Cold War in the Caribbean

After the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and Cuba’s alignment with the Soviet Union, the Caribbean became a persistent arena of Cold War competition. Moscow and Havana developed political, military and intelligence relationships in the region, while the United States responded through diplomacy, aid, covert action and security partnerships intended to contain further revolutionary change.

Crises in Grenada, Nicaragua and Central America made the greater Caribbean a strategic theatre through the 1980s. The regional contest cannot be reduced to superpower policy alone: local debates over development, sovereignty, authoritarianism, revolution and economic dependence shaped the ways Caribbean governments and movements used or resisted external support.