THE FRANCO REGIME'S INFLUENCE ON CUBA 1959-75

Abstract

During the Cold War, due to Spain's involvement in the Western Bloc Franco had to adopt a pro-American policy and maintain an Executive Agreement from 1953 with the US to justify and legitimise his regime at home and abroad. However, Franco's policy towards Latin America in the 1950s was not based on anti-Communism but on countering the Anglo-Saxon sphere of influence through Catholicism and the ideology of 'Hispanidad'. As for Cuba, following the 1959 Revolution led by Castro, the Franco regime maintained a diplomatic relationship in spite of the difference in ideologies. Thanks to Spain's economic development in the 1960s, Franco's regime intended to gradually modify the disadvantageous Agreement and tried to extend its influence in Latin America. Trade with Cuba started to expand in the 1960s as economic necessity coincided with the rise of the technocrats in the Franco regime. Spain abandoned the mere display of the slogan 'Hispanidad' and started to attach more importance to economic relations. The US, meanwhile, could not press Spain harder to halt trade with Cuba because of its need to negotiate the Agreement, and so Spain started to undertake economic cooperation with Cuba in the 1970s. In other words, Spanish-Cuban relations developed through a constant balancing with the US-Spanish relationship and under the effects of Spain's changing domestic policies and situation.