Redefining Cuban Foreign Policy: The Impact of the "Special Period" (Contemporary Cuba)

Against all odds, Cuba has adapted to the post-Soviet world and redefined itself by drastically realigning its international relationships. These essays from renowned scholars around the globe (including Cuba) analyze the strategy of the revolutionary government as it patched together a totally revamped foreign policy during the years known as the Special Period, from 1989 to the present. With the implosion of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s trading partners in the socialist bloc, who also provided the country with subsidies and solid political and military support, suddenly vanished. Almost overnight, however, the tiny country found new trading partners and diplomatic alliances. With a creative and ambitious foreign policy, Cuban socialism overcame formidable obstacles and survived the demise of the USSR and European socialism. This book establishes the context for the radical restructuring of the country’s international relations and looks at probable future developments. It focuses on specific case histories of key importance, in particular Havana’s relationship with the European Union, Latin America, Canada, Spain, Russia, Mexico, and the Caribbean, since the beginning of the Special Period and especially during the last decade. It also shows how Cuba’s response to internal events has negatively influenced the execution of its foreign policy and complicated its domestic environment. Table of Contents 6 List of Tables vii 8 Introduction 10 1. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Survival Strategy in Cuba’s New Foreign Policy 1 10 Background 32 2. Political Change in Cuba: The Domestic Context for Foreign Policy 23 32 3. Cuban Foreign Policy during the “Special Period”: Interests, Aims, Outcomes 49 58 4. Redefining Cuba’s International Economic Interests 72 81 Multilateral Relations 107 5. Cuba and the European Union: Chronicle of a Dead Agreement Foretold 98 107 6. Caribbean Convergence: Contemporary Cuba-CARICOM Relations 121 130 7. An Asset Not Fully Exploited or Not Fully Exploitable? Reflections on Cuba’s Relations with Latin America and Its Institutions 150 159 8. Cuba’s Challenges and Opportunities outside the Free Trade Area of the Americas 170 179 Bilateral Relations 200 9. Cuba, Canada, and Constructive Engagement: A Decade of Bilateral Relations 191 200 10. Gorbachev’s Legacy for Russian-Cuban Relations in the 1990s 212 221 11. Spanish-Cuban Relations, 1990–2003 233 242 12. Mexican-Cuban Relations: Between Interests and Principles 260 269 Cuban-U.S. Relations 289 13. Overcoming Asymmetry: Is a Normal U.S.-Cuban Relationship Possible? 280 289 14. Cuban-U.S. Relations, 1989–2002: A View from Havana 305 314 Conclusion 342 15. Defying the Odds: Five Conclusions about Cuban Foreign Policy 333 342 List of Contributors 345 354 Index 349 358 Establishes the context for the radical restructuring of Cuba's international relations. This book focuses on specific case histories of key importance, in particular Havana's relationship with the European Union, Latin America, Canada, Spain, Russia, Mexico, and the Caribbean, since the beginning of the Special Period