Noah Colwin

was that it was a way of combating capitalist forces more generally, a way of hemming imperial ambitions that they viewed as part of a global system, and that there was, in that broader sense, it was a way of fighting and applying pressure against its own enemies, namely the United States.

through acts of solidarity.

But that's a pretty abstract thing.

The reality was that Cuba in 1975 was faced with a moral dilemma.

The Angolan nationalists who had competed amongst themselves, various factions, to be the ones who would take power after the Portuguese left in late 75, the left-wing Marxist faction, the MPLA, was in control of the capital city and was poised to be able to actually

assume the responsibility of government.

And they were the favored sons, or at least they were the favored inheritors of that authority by the porch, the departing Portuguese who were now a part of a, you know, a recently installed left-wing junta.

And.

the angolans uh the remaining two angolan factions one was the fnla which was uh very strongly cia supported very much aligned with mubutu in zaire uh and led by a guy named holden roberto and then you have jonas savimbi uh who headed a more unknown faction at the time called unita um but we'll hear more about him later and the cubans were you know they were they were told explicitly in mid-75 and they understood because they were in contact

with the Angolan, the MPLA leadership, that essentially the CIA and the South Africans had begun arming and mobilizing against the MPLA.

There were already border incursions, there had been huge fighting across the country, and neighboring South Africa had a huge interest in not wanting to see

a, you know, what they viewed as a aggressive communist government coming to power, in part because, as you said earlier, South Africa occupied Namibia and through its occupation of Namibia, its occupation, Namibia would be exposed to Namibian rebels who would be able to take sanctuary in southern Angola.

And so the South African interest rears its head at this time.

So all these threats are rearing their heads against what in November 75 is the new government, the new nation of Angola, led by the left-wing MPLA.

And the South Africans immediately invade.

immediately invade from the south they launch two different divisions and the fnla from the north and the central area um they attack and the fnla is wiped out because they're pretty incompetent and threadbare and the cia operation to fund them is revealed as a big it's a it's a huge it's a fiasco

But UNITA and South Africa are this really dramatic threat that the Cubans, in an act of sort of immediate daring do, send an emergency detachment of armed forces to support the Angolans, who then are able to successfully repel the South African advance.

And although the Cuban hand is shown and the U.S.

condemns Cuba in World Fora, like the U.N., for expanding Soviet – and then Soviet arms, of course, that are fueling all this combat or at least fueling the MPLA's ability to fight this battle.

And the U.S.