Cuban foreign policy during the
Cold War emphasized providing direct military assistance to friendly governments and resistance movements worldwide.[1] This policy was justified directly by the
Marxist concept of
proletarian internationalism and was first articulated by Cuban leader
Fidel Castro at the
Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America in 1966.[2] However, as an informal policy it had been adopted as early as 1959, shortly after the
Cuban Revolution.[2] It formed the basis for a number of Cuban military initiatives in
Africa and
Latin America, often carried out in direct conjunction with the
Soviet Union and
Warsaw Pact member states which provided advisory or logistical support.[3] These operations were often planned by the Cuban general staff through an overseas headquarters known as an internationalist mission.[1]
Military internationalism formed the crux of Cuba's foreign and military policy for almost three decades, and was subordinate only to domestic defense needs.[2] Its support for resistance movements in
Central America contributed to Cuba's diplomatic isolation in that region and was instrumental in triggering its suspension from the
Organization of American States.[2] Internationalist operations ranged from varying degrees of covert activity and espionage to the open commitment of combat troops on a large scale.[2] The Cuban military presence in Africa was especially notable, with up to 50,000 troops
being deployed to Angola alone.[4]
Cuban forces in Africa were mainly black and
mulatto.[5] Castro justified the use of the armed forces on the African continent as a result of the debt Cuba owed Africa due to its participation in the
Atlantic slave trade and the contributions patriotic black Cubans had made to the
Cuban War of Independence.[6] Internationalist missions were perceived by the Cuban government as one means of combating the
global influence of the United States by proxy, and Cuba's opponents during these efforts were often decried as American pawns.[7] Likewise, the US government and its allies perceived the
Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) as a Soviet proxy, and the use of internationalist missions as a means to indirectly increase Soviet military influence worldwide.[8] There were also more practical reasons for deploying Cuban troops abroad, such as giving the relatively inexperienced armed forces combat experience across a wide range of theaters.[6]
By the mid 1980s, a quarter of Cuba's total military strength was committed to its internationalist missions, fighting with socialist governments or factions in various civil conflicts.[8] At least 200,000 Cuban citizens had served overseas with the FAR in a number of capacities.[6] Military internationalism ended with the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, which curtailed much-needed Soviet logistical and
financial support needed to sustain Cuba's foreign expeditions.[6] The FAR terminated all its major overseas commitments between September 1989 and May 1991.[9]
Origin
Following the success of the Cuban Revolution, the
26th of July Movement assumed power in Havana and began revising the country's foreign policy.[2] Many of its leading members, including
Fidel Castro, believed that Cuba held a special place in the vanguard of international revolutionary movements and began pursuing the active support of revolutionaries in other countries.[2] Castro's interest in revolutionary causes extended beyond Cuba's shores, as he had previously participated in the 1948
Bogotazo riots and was sympathetic towards anti-government forces in the
Dominican Republic.[2] Support for revolutions abroad thus became an integral part of the radical new Cuban regime's policies, long before it embraced socialism or diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.[2] Approximately 1,000 Cubans fought in
Spain in the 1936–39
Spanish Civil War (nearly all of them in the Communist ranks of the
International Brigades).[10]
On April 24, 1959, about 80 militants, including a number of Cuban revolutionaries, landed in
Panama during a short-lived attempt to overthrow that country's government.[2] The expedition failed and they were arrested after a skirmish with the Panamanian National Guard.[11] Castro held the expedition had been carried out without his foreknowledge and denied all involvement.[2] This led to the establishment of the so-called "Panama precedent", by which the Cuban government agreed that its support for revolution would not supersede relations with other states that were otherwise friendly (in this case, Panama).[2] However, Castro reserved the right to intervene in any country plagued by tyranny or despotism.[2]
The FAR officially recognizes 5 military interventions of Cuba: in Algeria, Syria, Congo, Angola, and Ethiopia.[12] However other sources expand the list including Nicaragua. This list only includes the sending of Cuban military personnel as regular forces recognized as
belligerents between the States. Military invasions are added separately for coup purposes.
1963: The
Sand War in
Algeria was the first intervention of Cuban armed forces in foreign territory. Cuba sent 686 men, a battalion of 22 tanks, artillery and mortar groups, and a battery of anti-tank guns.
1973–1974: During the War of Attrition (November 1973–May 1974) that followed the
Yom Kippur War (October 1973),
Syria requested military aid from Cuba and the Cuban government sent two tank brigades that participated in combat operations against the Israeli army.[13][14]
1975–1991: Regular Cuban forces entered
Angola in a mission called
Operación Carlota (Operation Carlota) to support the communist government and participate in the
Angolan Civil War and the
South African Border War. Cuban troops, supported by Soviet logistics and using sophisticated Soviet weapons, defeated
South Africa's armed forces in conventional warfare.[15] Cuban troops also defeated the
FNLA and
UNITA armies and established
MPLA control over most of Angola.[16] Cuban troops allegedly committed atrocities in Angola, including rape,[17] looting, and napalming of civilians with Russian-made rockets.[18]
1977–1978: During the
Ogaden War, 16,000 Cuban troops—armed and transported by Moscow—entered into
Ethiopia to support the Ethiopian socialist government and help defeat an invasion force of Somalians.[20] In retaliation to the Somali invasion, Cuban-Ethiopian forces, directed by Soviet generals Grigory Grigoryevich Varisov and
Vasily Ivanovich Petrov,[21] launched a counter-attack in early February 1978, accompanied by a second attack that the Somalis did not expect. A column of Ethiopian and Cuban troops crossed northeast into the highlands between Jijiga and the border with Somalia, bypassing the
SNA-
WSLF force defending the Marda Pass.
Mil Mi-6 helicopters helilifted Cuban
BMD-1 and
ASU-57 armored vehicles behind enemy lines. The attackers were thus able to assault from two directions in a "pincer" action, allowing the re-capture of Jijiga in only two days while killing 3,000 defenders.[22] The Somali defense collapsed and every major Somali-occupied town was recaptured in the following weeks. The last significant Somali unit left Ethiopia on 15 March 1978, marking the end of the war. The Somali army, which had taken a severe beating from Cuban artillery and aerial assaults,[23] was destroyed as a fighting force. A large Cuban contingent remained in Ethiopia after the war to protect the socialist government.[24] Assisted by Soviet advisors, the Cuban contingent launched a second offensive in December 1979 directed at the population's means of survival, including the poisoning and destruction of wells and the killing of cattle herds.[25] The execution of civilians and refugees, and rape of women by the Ethiopian and Cuban troops was prevalent throughout the war.[24][25]
1979–1990: In the
Sandinista Revolution in
Nicaragua, Cuba sent military personnel who took control of the Nicaraguan military security and intelligence services.[26] Some Cuban personnel were accused of abuses, including an incident where a Cuban adviser killed two civilians in
Nueva Guinea after one spilled beer on his uniform.[27]
Failed invasions
1959: Failed expedition to
Panama in order to start a revolutionary movement in the country. They were arrested after a skirmish with the Panamanian National Guard.[28]
1959: Failed expedition to the
Dominican Republic to overthrow the government in alliance with Dominican exiles.[29][30] The ten Cubans and 200 Dominican exiles were massacred just hours after having disembarked.[31]
1963 and 1967: Failed expeditions to
Venezuela in order to overthrow the government together with Venezuelan exiles, including the
Machurucuto raid. The Venezuelan government repelled the invasion by destroying Cuban artillery installed in Venezuelan islands.[32]
^
abcdefghijklmDomínguez, Jorge (1989). To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 114–120, 168–169.
ISBN978-0674893252.
^Liebenberg, Ian; Risquet, Jorge; Shubin, Vladimir (1997). A Far-Away War: Angola, 1975–1989. Stellenbosch: Sun Media Press. p. 44, 64–68.
ISBN978-1-920689-72-8.
^
abcdKlepak, Hal (2006). Cuba's Military 1990–2005: Revolutionary Soldiers During Counter-Revolutionary Times. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan. pp. 45–48.
ISBN978-1403972026.
^Hatzky, Christine (2015). Cubans in Angola: South-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976–1991. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 166–168.
ISBN978-0299301040.
^
abDuignan, Peter; Gann, L.H (2008). Communism in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Reappraisal. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press. p. 19-23.
ISBN978-0817937126.