Foreign relations of Cuba
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.
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.
[9] Despite this Fidel Castro became an influential figurehead for leftist groups in the region, extending support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, most notably aiding the Sandinistas in overthrowing Somoza in Nicaragua in 1979.
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."
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.
[28][29] Cuban president 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.
[77] The Cuban government initially pledged to send one hundred and sixty five health workers to Sierra Leone to take part in combating the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.
[87] 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.
In 1996 Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy stated: "Canada shares the U.S. objectives of improving human rights standards and moving to more representative government in Cuba.
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.
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.
[103] The Cuban Revolution led to the deterioration of relations between the two countries, and diplomatic ties were broken on January 3, 1961, after the Eisenhower administration rejected a demand from Fidel Castro to reduce the number of US embassy personnel in Havana.
[109] 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.
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.
[111] As the economy of the Soviet Union fell into a decline which ultimately led to its collapse in 1991, the People's Republic of China has emerged as a new key partner for Cuba's foreign relations and the guardian of socialist countries around the world.
[115] 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…" [116] India provided Cuba with 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of rice in 1992 when Cuba was undergoing hardship.
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.
Both nations continue to strengthen the bilateral relations especially in the fields of higher education, agriculture, industry and science and technology and have also held talks for military cooperation.
Provisions in the subsequent 1898 Treaty of Paris gave Cuba independence while giving the Philippine Islands over to American control, which was gradually lessened until the country achieved full sovereignty on 4 July 1946.
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".
[162] 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,[163] and winning the proverbial hearts and minds in the Pacific.
[173] ACS • ALBA • AOSIS • CELAC • CTO • ECLAC • G33 • G77 • IAEA • ICAO • ICRM • IFAD • ILO • IMO • Interpol • IOC • ISO • ITU • LAES • NAM • OAS • OEI • OPANAL • OPCW • PAHO • Rio Group • UN • UNCTAD • UNESCO • UPU • WCO • WHO • WIPO • WMO Ties between the nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba have remained cordial over the course of the later half of the 20th century.
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.
[179] CARICOM and Canadian politicians[180] have jointly maintained that through the International inclusion of Cuba, a more positive change might indeed be brought about there (politically) as has been witnessed in the People's Republic of China.
The initiative is part of the Sandino commitment, which sees both countries coming together with the aim of offering free ophthalmology operations to an estimated 4.5 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean over a ten-year period.
[181] According to Denzil Douglas, the prime minister of 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 its resolution (AG/RES 2438), the General Assembly decided that: 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)[187] but most observers did not see it as a serious possibility while the Socialist government remained in power.
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.
