Military of Cuba

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Military of Cuba
Military manpower
Military age	17 years
Availability	males age 15-49: 3,134,622 females age 15-49: 3,022,063 (2004 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 15-49: 1,929,370 females age 15-49: 1,888,498 (2004 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 83,992 females: 91,901 (2004 est.)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	$572.3 million (2003)
Percent of GDP	roughly 1.8% (2003)
Moscow, for decades the key military supporter and supplier of Cuba, cut off almost all military aid by 1993.

Under Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. From 1975 until the late 1980s, massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities and project power abroad. The tonnage of Soviet military deliveries to Cuba throughout most of the 1980s exceeded deliveries in any year since the military build-up during the 1962 missile crisis. In 1990, Cuba's air force, with about 150 Soviet-supplied fighters, including advanced MiG-23 Floggers and MiG-29 Fulcrums, was probably the best equipped in Latin America. Today most of the Air Force is grounded due to lack of fuel and spares. It is estimated that only 5 or 6 Mig-21,23,29s are still flying. In 1994, Cuba's armed forces were estimated to have 235,000 active duty personnel.

Almost all of the ships of the Navy have been decommissioned. Cuba has constructed rolling platforms with Russian SS-N-2 Styx missile batteries taken from its warships and placed them near beaches where hostile amphibious assaults may occur. Most patrol boats are non-operational due to lack of fuel and spares.

Cuban military power has been sharply reduced by the loss of Soviet subsidies. Today, the Revolutionary Armed Forces number about 60,000 regular troops. The country's two paramilitary organizations, the Territorial Militia Troops and the Youth Labor Army, have a reduced training capability. Cuba also adopted a "war of the people" strategy that highlights the defensive nature of its capabilities.

In 1989, the government instituted a purge of the armed forces and the Ministry of Interior, convicting Army Major General and Hero of The Republic of Cuba Arnaldo Ochoa, Ministry of Interior Colonel Antonio de la Guardia (Tony la Guardia), and Ministry of Interior Brigadier General Patricio de la Guardia on charges of corruption and drug trafficking. This judgment is known in Cuba as "Causa 1" (Cause 1). Ochoa and Antonio de la Guardia were executed. Following the executions, the Army was drastically downsized and the Ministry of Interior was moved under the informal control of Revolutionary Armed Forces chief General Raúl Castro (Fidel Castro's brother), and large numbers of army officers were moved into the Ministry of Interior.

The government has, however, maintained a large state security apparatus, under the Ministry of Interior, for the stated purpose of suppressing subversive activities within Cuba.