ABSTRACT
As Fidel Castro’s regime approached its twenty-eighth year in power, foreign policy remained the most successful aspect of the revolution. For years Castro had complained that Western European heads of state refused to visit Cuba because they abided by US foreign policy dictates. As the Cuban economic performance continues to falter and improvements in the domestic situation—even if the austerity measures are effectively applied and yield positive results—can only be expected in the long run, Cuba’s foreign policy may have to legitimize the goals of the Revolution. Cuban foreign policy has usually conducted bold activities with the purpose of humiliating or embarrassing the United States when the perceived reaction of the United States to a Cuban initiative is judged low. In the Cuban case, however, a revolutionary foreign policy provides leverage in the dependency relationship with the Soviet Union; an outlet for unemployment by exporting human services, both military and civilian.
