Cuba: Foreign Relations

Cuba's foreign relations since 1959 have been shaped primarily by its revolutionary government's confrontation with the United States and its Cold War-era alliance with the Soviet Union. Havana received extensive economic and military support from Moscow, joined the Soviet-led Council for Mutual Economic Assistance in 1972, and served as a base for Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere until the Soviet collapse in 1991 forced a sharp economic reorientation known on the island as the Special Period.

The United States imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Cuba in 1960 and severed diplomatic relations in 1961, restrictions that have remained largely in place for more than six decades despite periodic efforts at rapprochement. The most notable thaw came in 2015, when the two countries restored diplomatic relations and reopened embassies in Havana and Washington, though the underlying embargo was not lifted by Congress, and as of 2026 enforcement of individual sanctions has tightened significantly under the Trump administration.

As of 2026, beyond its relationship with Washington, Cuba has cultivated close ties with left-leaning governments in Latin America, notably Venezuela, which has supplied discounted oil in exchange for Cuban medical personnel and other technical assistance. Cuba also maintains diplomatic and trade relationships with China, Russia, and the European Union, and has used its medical missions abroad as a tool of international goodwill even as human rights organizations and Western governments have raised concerns about the labor conditions under which those missions operate.