 By 1969 he established warm relations with the Soviet bloc, tightening relations with Cuba and Fidel Castro as well as Romania and Nicolae Ceaușescu and undertaking major purchases of Soviet military hardware.Velasco was greatly influenced by socialist Yugoslavia's policies of self-management and worked with Yugoslav economist Edvard Kardelj to help implement similar policies in Peru.Yugoslavia aided the Junta financially and diplomatically, and the two nations remained close allies.