This article offers a series of considerations concerning Cubas role in the post-Cold War regional and global contexts. The author analyzes the country 's diverse efforts to strengthen its foreign policy tozvards other Latín American nations, with the goal of delinking its relations with the región from the influence ofthe United States. Special emphasis is placed upon the relationship that Fidel Castro has built with Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez,as an alternative means of expanding Cuba 's margins of action ow an external level. Notwithstanding such efforts, the article concludes that the country 's possibilities for enhanríng its foreign relations continúes to be hampered by U.S. policy.