ABSTRACT
In the context of a discussion of US naval operations in the world’s major maritime areas, the US Navy’s activities in the Caribbean basin are unique. In voyaging to the Caribbean, the Soviets had to steam southward through the Atlantic where they could easily be intercepted by US naval ships from a string of East Coast naval bases ranging from Newport, Rhode Island, southward to Mayport, Florida. Cienfuegos, Cuba, is a logical extension of this network and is essential if the Soviets are to establish a standing force in the Caribbean. The Soviets have drastically increased their support for such organizations in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Soviets perceived that several factors in the Caribbean basin, including the British withdrawal, US neglect, President Jimmy Carter’s disastrous human-rights policy, poor economic conditions, and the caliber of insurgent forces, made the area ripe for revolution.
