Washington, DC - The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XXIII, Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean.

This volume is part of a subseries of volumes of the Foreign Relations series that documents the foreign policy decision making of the administration of President Jimmy Carter. The nine compilations in this volume examine the Carter administration’s foreign policy toward fourteen Caribbean nations, and the Caribbean as a whole.

The volume documents the attempted coup in the Dominican Republic, attempts to normalize relations with Cuba, U.S.-Mexican natural gas negotiations, the opening of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the Soviet military presence in Cuba, the Mariel Sealift, and the Jonestown Massacre. The debate among U.S. policymakers about whether to promote a regional identity and culture for Caribbean nations and the intersection of Carter’s human rights agenda with autocratic rule in nations like Haiti also receives focus.