Cuban Foreign Policy - What Is the Picture?

US foreign policy was greatly influenced by the desire to contain overly left wing and above all, communist regimes abroad. So Cuba's perceived as a country that has reasonable relations with the US even though it's not a model democratic country. And so the US seems to have a fairly close relationship with Cuba. By the 50s, you have American organized crime. The mafia are very involved in Cuba, so you have that connection.