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Cuba 's once-ambitious foreign policy has been scaled back and redirected as a result of economic hardship and the end of the Cold War . However, with the support and funding by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela , "advancing the cause of socialism" in Latin America has regained vigor. Now this trend appears to include Evo Morales , leader of Coca growers, recently elected president of Bolivia . Cuba aims to find new sources of trade, aid, and foreign investment, and to promote opposition to U.S. policy, especially the Trade Embargo and the 1996 Libertad Act . Cuba has relations with over 160 countries and has civilian assistance workers -- principally medical -- in more than 20 nations. This is commonly believed to be a significant source of income for the Cuban government (e.g., exchanged for oil from Venezuela), and thus promoted officially even though occasionally some defect e.g., [http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/story.php?id=192513 . CUBAN INTERVENTION ABROAD: 1959 - EARLY 1990S Aided by a massive buildup of Soviet advisors, military personnel, and advanced weaponry during the Cold War, Cuba became a staunch ally of the USSR during Castro's rule, modeling its political structure after that of the CPSU . Due to this huge amount of support, Cuba became a major sponsor of Marxist "wars of national liberation" not only in Latin America, but worldwide. Latin America Cuba's support extended to groups such as the URNG of Guatemala , the FMLN of El Salvador , the FSLN of Nicaragua , and ELN and FARC rebels in Colombia. Cuba supported the Sandinista leadership of Nicaragua and the New Jewel Movement government of Grenada . Following the aforementioned countries' successful revolutions in 1979, Fidel Castro is known to have boasted, "Now there are three of us." Guerrilla groups supported by Cuba became quite active in the '70s and '80s, particularly in Central America , with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua perhaps becoming the most unstable countries as Cuba assisted Marxist rebel coalitions dissatisfied with their respective governments. Black Panthers In the '60s and '70s, 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 after they had been convicted of crimes in the U.S. Palestinians Cuba has also lent support to Palestinian Nationalist groups against Israel . Fidel Castro claims Israel practices " Zionist Fascism." Cuba has also lent support to the prominent Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the lesser-known Marxist-Leninist Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (PFLP) both received training from Cuba's General Intelligence Directorate, as well as financial and diplomatic support from the Cuban government. Irish Republicans The Irish Republican political party, Sinn Fein (linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army ) is also known to have close political links to the Cuban government. In the past Fidel Castro has expressed support for the Irish Republican cause of a United Ireland . Africa In Sub-Saharan Africa Cuba sent troops along with the Soviet Union to aid the FRELIMO and MPLA dictatorships in Mozambique and Angola , respectively, while they were fighting U.S. and South Africa n-backed insurgent groups RENAMO (supported by Rhodesia as well) and UNITA . He also aided the Communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia during its conflict with Somalia . Fidel Castro has a good personal relationship with former South Africa n president Nelson Mandela that arises out of Cuba's support for Mandela's African National Congress organization in the '70s and '80s. HUMANITARIAN AID 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. POST-COLD WAR FOREIGN RELATIONS In the post-Cold War environment, guerrilla warfare in Latin America has largely subsided, and the region has established democratic institutions, though countries such as Peru and Colombia were still undergoing internal wars against prolonged insurgencies, while several others also suffered from severe economic strife. Cuba continued to provide assistance, of a more political than an outright military or economic nature, to some of the region's revolutionary groups, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of peace in most of the developing Western Hemisphere , Cuba is not the influential Latin American power it once was. While it is commonly said that Cuba no longer exerts a revolutionary influence on the region, in reality the situation is ambiguous at best {Link without Title} . Cuba today works with a growing bloc of Latin American politicians opposed to the " Washington Consensus ," the American attitude that Free Trade , open markets, and Privatization will lift poor third world countries out of economic stagnation. Castro has condemned Neoliberalism as a destructive force in the developing world. Cuba has continued in its support of destabilization efforts notably with this alliance with the militarily powerful President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela , and with its support of the President of the Bolivian Coca growers union of Evo Morales . Currently, Cuba has diplomatically friendly relationships with Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela , Lula Da Silva of Brazil , and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina , with Chavez as perhaps his staunchest ally in the post-Soviet era. Cuba has sent thousands of teachers and medical personnel to Venezuela to assist Chavez's Socialist and populist-oriented economic programs. Chavez, 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 {Link without Title} . CUBAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS Because of Cuba's Marxist-Leninist government, the power of the Cuban-American Lobby , especially in Florida , and Cuba's support for Marxist-Leninist groups around the world, the relations between Cuba and the United States have long been very poor. Under President John F. Kennedy , the CIA launched the failed Bay Of Pigs Invasion in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro . The CIA also embarked on a number of failed baroque assassination attempts. As a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 the United States promised to not invade Cuba, but continued to employ strict economic sanctions. American diplomatic representation in Cuba is handled by the US Interests Section in Havana ,which is housed by the Embassy of Switzerland . Cuba has an Interests Section in Washington D.C . Both sides handle Visa processing, consular issues and facilitate limited contact between the two governments. Despite the end of the Cold War and the normalization of American relations with such countries as the People's Republic Of China and Vietnam , the U.S. still has a strong policy against trade with Cuba and trade is limited to cash purchases of food and medicine. This includes travel restrictions and laws against American companies operating there. These measures were further strengthened by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 which attempted to punish any foreign companies operating in Cuba, especially those using expropriated US assets. The US continues to operate a naval Base at Guantanamo Bay . It is leased to the US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease. The US pays Cuba annually for its lease, but Cuba does not cash the checks. According to the CIA 's Factbook, Cuba's territorial waters and air space serve as transshipment zone for Cocaine bound for the US and Europe . Cuba is listed by the U.S. as one of the " Outposts Of Tyranny " by the Bush Administration . CUBAN-CANADIAN RELATIONS Perhaps mostly because of the restrictions the being particularly aggravating. In 1996 a Private Member's Bill was introduced, but not made law, in the Canadian Parliament ; this law called the Godfrey-Milliken Bill was in response to the extra-territoriality of the aforementioned Act. Canada also protests US preclearance customs agents in Canadian airports who try to catch American citizens travelling to Cuba in defiance of US law. Former Prime Minister , the late Pierre Trudeau , and especially his ex-wife Margaret Trudeau were personal friends of Castro. In fact Castro proceeded directly to the Notre Dame in Montreal to pay his last respects to his old friend. Castro was among Pierre Trudeau's pallbearers at His Funeral . SEE ALSO Cocktail Wars EXTERNAL LINKS
Representations of other countries in Cuba
Cuban represntations to other countries |
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