ABSTRACT
The Middle East has not been a high priority item on the Cuban foreign policy agenda. Castroism calls for change and anti-Americanism. The Cubans make a distinction between black Africa and Arab Africa, at least in terms of race. Havana explains support for black Africa as a matter of blood unity given the black extraction of many Cubans. Cuban policy in the Middle East centers on the following concerns: the Arab-Israeli conflict; Palestinian rights and desire for a homeland; the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and oil; and support for groups-forces espousing "anti-imperialism," whether they be governments, guerrillas, terrorists, or communist parties. Cuba's interest and involvement in the Middle East has grown continuously since 1959. The quality of Cuban-Soviet relations was strikingly different in the 1960s than in the 1970s. Cuba employs the rationale of proletarian internationalism to explain its involvement in the region.
