Foreign relations of Cuba

Summary

Cuba's foreign policy has been highly dynamic depending on world events throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Cuban foreign policy is impacted by the various spheres of influence and economic development of neighboring countries. During the 1980s, its geopolitical alignment with the Soviet Union isolated Cuba on the international stage. The fall of the Soviet Union, end of the Cold War, and emergence of Russia as a key trading partner led to limited regional relations. Cuba began to establish bilateral relations with South American countries during the late-1990s, mainly with Venezuela and Bolivia. Cuba has a cold relationship with the United States, with a variety of bilateral issues due to historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. It has a similarly strained relationship with the European Union (EU) due to Cuba's human rights policies. Since the late-2010s, Cuba has developed closer ties to Venezuela, Russia, and China.