Castro's+Foreign+Policies

Since Castro's rise to power, he has had a major impact regionally and globally. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/
 * Cuba and the World**
 * 1) Good relations throughout
 * 2) Especially with Latin America
 * 3) Vote into UN security council with largest percentage ever
 * 4) Attempts to normalise relations with US have not been returned


 * 1) Improved US-Cuba relations and prosperous economy increased it again—helped:
 * 2) Eleven thousand Cubans helped Ethiopia against Somalia invasion 1978
 * 3) Fifty thousand Cubans helped Angola against rebels supported by US etc.
 * 4) Cuban-Anglo army defeated South Africa at Cuito Cuanavale:
 * 5) Treaty of 1988 allowed independence of Namibia
 * 6) Cuba now engages in civil aid with 16000 Cuban:
 * 7) Doctors, teachers, construction engineers, agronomists, economists
 * 8) Serves 32 third world countries
 * 9) Includes free education in Cuba
 * 10) Þ Motive "International solidarity" and providing foreign currency
 * 11) Fees on ability to pay
 * 12) Some for free
 * 13) Foreign construction projects major income producers

Cuba sent much military aid to third world countries - helped Algerian independence Guerrilla groups in Zaire Portuguese African colonies Tanzania during 1960’s USSR defends Cuba in Missile Crisis, Cuba and sugar deals with the USSR**
 * Cuba and the Third World**
 * Cuba and the USSR
 * 1) Conflict with US now inevitable
 * 2) Closer ties with USSR
 * 3) As Russia’s deputy premier came in Jan 1960:
 * 4) Russia purchases sugar for first $425000 (Jan 60) then $1m
 * 5) Resume of diplomatic relations in May 1960.


 * Cuba and Latin America**
 * 1) Cuba and Latin American Guerrilla Movements
 * 2) During mid.60’s Cuban government made moves to export revolution
 * 3) Started guerrilla warfare against capitalist states, and supported groups
 * 4) Stopped as Ché Guevara was killed by Bolivian troops in Oct. 1967

Þ Increased Castro’s prestige and sparked radical reforms in economy and politics
 * Cuba and the US**
 * 1) US relations already tense after the show trials and confiscation of large farms
 * 2) Peaked in May 1960
 * 3) Cuban government asked major oil refineries to process soviet crude oil.
 * 4) Refineries owned by Texaco, Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell
 * 5) Soviet oil was cheaper that theirs
 * 6) The companies refused after urge from US government
 * 7) Þ Castro nationalised the refineries in June 1960
 * 8) Nationalisation of refineries sparked series of hostile actions by two governments
 * 9) President Eisenhower withdrew Cuban sugar quota
 * 10) Castro nationalised most American-owned properties
 * 11) President Eisenhower banned all exports to Cuba in October 1960
 * 12) Again, this sparked off another wave of nationalisation.
 * 13) CIA started to back exile groups for arms and training
 * 14) Set up a training camp for invasion force in Guatemala, summer 1960
 * 15) President Kennedy gave go-ahead for expeditionary force 3 month later
 * 16) Bay of Pigs started on April 15th 1961
 * 17) Poorly planned and executed
 * 18) Based on idea that people would rise to revolt once exiles landed
 * 19) The invasion failed
 * 1) Castro proclaimed allegiance with socialism 1 month after Bay of Pigs
 * 2) USSR pledged to defend Cuba — missile crisis of 1962
 * 3) Increased weapon delivery:
 * 4) Cuba now capable of delivering atomic weapons to most of America
 * 5) US said this to be offensive but USSR and Cuba argued that this was a deterrent and defensive
 * 6) Kennedy ordered quarantine of all offensive weapons to Cuba, 22.10.62
 * 7) Also demanded dismantling of missile sites
 * 8) Seemed as if he lost control of army, how were pressing for force
 * 9) Two superpowers reached compromise
 * 10) Russia to withdraw missiles from Cuba
 * 11) US to:
 * 12) Withdraw own weapons from Turkey
 * 13) Pledge not to invade Cuba
 * 14) However in secret US continued to support exile

�� In foreign policy, from the very onset, Castro's relations with the United States were strained. By 1960 the United States supported the overthrow of Fidel Castro, and in 1961 a U.S. organized and led force of exiles was defeated by Cuba in the Bay of Pigs victory which Fidel Castro proclaimed the "first defeat of American imperialism" in the western hemisphere. The United States ���retaliated imposing on Cuba an economic embargo in 1961. The conflict �escalated into the 962 missile crisis, bringing the world to the brink of war. ������ Castro also defined the need for a global foreign policy in order to escape the U.S. imposed isolation in the western hemisphere. For the first time, Cuba established ties with Africa and Asia. Moreover, Castro began to play a major role in representing the interests of the Third World in numerous forums. Cuban personnel (what Castro called "internationalism") were sent to a number of countries (Angola, Ethiopia, Algeria, Nicaragua, among others). ������� From 1961 Cuba developed a special relationship with the USSR. Fidel Castro played a critical role in linking the two countries and in obtaining unusually beneficial terms of trade from the Soviets, a tie which further contributed to the deterioration of Cuba's relations with the United States. By 1991 Cuba's special relations with the Soviets had ended, as the USSR disappeared, placing Cuba at its most difficult juncture since Fidel Castro seized power. By 1992, the prospects of the survival of the Cuban revolution seem rather dim. With little oil, a shortage of spare parts, raw materials and consumer goods, the population confronts ever more drastic austerity measures. And this is happening precisely as the demands for internal political liberalization have gained. Unquestionably, the greatest challenge that ever confronted Fidel Castro lays just ahead. ������� Fidel Castro will have a special place in this century because of his role in Cuban, Latin America, and Third World history. He represented a wave of revolutionary experiments, and tried to integrate a Cuban historical tradition with European revolutionary theory. He has made important contributions to revolutionary strategy and tactics, while elucidating a Third World perspective of world affairs. He, like his guerrilla fighters, have aged. The elan and magic of earlier heroism no longer touches those who have been born since 1959, as it did their parents. It is doubtful that Fidel Castro will relinquish power; if he does not, then it remains an open question whether he succeeded in creating the means by which the nation and the revolution will survive his death. ��� By: Nelson P. Vald�s (1993) ���� http://www.soc.duke.edu/~nvaldes/Cuba/fidel.htm
 * Foreign Policy:**