Russia and China Are Bulking Up in the U.S.’s Backyard

As supplies of crude from its old ally Venezuela dwindled last year, Cuba began turning out the lights in government offices and shuttering oil refineries. Then, Havana turned to an old friend for help: Russia. In early May the Kremlin sent a tanker full of fuel across the Atlantic as part of a deal to keep the communist island running for three months. It was the first such shipment Cuba had received in years from its former benefactor, but it wasn’t the only sign Russia has returned to a region it had all but abandoned after the Cold War. Moscow is building a satellite-tracking station in Managua and considering reopening Soviet-era military bases in the region, as well as expanding economic ties and doling out aid in countries across Central America and the Caribbean. President Vladimir Putin has even offered to restore the Capitol building in Havana, which bears a striking resemblance to the one in Washington.

“This could purely be a way of the Russians telling the gringos, ‘Be careful, we can come back to your backyard,’ ” says Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas at Austin, who estimates Russia’s fuel shipments to Cuba are worth more than $100 million. “Or it’s a long-term strategic commitment, and this is the first building block of a considerable investment in the region.”