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Updated August 2008
Introduction
Fidel Castro spearheaded a revolution that was successful in removing President Fulgencio Batista from power in 1958. Relations between Washington and Havana deteriorated rapidly soon thereafter, and within a few years the United States broke diplomatic relations (January 1961), was influential in having Cuba thrown out of the Organization of American States (January 1962), and imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba (February 1962). Of course, the events did not take place without cause. In 1961, Castro had shed his pretensions of being an “internationalist” and admitted to being a Communist. His government had acted to nationalize many foreign companies and their properties, and had started to provide support to insurrections and “freedom fighters” in Latin America and Africa. Tensions between the United States and Cuba peaked during the October 1962 missile crisis, but have since settled at a lower, albeit still high, level. Low level diplomatic relations were resumed in 1977 when the United States and Cuba opened “interest sections” in Havana and New York, respectively.
As a counterweight to U.S. power, the Cuban government entered into a series of agreements with the Soviet Union that led the two countries to establish close economic and political ties, including military and defense arrangements. Over the years, Cuba became the largest recipient of Soviet foreign assistance: as of 2007, Cuba’s debt to Russia was estimated to be in excess of $22 billion (a debt that is not being serviced). Relations between Cuba and Russia became strained after the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the cessation of all assistance from that country and, subsequently, Russia. As of August 2008, there are attempts from both sides to mend ties. An attempt may be underway to form an alliance between Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia to counterweigh U.S. influence in Latin America.
The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Cuba in 2003 due to its arrest of 70 dissidents and the killing of three persons who were attempting to escape to the United States. These sanctions were suspended in 2005 as a result of heavy Spanish lobbying and then dropped on 20 June 2008, as part of the EU’s attempt to bolster its relations with the new Raul Castro government.
Under Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. Massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade and increase its military capabilities, which in turn were used to send military units abroad. With the help of the Soviet Union, Castro spent the equivalent of millions of dollars in exporting revolutions, most visibly in Angola, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. Cuba's support for these guerrilla movements, its Marxist-Leninist government, and its alignment with the USSR led to its further isolation in the hemisphere.
In 1990, Cuba's Air Force, with about 150 Soviet-supplied fighters, including advanced MiG-23 Floggers and MiG-29 Fulcrums, was probably the best equipped in Latin America. In 1994, Cuba's armed forces were estimated to have 235,000 active duty personnel. Cuban military power has been sharply reduced since then due to the loss of Soviet subsidies. By 1999, the Revolutionary Armed Forces numbered about 60,000 regular troops. In 2005, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London estimated that Cuba had approximately 46,000 active troops, 39,000 reservists, and a militia of at least 1 million trained to take up arms were a U.S. invasion to take place
In June 2008, the Cuba Eastern Army carried out a six-day long exercise called “Moncada 2008” (named after Guillermon Moncada, a hero of the War of Independence), in which regular and reserve units from the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Territorial Troops Militias, and the Production and Defense brigades took part. The exercise comprised the territories from Camaguey to Guantanamo in eastern Cuba. Cuban sources claim that it was highly successful because it proved “the region's invulnerability [if] faced with an eventual military attack.” Moncada 2008 supposedly was a prelude to a subsequent, larger military exercise called “Bastion 2008,” which will cover Cuba’s entire national territory.
As of August 2008, there is much uncertainty about Cuba’s future course. This uncertainty began in August 2006, when Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul Castro while he battled illness. However, the change of power was made permanent in February 2008 when Castro announced that he would not accept another term as president, which led to Cuba’s Parliament electing Raul Castro as the new president on 24 February 2008. It is unclear how much influence Fidel Castro continues to have over policy making in Cuba and thus how much real power Raul Castro possesses. This difficulty probably will not be settled until Fidel Castro dies or becomes too infirm to have a role in governance.
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Nuclear
Cuba does not possess nuclear weapons, and there are no credible reports of Cuban efforts to acquire these weapons. In 2002, Havana acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), ratified the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), and deposited an Additional Protocol with the IAEA.
Biological
While both public and private persons have with some frequency alleged that Cuba has supported a secret biological warfare (BW) program, no convincing proof of the existence of such a program has been presented. Cuba signed the Biological and Toxin Convention (BWC) in 1972 and ratified it in 1976.
Since approximately 1981, Castro has been instrumental in Cuba acquiring a powerful biotechnology capability which is possibly the most advanced among developing countries. Certainly, Cuba’s biotechnological and medical industries are the largest and most sophisticated in Latin America as demonstrated by its large-scale production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. This capability is being used to develop and produce products for exports and the income from these exports might be larger than all other income-generating endeavors with the exception of sugar and tourism.
See Cuba Biological Weapons Profile
Chemical
Cuba has never been known to possess chemical weapons; it signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993 and ratified it in 1997.
Missile
Cuba is not suspected of having acquired or produced long-range ballistic missiles.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
