Paying the Debt to Africa:
On the 40th Anniversary of Cuba's Operación Carlota
By Isaac
Saney
“The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of
Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence,
freedom and justice, unparalleled for its principled and selfless
character...Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers,
agricultural experts, but never as colonizers. They have shared the same
trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment, and
apartheid.” Nelson Mandela
November 5,
2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Operación Carlota, Cuba’s 15-year
mission to defend Angola’s independence, which played a decisive role in
southern African national and anti-colonial liberation struggles. Cuba’s
extensive and decisive role in the struggle against the apartheid regime in
South Africa is marginalized in the dominant western discourse and narratives.
Cuba’s critical contribution is not only, frequently ignored, it is treated
almost as if it had never occurred. However, the overarching significance of
Cuba’s role cannot be erased.
Havana
initiated Operación Carlota on November 5th, 1975, in response to a
direct and urgent request from the government of Angola. Having just achieved
independence after a long and brutal anti-colonial struggle, Angola confronted
an invasion by racist South Africa. South Africa was determined to destroy the
Black government of the newly independent Angola. Operación
Carlota was decisive in not only stopping the South African drive to
Luanda (the capital) but also in pushing the South Africans out of Angola. The
defeat of the South African forces was a major development in the southern
African anti-colonial and national liberation struggle. At the time, The
World, a Black South African newspaper, underscored the significance:
"Black Africa is riding the crest of a wave generated by the Cuban success
in Angola. Black Africa is tasting the heady wine of the possibility of
realizing the dream of "total liberation."
Named after
the leader of a revolt against slavery that took place in Cuba on November 5,
1843, Operación Carlota lasted more than 15-years. During that
time, more than 330,000 Cubans served in Angola. More than 2, 000 Cubans died
defending Angolan independence and the freedom and right of self-determination
of the peoples of southern Africa.
Africa’s Children Return!
Cuba’s
solidarity with Angola was not simply one country coming to the aid of another,
but a part of the African diaspora – the Black world - rising to the defense of
Africa. Since the triumph of Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959, Cuba has
engaged in ongoing solidarity with the peoples and the continent of Africa. In
tribute to Cuba's assistance to African liberation struggles, Amilcar Cabral
(celebrated leader of the anti-colonial and national liberation struggle in
Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde) stated: "I don't believe in life after
death, but if there is, we can be sure that the souls of our forefathers who
were taken away to America to be slaves are rejoicing today to see their
children reunited and working together to help us be independent and
free."
The Cuban
Revolution’s involvement with Angola began in the 1960s when relations were
established with the Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The
MPLA was the principal organization in the struggle to liberate Angola from
Portuguese colonialism. In 1975, the Portuguese withdrew from Angola. However,
in order to stop the MPLA from coming to power, the U.S. government had already
been funding various groups, in particular the Union for the Total Independence
of Angola (UNITA) led by the notorious Jonas Savimbi. In October 1975, South
Africa, with the support of Washington, invaded Angola. On November 5th, 1975,
the Cuban revolutionary leadership meet to discuss the situation in Angola and
the Angolan government’s request for military assistance to repel the South
African invasion force. The decision to deploy combat troops thwarted apartheid
South Africa’s goal of turning Angola into its protectorate.
The Cuban
leadership justified the military intervention as both defending an independent
country from foreign invasion and repaying a historical debt owed by Cuba to
Africa. Fidel Castro frequently invoked Cuba’s historical links to Africa. On
the fifteenth anniversary of the Cuban victory at Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs), he
declared that Cubans “are a Latin-African people.” Jorge Risquet,
Havana’s principal diplomat in Africa from the 1970s to 1990s), was also
unambiguous in explaining Cuba’s military intervention in terms of Cuba’s
obligations to Africa, and this linkage resonated especially with black Cubans,
who were able to make a symbolic connection with their African roots. As scholar
Terrence Cannon for many blacks fighting in Angola was akin to defending Cuba
except that the fight was “this time in Africa. And they were aware that Africa
was, in some sense, their homeland.” Reverend Abbuno Gonzalez underscored this
connection: “My grandfather came from Angola. So it is my duty to go and help
Angola. I owe it to my ancestors”. General Rafael Moracen echoed this sentiment
and the words of Amilcar Cabral: “When we arrived in Angola, I heard an Angolan
say that our grandparents, whose children were taken away from Africa to be
slaves, would be happy to see their grandchildren return to Africa to help free
it. I will always remember those words.”
Cuban
involvement in Southern Africa has been repeatedly dismissed as surrogate
activity for the Soviet Union. This insidious myth has been unequivocally
refuted. John Stockwell, the director of CIA operations in Angola during
and in the immediate aftermath the 1975 South African invasion, in his memoir,
In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, stated “we learned that Cuba had not been
ordered into action by the Soviet Union. To the contrary, the Cuban leaders
felt compelled to intervene for their own ideological reasons.” In his
acclaimed book, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959-76,
Piero Gliejeses demonstrated that the Cuban government – as it had repeatedly
asserted – decided to dispatch combat troops to Angola only after the Angolan
government had requested Cuba’s military assistance to repel the South
Africans, refuting Washington’s assertion that South African forces intervened
in Angola only after the arrival of the Cuban forces and; the Soviet Union had
no role in Cuba’s decision and were not even informed prior to deployment. In
short, Cuba was not the puppet of the USSR. Even The Economist magazine
(no friend of Cuba) in a 2002 article, acknowledged that the Cuban government
acted on its “own initiative.”
That Cuba
could act on its own initiative, independent of the will of the great powers,
was not only an anathema to Washington but also inconceivable. In 1969 Henry
Kissinger, a National Security Advisor who then became U.S. Secretary of State,
unambiguously and uncategorically declared:"Nothing important can
come from the South. History has never been produced in the South. The axis of
history starts in Moscow, goes to Bonn, crosses over to Washington, and then
goes to Tokyo. What happens in the South is of no importance." That Cuba -
a poor "Third World" country, a Latin-African nation - could act on its
own, and through that independent action shape history, enraged Kissinger. At
his behest, a number of extensive military plans were drawn up by the Pentagon
in 1975 & 1976 to specifically punish the island for daring to defy the
imperial order, with its racist global hierarchy. These detailed plans
encompassed naval blockade to aerial bombardment to outright invasion. While
they were never carried out, these options were seriously discussed and debated
within the highest levels of the U.S. government, poignantly illustrating the
dangers that Cuba faced and accepted during its internationalist defence of
Angola.
South Africa’s War of Terror
The survival
of the racist South Africa state depended on establishing its domination of all
of southern Africa. Towards this end, Pretoria had militarized the South Africa
state, fashioning it into the sword to defend the racist system and wage a
regional war of terror.
From 1975 to
1988, the South Africa armed forces embarked on a campaign of massive
destabilization of the region. The war of destabilization wrought a terrible
toll. The financial and human cost can not only be measured in direct damage
and deaths but also in the premature deaths and projected economic loss caused
by destruction of infrastructure, agriculture and power networks. While, it is
very difficult to estimate the economic cost and damage, it was undoubtedly
enormous. One study calculates that up to 1988, the total economic cost for the
Frontline States was calculated to be in excess of $US 45 billion: for example,
Angola: $US 22 billion; Mozambique: $US 12 billion; Zambia: $US 7 billion;
Zimbabwe: $US 3 billion.
The human
toll was immense. The South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission
underscored that: “the number of people killed inside the borders of the
country in the course of the liberation struggle was considerably lower than
those who died outside…the majority of the victims of the South African’s
government attempts to maintain \itself in power were outside South
Africa. Tens of thousands of people died as a direct or indirect result of the
South African’s government aggressive intent towards its neighbours. The lives
and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands others were disrupted by the
systematic targeting of infrastructure in some of the poorest nations in
Africa.”
Between 1981
and 1988, an estimated 1.5 million people were (directly or indirectly) killed,
including 825,000 children. This was the result of Pretoria sponsored
insurgencies (namely, UNITA in Angola and Renamo in Mozambique) and
direct military actions by the South African armed forces. South Africa
launched numerous bombing raids, armed incursions and assassinations against
surrounding countries. One notorious example was the 4 May 1978 massacre in a
camp for Namibian refugees, located in the town of Kassinga, southwestern
Angola, where a South African air and paratrooper attack killed hundreds of
people and, also, took hundreds of prisoners.
Perhaps, the
late Julius Nyerere, summed up the situation best when in 1986, as President of
Tanzania, he observed: “When is war not war? Apparently when it is waged by the
stronger against the weaker as a pre-emptive strike.’ When is terrorism not
terrorism? Apparently when it is committed by a more powerful government
against those at home and abroad who are weaker than itself and whom it regards
as a potential threat or even as insufficiently supportive of its own
objectives. Those are the only conclusions one can draw in the light of the
current widespread condemnation of aggression and terrorism, side by side with
the ability of certain nations to attack others with impunity, and to organize
murder, kidnapping and massive destruction with the support of some permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council. South Africa is such a
country.”
The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale
In
1987-1988, a decisive series of battles occurred around the southeastern
Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale. When it occurred, these battles were the
largest military engagements in Africa since the North African battles of the
Second World War. Arrayed on one side were the armed forces of Cuba, Angola and
the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO), on the other, the South African
Defense Forces, military units of the Union for the Total National Independence
of Angola (UNITA) – the South African proxy organization) and the South African
Territorial Forces of Namibia (then still illegally occupied by Pretoria).
Cuito Cuanavale
was a critical turning point in the struggle against apartheid. From November
1987 to March 1988, the South African armed forces repeatedly tried and failed
to capture Cuito Cuanavale. In southern Africa, the battle has attained
legendary status. It is considered THE debacle of apartheid: a defeat of the
South African armed forces that altered the balance of power in the region and
heralded the demise of racist rule in South Africa. Cuito Cuanavale
decisively thwarted Pretoria’s objective of establishing regional hegemony (a
strategy which was vital to defending and preserving apartheid), directly led
to the independence of Namibia and accelerated the dismantling of apartheid.
The battle is often referred to as the African Stalingrad of apartheid. Cuba’s
contribution was crucial as it provided the essential reinforcements, material
and planning.
In July
1987, the FAPLA, the Angolan armed forces, launched an offensive against UNITA,
the apartheid state’s surrogate. The Cubans objected to this military
operation because it would create the opportunity for a South African invasion,
which is what transpired. The South Africans invaded, stopped and threw back
the Angolan forces. After terrible human and material losses, the Angolans were
forced into a headlong retreat to the town and strategic military base of Cuito
Cuanavale.
As the
fighting became centred on Cuito Cuanavale, the Angolan Armed forces were
placed in an extremely precarious situation, with its most elite formations
facing annihilation. Indeed, Angola faced an existential threat. If Cuito
Cuanavale fell to South Africa then the rest of the country would be at the
mercy of the invaders. Angolan General Antonio dos Santos underscored the
overarching significance of the town’s defence stating that if they [the South
Africans] won at Cuito Cuanavale, the road would be open to the north of
Angola.”
Determined
to transform its initial military success into a fatal blow against an
independent Angola, Pretoria committed its best troops and most sophisticated
military hardware to the capture of Cuito Cuanavale. As the situation of the
besieged Angolan troops became critical, Havana was asked by the Angolan
government to intervene. On November 15th, 1987 Cuba decided to reinforce its
forces by sending fresh detachments, arms and equipment, including tanks,
artillery, anti-aircraft weapons and aircraft. Eventually Cuban troop strength
would rise to more than 50, 000. It must be emphasized that for a small country
such as Cuba the deployment of 50,000 troops would be the equivalent of the
U.S. deploying more than a million soldiers, or Canada more than one hundred
thousand.
The Cuban
commitment was immense. Fidel Castro stated that the Cuban Revolution had “put
its own existence at stake, it risked a huge battle against one of the
strongest powers located in the area of the Third World, against one of the
richest powers, with significant industrial and technological development,
armed to the teeth, at such a great distance from our small country and with
our own resources, our own arms. We even ran the risk of weakening our
defenses, and we did so. We used our ships and ours alone, and we used our
equipment to change the relationship of forces, which made success possible in
that battle. We put everything at stake in that action…”
The Cuban
government viewed preventing the fall of Cuito Cuanavale as imperative. A South
African victory would have meant not only the capture of the town and the
destruction of the best Angolan military formations, but, quite possibly, the
end of Angola’s existence as an independent country. The Cuban revolutionary
leadership also decided to go further than the defence of Cuito Cuanavale. They
decided to deploy the necessary forces and employ a plan that would both put an
end once and for all to South African aggression against Angola and deliver a
decisive blow against the racist state. The successful defence of Cuito
Cuanavale would be the prelude to a grand and far reaching strategy that would
transform the balance of power in the region.
South
Africa’s efforts to seize Cuito Cuanavale were stymied by the Cubans and
Angolans. With the South Africans preoccupied at Cuito Cuanavale, the Cubans
achieved a strategic coup by carrying-out an outflanking manoeuvre. To the west
of Cuito Cuanavale and along the Angolan/Namibian border, Havana deployed
40,000 Cuban troops, supported by 30,000 Angolan and 3,000 SWAPO troops.
Pretoria had become so focused on seizing Cuito Cuanavale that they had left
themselves exposed to a major military counterstroke.
The Cubans,
together with Angolan and SWAPO forces advanced toward Namibia. This advance
exposed the insecurity and vulnerability of the South African troops in
northern Namibia. Such was this vulnerability that a senior South African
officer said, “Had the Cubans attacked [Namibia] they would have over-run the
place. We could not have stopped them.” This was further compounded by South
African debacles at the end of June 1988 at Calueque and Tchipia, where the
South Africans suffered serious defeats, which were described by a South
African newspaper as “a crushing humiliation.” Cuba also achieved air
supremacy. Facing the new powerful force assembled in southern Angola and
having lost control of the skies, the South Africans withdrew from Angola.
This defeat
on the ground forced South Africa to the negotiating table, resulting in
Namibian independence and dramatically hastening the end of apartheid. The
regional balance of power had been fundamentally transformed. The respected scholar
Victoria Brittan observed that Cuito Cuanavale became “a symbol across the
continent that apartheid and its army were no longer invincible.” In a July
1991 speech delivered in Havana, Nelson Mandela underscored Cuito Cuanavale’s
and Cuba’s vital role:
“The Cuban
people hold a special place in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Cuban
internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and
justice unparalleled for its principled and selfless character. We in Africa
are used to being victims of countries wanting to carve up our territory or
subvert our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in African history to have another
people rise to the defense of one of us. The defeat of the apartheid army was
an inspiration to the struggling people in South Africa! Without the defeat of
Cuito Cuanavale our organizations would not have been unbanned! The defeat of
the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale has made it possible for me to be here
today! Cuito Cuanavale was a milestone in the history of the struggle for
southern African liberation!”
In 1994,
Mandela further declared: “If today all South Africans enjoy the rights of
democracy; if they are able at last to address the grinding poverty of a system
that denied them even the most basic amenities of life, it is also because of
Cuba’s selfless support for the struggle to free all of South Africa’s people
and the countries of our region from the inhumane and destructive system of
apartheid. For that, we thank the Cuban people from the bottom of our heart.”
The 1987-88
military reversal in Angola constituted a mortal blow to the apartheid regime.
The battle of Cuito Cuanavale ended its dream (nightmare for the region’s
peoples) of establishing hegemony over all of southern Africa as a means by
which to extend the life of the racist regime.
Paying Humanity’s Debt
As a direct
witness and participant in Africa's anti-colonial & national liberation
struggles, the late Jorge Risquet always elaborated on the profound ties
that bound Cuba and Africa together. This unbreakable historic connection
formed the poignant base for the Cuban Revolution’s solidarity with Africa. In
a 2012 speech honouring the great Pan-Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah, Risquet pointed
out:
“This was
the understanding with which Cuban fighters came to ancestral Africa to fight
side by side with the people against colonialism and the oppressive apartheid
regime. For 26 years, 381,000 Cuban soldiers and officers fought alongside African
populations — between April 24, 1965, when Ernesto Che Guevara and his men
crossed Lake Tanganyika, and May 25, 1991, when the remaining 500 Cuban
fighters returned home triumphant…Twenty-four hundred Cuban internationalist
fighters lost their lives on African soil. Today we no longer send soldiers.
Now, we send doctors, teachers, builders, specialists in various fields.”
While
circumstances may have changed, Cuba's solidarity with Africa continues. Cuba
made a critical contribution to the fight against the Ebola epidemic in the
West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Cuban
medical mission was by far the largest sent by any country. Standing
side-by-side with the peoples of West Africa, Cuban doctors and nurses went to
West Africa and joined the struggle against Ebola. As Jorge Lefebre Nicolas,
Cuba’s ambassador to Liberia, declared: “We cannot see our brothers from Africa
in difficult times and remain there with our arms folded.” At the
September 16th, 2014 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Cuban
representative Abelardo Moreno declared: “Humanity has a debt to African
people. We cannot let them down.” Even the Wall Street Journal declared, “Few
have heeded the call, but one country has responded in strength: Cuba.”
Cuba is
often described as the only foreign country to have gone to Africa and gone
away with nothing but the coffins of its sons and daughters who died in the
struggles to liberate Africa. Cuba’s role in Angola illustrates the division
between those who fight for the cause of freedom, liberation and justice, to
repel invaders and colonialists, and those who fight against just causes, those
who wage war to occupy, colonize and oppress. The island’s
internationalist missions in Africa are a profound challenge to those who argue
that relations among the world's nations and peoples are - and can only be -
determined by self-interest, and the pursuit of power and wealth. Cuba provides
the example that it is possible to build relations based on genuine solidarity
and social love: demonstrating the alternatives which permit people to realize
their deepest aspirations, and that another better world is possible.
____________________________________________________________
Isaac Saney teaches
history at Dalhousie University and Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada,
He is co-chair and National Spokesperson of the Canadian Network On Cuba. He is
currently putting the final touches on the book manuscript, Africa's
Children Return! Cuba, the War in Angola and the End of Apartheid.
