ABSTRACT
Latin America was one of the areas of the globe least influenced by "the Red October", but it began to feel something new and significant in its social and political consciousness after 1917. Russian relations with every Latin American country will be affected by changes in the former USSR, A good example is Mexico. Even after the end of the Cold War in 1989, conflict over the Russian role in Latin America was affected by the detente policies boldly pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev and George Bush, and Boris Yeltsin and Bush. An ideological rift between the Soviet-Russian leadership and certain leftist forces in Latin America could be traced in comandante Fidel Castro's initially cautious, then openly negative attitude toward perestroika at its very beginning. Trade and economic relations with Cuba, especially the existence of the Russian radioelectronic center there, will certainly be difficult issues for the US government because of the pressures of the Cuban-American lobby.
