Angolan-Cuban relations

Angolan-Cuban relations

Angola	Cuba

The Angolan-Cuban relations include intergovernmental relations between Angola and Cuba . The countries have had direct diplomatic relations since Angolan independence in 1975.

Historically the most important link is the massive Cuban support of the Angolan government in the civil war in Angola . According to various sources, between 350,000 and almost half a million Cubans were deployed in Angola between 1975 and 1991. According to official Cuban figures, 2077 Cubans lost their lives, while opposition members critical of the government estimate the total Cuban losses at up to 10,000. To this day, the Cuban mission in Angola is particularly lively in Cuba, for example in monuments, blogs and commemorative events.

Today both countries belong to u. a. the Latin Union and the various UN organizations . The most important bilateral link today is Cuban development cooperation in health and education in Angola.

Until Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975, relations were determined by Cuban-Portuguese relations . Historically, points of contact between the two countries have existed since the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century.

history

Cidade Velha on the Cape Verde island of Santiago (1589), a stopover for the transatlantic slave trade since the 16th century

After the landing of the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão in 1483, what is now Angola increasingly became a Portuguese colony , while Cuba became a Spanish colony after its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492 .

Some of the slaves for the emerging plantation economy in Cuba then came to Cuba from Angola via the intermediate station Cape Verde .

Under Portugal's King Manuel I , the Jews were also expelled from Portugal from 1497, after which they occasionally came to both Angola and Cuba. With the flight of the Jewish Marranos from Portugal and Spain at the beginning of the 16th century, numerous of these Sephardic people went to Northern Europe. Groups of these Sephardic communities also migrated to the Caribbean in batches, especially in the 17th century. Portuguese Marranos also came to Cuba and occasionally maintained trade relations as far as Angola.

Cuba fought for its independence in 1902 before overcoming the Batista dictatorship that had been established in the meantime with the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and introducing a socialist one-party state under the leadership of Fidel Castro . The Castro government then supported independence movements in Africa, initially primarily politically, for example in the UN . Agostinho Neto , the most important leader of the Angolan independence movement, asked Cuba for help in the struggle for independence, and received logistical and ideological support afterwards. At the time, Cuba was one of the sharpest critics of the Portuguese colonial wars that began in Angola in 1961. In 1966, Agostinho Neto met Fidel Castro in Cuba, where afterwards Angolans mainly came for military training.

Cuban PT-76 tank in Angola: Cuban military aid was crucial to the government's victory in the Angolan civil war (1975-2011)

After the left-wing Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974, Angola gained independence through the Alvor Convention in 1975. The communist MPLA then prevailed against the two other independence movements of Angola and established a socialist one-party system. The conflict between the MPLA and the opposing independence movements then broke out into the civil war in Angola . Cuba came to military aid to the MPLA government supported by the Eastern Bloc , but also provided rehabilitation aid in health and education, while the MPLA's most important opponents, the Western-supported FNLA and UNITA , received military aid primarily from South Africa .

Cuba had already supported the MPLA on site when the Cabinda exclave was occupied in 1974. In November 1975 the massive Cuban military operation in Angola began to save the Angolan government from the South African forces after the MPLA defeat at Catengue . In the further course up to 50,000, according to other sources 70,000 Cuban soldiers stood in Angola, who played a decisive role in the course of the civil war, which turned in favor of the MPLA government especially after the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in early 1988.

In the three-power treaty of 1988 , the withdrawal of the Cuban troops was decided. On May 25, 1991, a month ahead of schedule, the last Cuban units left Angola.

The most important element of bilateral cooperation then became Cuban aid in the areas of health and education. Since the Cuban involvement in Angola began, over 800 health specialists and 1,137 specialists from the education sector from Cuba have been working in Angola. At the same time, 7,995 Angolans were trained in health professions in Cuba. In 2019, 2,180 Angolans were in Cuba for study and training purposes in the health sector.

During the regular mutual state visits, Angola recently renewed its interest in expanding cooperation in training and other aspects of the health sector.

In 1990 the two countries signed an agreement on reciprocal visa exemption for up to 90 days.

diplomacy

Angola has its own embassy in the Cuban capital Havana .

Cuba maintains its own embassy in the Angolan capital Luanda .

Mutual consulates have not been set up.

Culture

Musicians during a Santería ceremony in Cuba: Afro-Cuban music also originated under Angolan influences

The Cuban music was also under the influence of music and traditions from Angola, who came from there with the slaves in the 16th century to Cuba.

In 2011, Angolan-born Portuguese director Dulce Fernandes released a documentary called Cartas de Angola , which deals with the experiences of Cuban forces in the civil war in Angola, and contrasts them with the memories of her own family who left Angola after its independence. The film, which was also released on DVD in Portugal in 2012, lets Cuban soldiers, nurses and others have their say, singing Angolan resistance songs and talking about their experiences, largely without comment. He also quotes letters from Cubans who wrote from Angola to their home countries. These report on the separation from their families and their experiences and activities in Angola and the interaction with the local population, but also the experience of Afro-Cubans during their first stay in Africa and their impressions. The director also recounts the memories of her own Portuguese family who left the country when the Cubans came.

Web links

Commons : Angolan-Cuban Relations  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Cuban-Angolan relations entries (Spanish) on the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information and quotes in the opening credits of the documentary Cartas de Angola by the director Dulce Fernandes (2011)
2. ↑ Padura: "La mayoría de los cubanos muertos en Angola fue por enfermedades o accidentes" (" Padura says that the majority of Cubans who died in Angola died from illness or accidents"), article of March 18, 2018 in the right-wing newspaper Diário Las Américas, accessed June 25, 2019
3. ↑ Article from March 26, 2018 on a memorial event at a memorial for Cuban fallen in Angola on the government-related website www.cubadebate.cu, accessed on June 25, 2019
4. ↑ HavannaLuanda.worldpress.com , oppositional private blog on the Cuban mission in Angola, accessed on June 25, 2019
5. ↑ ^{a b} Maximilian Hendler: Prehistory of Jazz - From the departure of the Portuguese to Jelly Roll Morton- Academic Printing and Publishing Company , Graz 2008 ( ISBN 978-3-201-01900-2 ), p. 76 ff
6. ↑ Christian-Jewish Relations: Marranos, Conversos & New Christians , article in the Jewish Virtual Library , accessed on May 30, 2019
7. ↑ Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 ), p. 58
8. ↑ Interesada Angola en ampliar colaboración en salud con Cuba - "Angola interested in expanding cooperation with Cuba in the health sector" , communication from the Cuban Foreign Ministry dated June 7, 2019, accessed on June 25, 2019
9. ↑ List of Cuba visa agreements (by continent and therein by country), Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed on June 25, 2019
10. ↑ Official trailer for the film Cartas de Angola on Vimeo , accessed on June 25, 2019
11. ↑ Information on the DVD case Cartas de Amor , Real Ficção 2012