The USSR, Cuba, and the UN in the 1965 Dominican Crisis

Extract

“Through its actions in the Security Council . . . the USSR hindered the United States . . . and facilitated condemnation of US intervention in the entire world.”¹

On May 1, 1965, the Soviet government instructed its representative to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to demand the immediate consideration of “the US armed interference in the internal affairs of the Dominican Republic.”² The invasion in question began on April 28, and would become the largest mobilization of US troops to Latin America in the twentieth century.³ It was also unilateral; the Lyndon B. Johnson administration declined to so much as inform the Organization of American States (OAS) of its impending actions, much less consult with members. US officials attempted to retroactively legalize the intervention through the OAS and to multilateralize the occupation through the creation of an inter-American armed force. The Soviets argued that the US intervention violated both the UN and OAS charters and demanded the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Dominican territory.⁴