ABSTRACT
Since the end of the 1950s, Latin America has constituted a distinct entity, not simply a segment of the Third World in the eyes of the Soviet elite. Nevertheless, Moscow’s broad political perspectives with respect to the Third World affect the policy that it devises toward Latin America. This chapter analyzes Soviet policy toward the region within the framework of the USSR’s overall political approach toward the Third World. It focuses on the interrelationship in three major areas: the geopolitical priority that Moscow attaches to the region, the goals that Soviet leaders seek to achieve there, and the method and means whereby they propose to pursue these objectives. The Third World as a whole has occupied a major place in the Soviet perspective of global affairs since the 1950s. Latin America first attracted serious Soviet attention at the end of the 1950s.
