Cuba in Angola: Internationalism Under Debate

May 25, 1991, is recognized as the date on which Operation Carlota ended — the name given to Cuba’s military participation in the Angolan conflict for more than fifteen years. This is a controversial episode of contemporary history, currently contested above all by those who dismiss the Cuban Revolution’s foreign actions.

What really happened?

Initially, the presence of Cuban troops in that southern African country was conceived as a relatively small mission. The stated objective was to train the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), the armed wing of one of the indigenous movements that had confronted Portuguese colonialism. The Cubans would fight only occasionally.

However, an early clash between South African invaders and the Cuban instructors and their Angolan pupils resulted in some Cuban casualties. Cuba faced the dilemma of either withdrawing its combatants — which would have meant the almost immediate defeat of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) — or reinforcing its presence to achieve a more effective defense. In the end, Cuba chose the latter.

Regarding the motivations for intervening on a large scale in a war taking place across the Atlantic Ocean, there have been deliberate distortions or misunderstandings often arising from ignorance of the era. When the island’s military escalation in southern Africa took place, small steps were being taken between Havana and Washington toward a modus vivendi.

Nevertheless, Cuba, selflessly, preferred to tie its fate to the cause it believed most just. The Cubans risked rapprochement and détente with their powerful neighbor. They placed their principles above pragmatic calculations. The Revolution’s leadership was even aware that its troops might come into conflict with Portuguese troops still deployed in the former colony, though it worked to avoid such an eventuality, which would surely have further complicated the existing political and military scenario in Angola and its vicinity.

Another aspect that has been distorted is the Cuba–Soviet Union relationship regarding the Angolan conflict. In reality, the beginning of Carlota did not even wait for the explicit support of the Soviet Union. Piero Gleijeses, an Italian-American historian who conducted a meticulous investigation on the subject, in his book Conflicting Missions, provides elements that lead to important conclusions: once the Cuban campaign was underway, Soviet logistical support was fundamental; but contrary to what some maintain, the largest Antillean island did not act in Angola as the spearhead of the communist giant, but on its own initiative and taking on particular challenges.

The prose of Gabriel García Márquez also helps to form an idea of the optimism prevailing among the Cuban people regarding the conflict in Africa: “(...) we know of a boy who left without his father’s permission, and later met his father in Angola, because his father had also left, hiding it from the family.” He recounted that there were cases of professionals who, due to their high rank, would find it difficult to enlist in the troops and decided to pass themselves off as lower-skilled workers. Common criminals, from prison, asked to be admitted, and one woman almost managed to enlist as a soldier, the Colombian writer wrote.

Everything suggests that, in a general sense, the island’s contribution to the Angolan war obtained broad popular support. This is affirmed not only by voices sympathetic to the practice and ideology of the Cuban Revolution. Even in The Washington Post, it appeared in writing, in February 1976, that among Cubans the sentiment was one of pride. Furthermore, a study by the U.S. National Security Council reported in 1978 that “the average Cuban may not be very interested in Marxism-Leninism, but the role Cuba plays in Africa awakens his sense of nationalist pride.”

On May 27, 1991, two days after the arrival of the last internationalists who served in Angola, Raúl Castro expressed at the Cacahual Mausoleum, as Minister of the Armed Forces: “The glory and supreme merit belong to the Cuban people, the true protagonist of that epic, whose deepest and most enduring significance history will assess.”

Previously, Fidel Castro had explained that Cuba was “fulfilling a basic internationalist duty when we help the people of Angola.” A policy of principles, he would say. “We do not sit idly by when we see an African people, our brothers, who suddenly want to be devoured by the imperialists.” With Operation Carlota, Cuba once again put into practice its political discourse and its revolutionary theses.

On January 10, 1989, by virtue of a Joint Declaration by the governments of Cuba and Angola, the gradual withdrawal of the Cuban troops that had carried out internationalist missions in that country began. An important stage of contemporary history, in which Cuba played a decisive role, was closing.

The military performance of the island’s troops, directed on the ground by military leaders forged in guerrilla warfare in the Cuban mountains, was decisive in repelling the South African invasion of Angolan territory and in maintaining power in the hands of the MPLA. The military feat that began in 1975 also contributed to the independence of Namibia and to undermining the foundations of the odious apartheid system.

Furthermore, the operation highlighted Cuba’s organizational capacity, which mobilized an unthinkable number of combatants and logistical resources to a distant war theater. That feat cannot be understood without a proper assessment of the discipline and political cohesion that characterized the revolutionary process on the island.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff