Impact of foreign policy on the maintenance of power Communist Cuba

List successful foreign policy endeavours that consolidated power

• Bay of Pigs invasion

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• Third World Revolution

• Export of revolution

Describe the Bay of Pigs invasion

The defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion April 1961

• 1,400 CIA-backed Cuban exiles were overwhelmed by 20,000 FAR troops

• portrayed as a “David vs Goliath” triumph

• allowed Castro to declare Cuba a socialist state and align openly with the USSR, presenting himself as the defender of Cuban sovereignty.

Describe the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962

• Castro gained prestige at home despite Moscow’s withdrawal of missiles.

• Though sidelined in negotiations, he framed Cuba’s survival as proof that the revolution had forced the US to treat Cuba as an equal.

Describe the Third World revolution

Castro positioned Cuba as a leader of Third World revolution:

Angola (1975–91)

• Cuba sent an estimated 36,000–50,000 troops at the peak of operations

• supported the Marxist MPLA against South African and US-backed forces.

• Cuban forces were decisive in battles such as Cuito Cuanavale (1987–88), which historians argue pressured South Africa toward Namibian independence.

Ethiopia (1977–78)

• Cuba airlifted and deployed ~17,000 troops to defend Mengistu’s Marxist regime against Somali invasion during the Ogaden War

• Cuban military success reinforced Castro’s global revolutionary credibility

Describe the export of revolution

In Latin America, Castro’s export of revolution inspired guerrilla groups:

• Support for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua helped overthrow Somoza in 1979

  • after which Cuba trained thousands of cadres.

• Chile (1970–73), Castro personally visited and supported Salvador Allende’s socialist government

  • after the Pinochet coup, Cuba sheltered exiles and denounced US intervention.

Smaller-scale aid went to guerrillas in Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Bolivia (where Che Guevara died in 1967), though not always successful.

How did these successful policies affect Cuba socially?

• boosted domestic legitimacy

• Cubans saw themselves not only resisting US imperialism but also shaping global struggles

• reinforced Castro’s image as leader of the oppressed.

List failures of foreign policy that resulted in a weakening of power

• failed revolutionary exports

• cost of internationalism

• economic dependence on the USSR

• Special Period

Describe the failed revolutionary exports

• Cuba’s revolutionary exports often failed

• guerrilla movements in Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela were crushed

• Che Guevara’s death in Bolivia (1967) exposed the limits of foco theory (small guerrilla groups sparking mass revolt).

Describe the cost of internationalism

• Internationalism was costly

• by the late 1980s, Cuba had deployed over 300,000 troops and advisors abroad cumulatively

  • draining resources from the domestic economy.

Describe Cuba’s economic dependence on the USSR

• Cuba became economically dependent on the USSR

• by the 1980s, Soviet subsidies reached $4–5 billion annually

• sugar purchased at prices 4–5 times above market value

  => While this ensured stability, it tied Cuba’s survival to Moscow.

Describe the Special Period

Cause

The collapse of the USSR in 1991

Significance

• GDP fell by 35% (1989–93)

• calorie intake dropped by 40%

• power outages lasted up to 16 hours a day.

• Castro’s legitimacy was damaged.

Response

• Castro clung to power through rationing, limited reforms (allowing tourism and remittances), and repression

What was the overall impact of Cuba’s foreign policy

• In the 1960s–70s, foreign policy successes in Africa and Latin America projected Cuba as a revolutionary beacon and reinforced Castro’s domestic authority.

• However, dependency on the USSR created vulnerabilities: while foreign policy bolstered Castro’s prestige in the short term, the post-1991 collapse exposed the fragility of Cuba’s system, showing that his survival ultimately rested more on resilience and repression than global revolution.