ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Cuban foreign policy, from several perspectives. During the first - or initial - stage, the main priority of the Cuban government was to stabilize, and consolidate, its Revolution. The Soviets had their doubts about Castro's reliability as an ally: not only was Cuba involved in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) but it had also courted the friendship of the Chinese in the early-to-mid-1960s. The Cubans had their doubts as well, particularly regarding the degree of Soviet commitment to defend the Revolution. Cuban involvement in Africa dates back to this initial period. Cuba's foreign policy entered its second stage in 1968, when the Soviets were able to pressure Cuba, successfully, to support the Moscow line regarding the appropriate road to revolution in Latin America, and when Castro agreed, albeit reluctantly, to endorse the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
