ABSTRACT
The United States was the model for all three Cuban armed services, and it provided the vast majority of their weapons, tactics, ships, vehicles, aircraft, external training opportunities, and doctrine. With the responsibility of these new roles, and therefore with increasing cooperation with other US agencies such as the US Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and others also involved in anti-drugs and anti-illegal migration activities, the Department of Defense found its perception of Cuba changing quickly. Both Cuba and the United States likewise wish to see a stable and prosperous Caribbean Basin for the development of tourism, mutual cooperation efforts of all kinds including the security field, and, perhaps most dramatically, natural disaster preparation and relief. An initially reluctant US military establishment, used to the “high policy” issues of traditional national defense and the Cold War, was wary of having such roles increase unduly and threaten historic prestige and importance.
