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Cuban military internationalism

For the history of foreign operations conducted by Cuba, see Foreign interventions by Cuba.
Cuban artillerymen in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War, 1977.

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]

  1. ^ a b Abreu, José (September 5, 2011). "El internacionalismo militar cubano en la historiografía de la isla" (in Spanish). Holguín: Radio Angulo. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e Domínguez, Jorge (1989). To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 114–120, 168–169. ISBN 978-0674893252.
  3. ^ "La intervención militar cubana: manifestación del poder militar soviético en países del tercer mundo (1960–1993)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  4. ^ Liebenberg, Ian; Risquet, Jorge; Shubin, Vladimir (1997). A Far-Away War: Angola, 1975–1989. Stellenbosch: Sun Media Press. p. 44, 64–68. ISBN 978-1-920689-72-8.
  5. ^ Eckstein, Susan (1994). Back from the Future: Cuba Under Castro. Princeton University Press. p. 187.
  6. ^ a b c d Klepak, Hal (2006). Cuba's Military 1990–2005: Revolutionary Soldiers During Counter-Revolutionary Times. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan. pp. 45–48. ISBN 978-1403972026.
  7. ^ Hatzky, Christine (2015). Cubans in Angola: South-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976–1991. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 166–168. ISBN 978-0299301040.
  8. ^ a b Duignan, Peter; Gann, L.H (2008). Communism in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Reappraisal. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press. p. 19-23. ISBN 978-0817937126.
  9. ^ Halperin, Maurice (1994). Return to Havana: The Decline of Cuban Society Under Castro. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 109–120. ISBN 0-8265-1250-X.
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