Vol. 80/No. 26      July 18, 2016

 
(Books of the Month column)

‘Cubans know what we are capable of, thanks
to Angola’

 

Cuba and Angola, Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own, a Book of the Month for July, tells the story of some 425,000 Cubans who volunteered between 1975 and 1991 to help defend newly independent Angola against multiple invasions by South Africa’s racist apartheid regime, backed by Washington. This excerpt is from Raúl Castro’s May 27, 1991, speech in Havana, to the final contingent of internationalist volunteers returning from their successful mission in Angola — fighting side by side with Angolans and Namibians to secure Angolan sovereignty. Copyright © 2013 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

The Cuban presence in Angola was the continuation of the best traditions of our nation. If there was anything unusual about it, it was the people’s massive participation, which had never before reached such levels; which unleashed the will of an entire people to take part in the epic struggle. Even more far-reaching and significant was the absolutely voluntary nature of their participation. Ours was not just a professional army, even if we take great pride in our troops’ performance in combat and technical training. It was an army of the masses, a revolutionary army of the people.

The more than four hundred thousand Cuban men and women who passed through Angola over all these years and whose names will be honored by those who come after us, came from all the generations that are active today in the Cuban process — from Rebel Army veterans to the youngest recruits and reserve members.

All were motivated by a single interest — to come to the aid of and help consolidate our sister republic of Angola. …

In Cuba, we gave this internationalist mission the name “Carlota” in homage to an exceptional African woman who, on Cuban soil, headed two rebellions against colonial oppression and who — just as they wanted to do to Angola in 1975 — was dismembered by the butchers who succeeded in capturing her during the second uprising [1843]. Without even knowing it, the thousands of Cubans who formed part of Operation Carlota were to spread the legend of the Cuban African heroine in Cabinda, Quifangondo, the Medunda hills, Cangamba, Sumbe, Ruacaná, Calueque, and Cuito Cuanavale.

Because of that unforgettable experience, our tank crews, infantrymen, artillerymen, combat engineers, sappers, pilots, special troops, scouts, communications troops, rear guard service personnel, antiaircraft defense troops, truck drivers, engineers, technicians, political workers, military counterintelligence, and combatants in other specialized roles in the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Ministry of the Interior — these compañeros will give the best of themselves. They’ll become better patriots, better revolutionaries, and more committed party members. They — along with the outstanding and exemplary workers of Cubana Airlines and the merchant marine — were the ones who made the operation a success.

They served shoulder to shoulder with the Angolan people, together with teachers, doctors, construction workers and other civilian specialists from our country, through the longest, cruelest, and most devastating conflict that Africa has ever known. They were to be exceptional witnesses to the fact that no other people of black Africa has paid so dearly as Angola for the struggle to preserve its territorial integrity and its very existence as a state.

In the course of this extraordinary test, a decisive role was played by the commanders and officers who bore the brunt of countless decisions. They were called upon, above all, to set an example and indeed did so to the hilt, as evidenced by the fact that one out of every four of our men killed in action was an officer. …

Compañeras and compañeros: In memory of our fallen comrades, we are gathered here to give an account to our people, to the leadership of the party and the government, of the mission assigned to the Revolutionary Armed Forces almost sixteen years ago.

When we face new and unexpected challenges we will always be able to recall the epic of Angola with gratitude, because without Angola we would not be as strong as we are today.

If our people know themselves better, if all of us know much better what we are capable of achieving — veterans as well as our young people, the new generations — that, too, is thanks to Angola!

The prestige, the authority, the respect enjoyed by Cuba today in the world are inseparable from what we accomplished in Angola.

Thanks to Angola, we understand in all its dimensions Comrade Fidel’s point that when a people like the Cuban people has been capable of fighting and making sacrifices for the freedom of another people, what wouldn’t it be capable of doing for itself!

If today we are more mature in our reflections and decisions, if today we are more staunch, more experienced, that too is thanks to Angola!

If today we are more aware of the work of the revolution, because we have experienced the disastrous remnants of neocolonialism and underdevelopment, for that we must thank Angola!

If today our political and ideological development, our revolutionary, socialist and internationalist consciousness are deeper, we owe that to Angola, too!

If today our combat experience has been enriched, if we’re better trained and more ready to defend our nation, it is because together with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, 56,622 officers went through the school of life and struggle in Angola.

If our people are now prepared to confront any difficulty in the times ahead, if they’re confident about themselves and their ability to resist, to continue developing the country, and to succeed, that confidence reflects our experience of how we grew in the face of adversity and won in Angola!

And if there’s a people to whom we owe a lesson of stoicism, of greatness, of the spirit of sacrifice and of loyalty, it is the Angolan people, who said goodbye to our internationalist fighters in an exemplary manner, with love and gratitude.  
 
 
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