The goal has always been to oust from power political leaders who operate independently of the Pentagon and the CIA and replace them with local stooges who obey the orders of the U.S. national-security establishment, oftentimes on payment of large sums of cash in the form of "foreign aid."

In fact, Russia, which was the principal member of the Soviet Union, was used as the principal justification for many of the early regime-change operations. 

In 1953, for example, the CIA regime-changed the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, because the CIA perceived that he was leaning toward Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union. That was considered verboten by U.S. officials. The CIA engineered a coup that succeeded in ousting Mosaddegh from power and replacing him with the unelected Shah of Iran, one of the most brutal U.S.-supported tyrants in the world. 

The following year, the CIA regime-changed the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, because he established friendly relations with Russia and the rest of the communist world. By this time, the CIA had adopted assassination as a regime-change tool. Fortunately for Arbenz, he was able to escape the country before the CIA could assassinate him. The CIA replaced him with a favorite Guatemalan general, who, not surprisingly, turned out to be one of the world's most brutal U.S.-supported tyrants.

From 1961-1963, the CIA repeatedly attempted to regime-change Cuba by repeatedly trying to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The CIA also invaded Cuba with a proxy army of U.S.-trained Cuban exiles. The Pentagon also continuously pressured President Kennedy to order a full-scale invasion of Cuba for the purpose of regime change. 

The reason for all this regime-change activity against Cuba? Castro had established friendly relations with Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union.