AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS Statement on Fidel's Retirement

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One of the greatest accomplishments of the Cuban revolution was its contribution of troops to Angola where it handed a mighty defeat to the advancing South African Defense Forces, signaling the beginning of the end of apartheid. The ANC rightly points to Fidel and the brave Cubans who fought in Angola as the ones who saved the day.

ANC Statement on the retirement of Fidel Castro as Cuban President

20 February 2008

As Fidel Castro steps down as President of Cuba, we in the African National Congress pay tribute to a living legend.

The leadership of the ANC drew great strength from the commitment that Castro showed to the liberation of countries on the African continent and the eradication of poverty, hunger and disease all over the world.

The Cuban people under the leadership of President Castro have displayed selfless internationalist commitment to the liberation of the oppressed people of Africa broadly and South Africa specifically.

As the African National Congress, we remain deeply indebted to the Cuban people for their unflinching sacrifices in the struggle against apartheid.

Not only have they contributed to the transformation of our country but have continued to support our reconstruction and development efforts in South Africa by sending their doctors to work among our people particularly in the rural areas.

Cuba's selfless support for the struggle against the apartheid regime saw them deploy over 300,000 troops to Angola to battle alongside the Angolan army and Umkhonto weSizwe against the SADF. This battle, which saw the defeat of the apartheid forces, became known as the Cuito Cuanavale Battle.

The victory of Cuito Cuanavale was a turning point in the struggle for the liberation of the oppressed majority in South Africa.

In his resting years, we wish comrade Fidel health and happiness.

Issued by African National Congress

For more information, contact Jessie Duarte on 079 506 6756.
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1. AFRICAN STUDENTS IN CUBA AND THE WAR IN ANGOLA

In Fidel’s travels throughout Africa in the 1960’s visiting with newly independent states and their leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Sekou Toure in Guinea, he offered to take their brightest students and educate them in Cuba. It wasn’t long before Africans started showing up in Havana and, by the early 1970’s, Cuba was graduating African doctors, agricultural engineers, architects, biologists, chemical engineers, etc.

In the summer of 1975 Cuba sent military advisers to assist the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). A few months later, Fidel gave a speech at the famous Plaza de la Revolution to announce that he had decided to send troops to the newly independent Angola because the apartheid South African government had sent its army to invade Angolan territory.

There were many African students in the crowd at the Plaza that day and they could not believe that Cuba would send troops to fight and die for Africans. As Fidel’s speech went into high gear, the revolutionary fervor started building among the African students and, out of solidarity and brotherhood with their Angolan brothers, many decided to volunteer to fight along side the Cubans in Angola.

Later in the evening the African students circulated volunteer forms among themselves to present to the Cuban government the next day. But, before they had the chance to do so, Fidel appeared on State TV to say he had heard about the African students’ determination to fight in Angola. He thanked them for their revolutionary spirit, but said that he could not allow their blood to be shed. He said he had made a promise to return them as educated men and women to Africa, not to fight, but to build the revolution in their own countries.

My husband was one of those students.


If interested in knowing more about Cuba in Africa, I highly recommend:

"Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976," by Piero Gleijeses,

Gleijeses got unprecedented access to the Cuban archives when doing research for this book.