto spokesman for the Movement. The conference in September 1979 marked the peak of Cuban global influence. The non-aligned nations had believed that Cuba was not aligned with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.[17] However, in December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, an active member of the non-aligned Movement. At the United Nations, non-aligned members voted 56 to 9, with 26 abstaining, to condemn the Soviet invasion. Cuba, however, was deeply in debt financially and politically to Moscow, and voted against the resolution. It lost its reputation as non-aligned in the Cold War. Castro, instead of becoming a spokesman for the Movement, became inactive, and in 1983, leadership passed to India, which had abstained on the UN vote. Cuba lost its bid to become a member of the United Nations Security Council. Cuba's ambitions for a role in global leadership had ended.[18][19]
Social and economic programs
Cuba had social and economic programs in 40 developing countries. This was possible by a growing Cuban economy in the 1970s. The largest programs were construction projects, in which 8,000 Cubans provided technical advice, planning, and training of engineers. Educational programs involved 3,500 teachers. In addition thousands of specialists, technicians, and engineers were sent as advisors to agricultural mining and transportation sectors around the globe. Cuba also hosted 10,000 foreign students, mostly from Africa and Latin America, in health programs and technical schools.[20] Cuba's extensive program of medical support to international attention. A 2007 study reported:
Since the early 1960s, 28,422 Cuban health workers have worked in 37 Latin American countries, 31,181 in 33 African countries, and 7,986 in 24 Asian countries. Throughout a period of four decades, Cuba sent 67,000 health workers to structural cooperation programs, usually for at least two years, in 94 countries ... an average of 3,350 health workers working abroad every year between 1960 and 2000.[21]
Post–Cold War relations
Fidel Castro with Russian President Vladimir Putin, December 2000
In the post–Cold War environment Cuban support for guerrilla warfare in Latin America has largely subsided, though the Cuban government continued to provide political assistance and support for left leaning groups and parties in the developing Western Hemisphere.
When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Cuba in 1989, the ideological relationship between Havana and Moscow was strained by Gorbachev's implementation of economic and political reforms in the USSR. "We are witnessing sad things in other socialist countries, very sad things", lamented Castro in November 1989, in reference to the changes that were sweeping such communist allies as the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland.[22] The subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 had an immediate and devastating effect on Cuba.
Cuba today works with a growing bloc of Latin American politicians opposed to the "
Washington consensus", the American-led doctrine that free trade, open markets, and privatization will lift poor third world countries out of economic stagnation. The Cuban government condemned neoliberalism as a destructive force in the developing world, creating an alliance with Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia in opposing such policies.[23][24][25][26]
Currently, Cuba has diplomatically friendly relationships with Presidents Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela with Maduro as perhaps the country's staunchest ally in the post-Soviet era. Cuba has sent thousands of teachers and medical personnel to Venezuela to assist Maduro's socialist oriented economic programs. Maduro, in turn provides Cuba with lower priced petroleum. Cuba's debt for oil to Venezuela is believed to be on the order of one billion US dollars.[27]
Historically during Nicaragua's initial Sandinista period and since the 2007 election of Daniel Ortega, Cuba has maintained close relations with Nicaragua.
In the wake of the
Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, where the two leaders opened a monument of Fidel Castro, as well as speaking out against U.S. sanctions against Russian and Cuba.[30]
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Cuba maintains diplomatic relations with:
South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO).[73] Cuba also supported both SWAPO and PLAN through a number of political and diplomatic initiatives.[74] Since independence, Namibia and Cuba have held joint meetings every two years for Economic, Scientific-Technical and Commercial Cooperation. In 2005, it was reported that 1,460 Cuban professionals had worked in Namibia, including 208 in 2005.[74]
The Cuban government initially pledged to send one hundred and sixty five health workers to
Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.[75] Later the Cuban government expanded this pledge with an additional three hundred health workers being sent throughout the region.[76]
Cuba has supported a number of leftist groups and parties in Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1959 revolution. In the 1960s Cuba established close ties with the emerging
With the electoral win of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2002 ties between Cuba and Brazil steadily warmed. Brazil continued to play its part in trying to revive and upgrade the offshore oil and gas infrastructure of Cuba.[80] In addition, talks led by Brazil were underway seeking to develop a framework for Cuba to become a normalised affiliate member of the Mercosur bloc of countries.[81]
Brazilian-Cuban relations deteriorated greatly under the presidency of Brazilian rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro since 2019 .He stopped Mais Medicos (More Doctors) programme and thousands of Cuban doctors left Brazil.[82][83] In November 2019, Brazil voted for the first time against an annual United Nations resolution condemning and calling for an end to Washington's economic embargo on Cuba.[84]
Brazil has an embassy in Havana.
Cuba has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.
Canada has always maintained consistently cordial relations with Cuba, in spite of considerable pressure from the United States, and the island is also one of the most popular travel destinations for Canadian citizens. Canada-Cuba relations can be traced back to the 18th century, when vessels from the Atlantic provinces of Canada traded codfish and beer for rum and sugar. Cuba was the first country in the Caribbean selected by Canada for a diplomatic mission. Official diplomatic relations were established in 1945, when Emile Vaillancourt, a noted writer and historian, was designated Canada's representative in Cuba. Canada and Mexico were the only two countries in the hemisphere to maintain uninterrupted diplomatic relations with Cuba following the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
In 1994, a joint venture was formed between the Cuban Nickel Union and the Canadian firm
Cuba has been since the 1960s a reference point to left wing politicians in
Christian Democrat Party of Chile, member of the Concertación, has supported a harder line in the diplomatic relations with Cuba while the Socialist Party of Chile has opposed this.[citation needed
]
In 1971, despite an Organization of American States convention that no nation in the Western Hemisphere would have a relationship with Cuba (the only exception being Mexico, which had refused to adopt that convention), Castro took a month-long visit to Chile, following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the internal politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public advice to Salvador Allende, was seen by those on the political right as proof to support their view that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba.[87]
Cuba gave training, money, medicines, weapons and safe haven to members of
Colombian guerrilla movements, especially to the ELN and also to members of the FARC
, both of which were founded in the early 1960s. In the years leading up to his death, Fidel Castro made gestures of reconciliation with different Colombian government administrations, and has been considered responsible for facilitating talks between them and the opposing guerrilla groups.
Costa Rica broke relations with Cuba in 1961 to protest Cuban support of the left in Central America and renewed formal diplomatic ties with Fidel Castro's government in March 2009. In 1995, Costa Rica established a consular office in Havana. Cuba opened a consular office in Costa Rica in 2001, but relations continued to be difficult. In 2006, shortly after the death of Augusto Pinochet, Costa Rican President Óscar Arias compared Fidel Castro's human rights record to that of the former Chilean president. In response, Cuban officials released a statement describing the Washington aligned Arias as a "vulgar mercenary" of U.S. officials, and asserting that Washington "always had on hand another opportunistic clown ready to follow its aggressive plans against Cuba."[88][89]
Cuba and El Salvador resumed diplomatic relations on June 1, 2009. El Salvador previously suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 due to the Cuban Revolution.[90] Diplomatic ties were resumed after El Salvador's new president Mauricio Funes, who had pledged to reestablish them, was sworn into office. El Salvador is also the very last Latin American nation to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba.[91]
Cuba resumed relations with Haiti in 1997 and since has sent thousands of doctors to Haiti since relations were re-established in 1997, performing hundreds of thousands of surgeries, medical consultations and have trained over 1,000 Haitian doctors at its medical schools. In addition, over 100,000 people in Haiti have become literate through Cuban efforts.
Before the Cuban revolution, Mexico was the country where several Cubans were exiled fleeing political persecution by the government of Batista like Julio Antonio Mella, Juan Marinello, Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro.
After the Cuban revolution when Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States, Mexico did not support this resolution and abstained, claiming a non-intervention policy. Relations were stable from 1934 to 1998.
Although the relationship between Cuba and Mexico remains strained, each side appears to make attempts to improve it. In 1998, Fidel Castro apologized when he said that "Mexican kids knew Mickey Mouse better than national heroes of their own country", which led Mexico to recall its ambassador from Havana.[93] Rather, he said, his words were meant to underscore the cultural dominance of the US.[94]
Mexican PresidentVicente Fox apologized to Fidel Castro in 2002 over statements by Castro, who had taped their telephone conversation, to the effect that Fox forced him to leave a United Nations summit in Mexico so that he would not be in the presence of President Bush, who also attended.[95]
In 2004, Mexico suspended relations with Cuba after businessman Carlos Ahumada was arrested and deported to Mexico and the paperwork provided by the Cuban government proved that there was a plan from the Mexican government to make a complot against the potential presidential candidate from the opposition party Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In April 2012, Mexican president Felipe Calderón made a two-day visit to Havana. In January 2014, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto paid an official visit to Cuba.[96]
Cuba and Panama have restored diplomatic ties after breaking them off in 2004 when Panama's former president Mireya Moscoso pardoned four Cubans, including Luis Posada Carriles, who were accused of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. The foreign minister of each country re-established official diplomatic relations in Havana by signing a document describing a spirit of fraternity that has long linked both nations.[99] In March 2009, the governments of Costa Rica and El Salvador announced that they plan on re-establishing full diplomatic relations with Cuba.[100]
process to normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, following 18 months of secret negotiations in Canada and Vatican City
. Although relations have greatly improved since then, the United States still holds a trade embargo against Cuba, making it illegal for American companies to do business in Cuba. However, Barack Obama has called for an end to the embargo, saying that it failed to get Cuba to abandon one-party rule.
Presidency of Hugo Chávez. Chávez formed a major alliance with Cuban president Fidel Castro and significant trade relationship with Cuba since his election in 1999. The warm relationship between the two countries continued to intensify.[103] Hugo Chávez described Castro as his mentor[104] and called Cuba "a revolutionary democracy".[105]
In 2005 the two countries also signed cooperation agreements in the area of energy and electricity, an accord between Venezuela's oil company
Cupet to buy and sell crude oil and a crude oil storage agreement between the two companies.[106]
Hugo Chávez, who said he was one of the few people in the world who knew Castro's illness from July 31, 2006, helped Cuba undermine a strict U.S. embargo by sending cheap oil and boosting commercial relations. Agreements between Cuba and Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, have brought more than 20,000 Cuban doctors to Venezuela to provide medical services for the poor. The program, one of numerous oil-funded social projects, helped Chávez build a strong political support base, and he won a reelection bid in December 2006.[107]
A U.S. official told the Miami Herald in 2016 that U.S. estimates of total Venezuelan subsidies to Cuba per year "are up to the $2 billion figure." This is comparable to the $4 billion to $6 billion that the Soviet Union once pumped into Cuba per year.[108]
socialist countries around the world. Relations between Cuba and China continue to grow including deals for China to set up a possible military base in Cuba, similar to the Bejucal Base and an agreement was signed between China and Cuba for China open more factories producing local goods such as televisions. Cuba has also purchased from China a wide range of items including bicycles, buses, refrigerators, rice cookers, energy-saving lightbulbs and diesel-electric locomotives with the aim of providing a boost to Cuba's national infrastructure.[111]
Relations between India and Cuba have generally been warm and cordial since the Cuban revolution. Both nations are part of the Non-Aligned Movement and Cuba has repeatedly called for a more "democratic" representation of the United Nations Security Council, supporting India's candidacy for permanent membership on a reformed Security Council.[112]Fidel Castro had said that "The maturity of India…, its unconditional adherence to the principles which lay at the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement give us the assurances that under the wise leadership of Indira Gandhi (the former Prime Minister of India), the non-aligned countries will continue advancing in their inalienable role as a bastion for peace, national independence and development…"
[113]
India provided Cuba with 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of rice in 1992 when Cuba was undergoing hardship. Fidel Castro termed the donation as the "Bread of India" because it was sufficient for one loaf of bread for each one of the then Cuban population of eleven million people.[113]
India also provided donations worth two million dollars during the Cuban earthquake.[114]
Iran has a productive trade balance with Cuba. The two governments signed a document to bolster cooperation in Havana in January 2006.[115] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called relations "firm and progressive" over the past three decades.[116] Ahmadinejad made an official visit to the island in January 2012 as part of a series of official visits to various countries in Latin America.[117] During his brief stay in Cuba, Ahmadinejad met with Fidel Castro and said that the two countries were "fighting on the same front."[118]
State of Israel de facto on 14 January 1949. In March 1949 Cuba voted in the UN Security Council in favour of admission of Israel to the United Nations, and recognised Israel de jure on 18 April 1949.[120]
In May of that year Cuba also voted in favour of Israel's admission to the UN in the UN General Assembly.
Israel-Cuba relations have been icy since the 1960s. Cuba didn't succumb to Arab pressure to sever relations with Israel, but sent troops to fight against Israel during the War of Attrition (1967–70), and also joined the expeditionary forces during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and broke diplomatic relations with Israel the same year. Israel has been the only country to consistently vote with the U.S. in the UN General Assembly against the annual resolution criticizing the embargo, which began in 1992.
In late 2010, Fidel Castro, who no longer held office in Cuba's government, stated that he believes Israel has a "right to exist", which is a shift from his regime's earlier policy.[121] Margalit Bejarano posed in 2015 that any future relationship between Israel and Cuba will not solely rest on the course that will take Havana-Washington ties, but will also factor in Cuba's dependence on Iran, on Venezuela and its closeness to the Palestinians.[122][123]
In the light of the
thaw in US-Cuba relations, the Israeli government is re-examining the state of its relations with Cuba – Israel is presently represented in Cuba through an interest section in the Canadian embassy.[124]
Embassy of Nepal in Ottawa is concurrently accredited to Cuba.
The friendly relations between the two countries have been further strengthened by exchange of visits and contacts at various levels in the past. Late King Birendra paid an official visit to Havana in September 1979 to represent Nepal in the 6th NAM summit.
The Cuban Government had offered some scholarships to the Nepalese students in the streams of culture and sports, engineering, psychology and agriculture for bachelor's degrees.
A medical team from the Government of Cuba extended medical treatment to the earthquake affected people of Nepal.
The Republic of Cuba has had diplomatic relations with
Cuban government minister visited North Korea in 1960 and proclaimed it a model for Cuba to follow.[128] Cuban leader Fidel Castro visited in 1986. In 2013 a North Korean cargo ship seized while travelling through the Panama Canal
and was found to be carrying weapons from Cuba, apparently to be repaired in North Korea. The ship was later returned to the North Korean government.
The relations between the two countries strengthened after Cuba provided humanitarian assistance to the victims of the
Military of Cuba. He also said that both countries should use their capacity for expanding military cooperation. In an interview with Overseas Pakistani Friends, Machin Gomez suggested further ways that Cuba and Pakistan might be able to help each other.[129]
American control, which was gradually lessened until the country achieved full sovereignty on 4 July 1946. Despite the Philippines being a long-time American ally, it has denounced the American sanctions against Cuba.[130]
Cuba is accredited to the Philippines from its embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Philippines is accredited to Cuba from its embassy in Mexico City, Mexico.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 July 1949, Cuba was the first country that recognize South Korea in Latin America.
There was no official-level diplomatic relation between the Cuba and
Hyundai Heavy Industries sent Packaged power station mobile generators to Cuba for the country's power grids. A picture of a PPS was later incorporated into the 10 Cuban convertible peso banknote.[131]
Diplomatic relations between the two countries was established in December 1960. Since then, Vietnam has become Cuba's second-largest trading partner in Asia, with Vietnam trailing behind China. Vietnam, just as Cuba is, is a Communist state and socialist state.[133]
European Council of Ministers in 1996, which is updated every six months following regular evaluations. According to the Common Position "the objective of the European Union in its relations with Cuba is to encourage a process of transition to a pluralist democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as sustainable recovery and improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people". Cuba rejects the Common Position as interference in its internal affairs. There is an EU Delegation in Havana that works under the responsibility of the EC Delegation in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
.
Cuba benefits from the GPS (Generalized Preference System) preferential treatment for its exports. Furthermore, Cuba does not benefit from the ACP-EU Sugar Protocol but from a sugar quota granted by the EU (some 59,000 tonnes per year; duty paid on this quota is EUR 98/t).[134]
Relations between the two countries suffered somewhat during the
2008 South Ossetia war
. Relations between the two nations are currently at a post-Soviet high, and talks about potentially re-establishing a Russian military presence in Cuba are even beginning to surface.
Australia and Cuba have a growing relationship on positive terms. Relations began in 1989. Relations were given a rebirth in 2009 when the foreign minister Stephen Smith visited Cuba. In 2010, Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez visited Australia. The ministers signed a memorandum of understanding in political cooperation between the foreign ministries and for closer bilateral relations. There is a Cuban embassy in Australia. It was opened on 24 October 2008. There are only two Australia–Cuba bilateral treaties, extended to Australia by the British Empire covering extradition.
Australia is accredited to Cuba from its embassy in Mexico City, Mexico.[155]
Relations between Cuba and Kiribati are nascent, having developed in the 2000s (decade). Like other countries in Oceania, Kiribati is a beneficiary of Cuban medical aid; bilateral relations between
Cuba's regional policy in Oceania
.
There are currently sixteen Cuban doctors providing specialised medical care in Kiribati, with sixteen more scheduled to join them.[157] Cubans have also offered training to I-Kiribati doctors.[158] Cuban doctors have reportedly provided a dramatic improvement to the field of medical care in Kiribati, reducing the child mortality rate in that country by 80 percent,[159] and winning the proverbial hearts and minds in the Pacific. In response, the Solomon Islands began recruiting Cuban doctors in July 2007, while Papua New Guinea and Fiji considered following suit.[159]
In June 2007, Nauru adopted the "Cuban literacy method", reportedly used also in several other countries.[160] In October 2007, Nauruan Foreign Minister and Trade Minister David Adeang travelled to Cuba to strengthen relations between the two island nations.[161] This led to the creation of a Cuba-Nauru Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation.[162] An unspecified number of Cuban doctors are serving in Nauru.
Patterson Oti said that Solomon Islander doctors would "learn from their Cuban colleagues in specialized areas".[167] In addition to providing doctors, Cuba provided scholarships for 50 Solomon Islanders to study medicine in Cuba for free.[151][168]
Relations between the Republic of Vanuatu and Cuba began shortly after the former gained its independence from France and the United Kingdom in 1980, and began establishing its own foreign policy as a newly independent state. Vanuatu and Cuba established official diplomatic relations in 1983.[169]
CARICOM Heads of Government and Cuba. At a summit meeting of sixteen Caribbean countries in 1998, Fidel Castro called for regional unity, saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy.[173]
Cuba, for many years regionally isolated, increased grants and scholarships to the Caribbean countries.
To celebrate ties between the Caribbean Community and Cuba in 2002 the Heads of Government of Cuba and CARICOM have designated the day of December 8 to be called 'CARICOM-Cuba Day'.[174] The day is the exact date of the formal opening of diplomatic relations between the first CARICOM-four and Cuba.
In December 2005, during the second CARICOM/CUBA summit held in Barbados, heads of CARICOM and Cuba agreed to deepen their ties in the areas of socio-economic and political cooperation in addition to medical care assistance. Since the meeting, Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including:
People's Republic of China
.
Cuban cooperation with the Caribbean was extended by a joint health programme between Cuba and Venezuela named
St. Kitts and Nevis, more than 1,300 students from member nations are studying in Cuba while more than 1,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and other technicians are working throughout the region. In 1998 Trinidadian and Tobagonian Prime Minister Patrick Manning
had a heart valve replacement surgery in Cuba and returned in 2004 to have a pacemaker implanted.
In December 2008 the CARICOM Heads of Government opened the third Cuba-CARICOM Summit in Cuba. The summit is to look at closer integration of the Caribbean Community and Cuba.[178] During the summit the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) bestowed Fidel Castro with the highest honour of CARICOM, The Honorary Order of the Caribbean Community which is presented in exceptional circumstances to those who have offered their services in an outstanding way and have made significant contributions to the region.[179][180]
In 2017 Cuba and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) bloc signed the "CARICOM-Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement"[181]
Organization of American States
Main article:
Cuban relations with the Organization of American States
Cuba was formerly excluded from participation in the Organization of American States under a decision adopted by the Eighth Meeting of Consultation in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on 21 January 1962. The resolution stated that as Cuba had officially identified itself as a Marxist–Leninist government, it was incompatible with "the principles and objectives of the inter-American system."[182] This stance was frequently questioned by some member states. This situation came to an end on 3 June 2009, when foreign ministers assembled in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, for the OAS's 39th General Assembly, passed a vote to lift Cuba's suspension from the OAS. In its resolution (AG/RES 2438), the General Assembly decided that:
Resolution VI, [...] which excluded the Government of Cuba from its participation in the Inter-American system, hereby ceases to have effect
The participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.
The reincorporation of Cuba as an active member had arisen regularly as a topic within the inter-American system (e.g., it was intimated by the outgoing ambassador of Mexico in 1998)[183] but most observers did not see it as a serious possibility while the Socialist government remained in power. On 6 May 2005, President Fidel Castro reiterated that the island nation would not "be part of a disgraceful institution that has only humiliated the honor of Latin American nations".[184]
In an editorial published by Granma, Fidel Castro applauded the Assembly's "rebellious" move and said that the date would "be recalled by future generations."[185] However, a Declaration of the Revolutionary Government dated 8 June 2009 stated that while Cuba welcomed the Assembly's gesture, in light of the Organization's historical record "Cuba will not return to the OAS".[186]
Cuba joined the Latin American Integration Association becoming the tenth member (out of 12) on 26 August 1999. The organization was set up in 1980 to encourage trade integration association. Its main objective is the establishment of a common market, in pursuit of the economic and social development of the region.
On September 15, 2006, Cuba officially took over leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement during the 14th summit of the organization in Havana.[187]
Cuban intervention abroad: 1959 – Early 1990s
Cuba became a staunch ally of the USSR during the Cold War, modeling its political structure after that of the CPSU. Owing to the fundamental role Internationalism plays in Cuban socialist ideology, Cuba became a major supporter of liberation movements not only in Latin America, but across the globe.[188]
Black Panthers
In the 1960s and 1970s, Cuba openly supported the black nationalist and Marxist-oriented Black Panther Party of the U.S. Many members found their way into Cuba for political asylum, where Cuba welcomed them as refugees after they had been convicted in the U.S.[189]
Irish Republican political party, Sinn Féin has political links to the Cuban government. Fidel Castro expressed support for the Irish Republican cause of a United Ireland.[191]
Since the establishment of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba in 1959, the country has sent more than 52,000 medical workers abroad to work in needy countries, including countries affected by the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.[192] There are currently about 20,000 Cuban doctors working in 68 countries across three continents, including a 135-strong medical team in Java, Indonesia.[193]
Read more about Cuba's medical collaboration in Africa at:
^ abcPamela S. Falk, "Cuba in Africa." Foreign Affairs 65.5 (1987): 1077-1096. online
^Quirk, Robert (August 1995). Fidel Castro. W. W. Norton & Company.
^Wolf Grabendorff, "Cuba's involvement in Africa: An interpretation of objectives, reactions, and limitations." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 22.1 (1980): 3-29, quoting p. 5. online
^Louis A. Pérez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (5th ed. 2015) pp 300-301.
^ abO'Grady, Mary Anastasia (2005-10-30). "Counting Castro's Victims". The Wall Street Journal, Center for a Free Cuba. Archived from the original on 2006-04-18. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
^Reel, Monte. For Bolivian Majority, a New Promise; Nation's First Indian President Vows to Chart Course Independent of U.S. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: 23 January 2006. pg. A.01
^Bolivia to Widen Control of Industry. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: May 3, 2006. pg. A.16
^Constable, Pamela. For Bolivian Victor, A Powerful Mandate; Populist Faces Practical Constraints. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: 20 December 2005. pg. A.01
^McDonnell, Patrick J. Global Capital; Leftist Presidents Take Spotlight at Trade Summit; A South American common market welcomes Venezuela, underscoring the bloc's new politics. Cuba's Castro steals the show. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California: 22 July 2006. pg. C.4
^Libro amarillo correspondiente al año ...: presentado al Congreso Nacional en sus sesiones ordinarias de ... por el titular despacho (in Spanish). Venezuela. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 2003. pp. 528–529.
^Bejarano, Margalit (1996). La comunidad hebrea de Cuba: la memoria y la historia (in Spanish). Instituto Abraham Harman de Judaísmo Contemporáneo, Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén. p. 159.
^See also Margalit Bejarano, La Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba: La memoria y la historia, (Jerusalem: Abraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Judaism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1996)
^Wertz, Daniel; Oh, JJ; Kim, Insung (August 2016). Issue Brief: DPRK Diplomatic Relations(PDF). The National Committee on North Korea. p. 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
^Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History, W W Norton & Company, New York, 1997, p 394
Adams, Gordon. "Cuba and Africa: The International Politics of the Liberation Struggle: A Documentary Essay" Latin American Perspectives (1981) 8#1 pp:108-125.
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Bain, Mervyn J. Soviet-Cuban Relations, 1985 to 1991: Changing Perceptions in Moscow and Havana (2007)
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Harmer, Tanya. "Two, Three, Many Revolutions? Cuba and the Prospects for Revolutionary Change in Latin America, 1967–1975." Journal of Latin American Studies 45.1 (2013): 61–89.
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Krull, Catherine. ed. Cuba in a Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism, and Transnationalism (2014) onlineArchived 2019-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
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Pérez-Stable, Marifeli. The United States and Cuba: Intimate Enemies (2011) recent history onlineArchived 2019-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
Smith, Robert F. The United States and Cuba: Business and Diplomacy, 1917-1960 (1960) onlineArchived 2019-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
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