However, they, the internationalist combatants, are not only heroes but the most faithful heirs of José Martí’s maxim: “Our homeland is humanity”. Forty years ago, on November 5, Cuba would provide the world with one of the most brilliant examples of heroism and, at the same time, humanism. Operation Carlota began, in the name of the independence of the people of Angola and, as such, of all Africa.

The operation was named after a Lukumí slave at the Triunvirato sugar plantation in Matanzas, who in 1843 led one of the many slave rebellions, in which she lost her life. She became a symbol of the heroic deeds of a people in defense of the noblest causes of the planet.

But this was not the first time that the integrity of the Cuban people was demonstrated through solidarity with other nations. As early for the Revolution as 1961, when Algeria was fighting for its independence, a ship from the island transported arms to the country and returned with orphans and the wounded. In 1963, Algerians saw their victory threatened and for the first time, Cuban troops crossed the ocean to assist them.

It was also there where Cuban doctors first traveled to save lives, as they do today in more than 60 nations across the world, as part of the island’s extraordinary record of healthcare services for developing countries.

In October 1975, the Zairian army and mercenary forces in the north were closing in on Angola’s capital, while in the south, South African armored columns were rapidly advancing with the same goal of taking Luanda.

Only weeks before, MPLA President Agostinho Neto had requested the presence of military instructors from Cuba, with a small number sent initially, and subsequently not exceeding 480 men, equipped with light weapons only.

In early November of that year, in Benguela, a group of these instructors together with their students came face to face with the enemy and were embroiled in an unequal battle. Dozens of young Angolans and eight Cuban instructors were killed.

Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the landing of the Granma yacht and the 30th of the internationalist epic in Angola, said on December 2, 2005:

“For the first time, in this remote corner of Africa, Cuban and Angolan blood was shed in the struggle to free that troubled land.

“It was at this point that Cuba, in consultation with President Neto, decided to send Interior Ministry special troops and regular members of the Cuban army by air and sea, as fully-equipped fighting troops to confront the aggression by the forces of apartheid.

“We took up the challenge without hesitation. Our instructors would not be abandoned to their fate; neither would those selfless Angolan fighters, much less their homeland’s independence after 20 years of heroic struggle. Ten thousand kilometers from home, Cuban troops -heirs of the glorious Rebel Army – engaged in combat with the armies of South Africa, the continent’s richest and most powerful nation, and of Zaire, Europe and America’s richest and well-armed puppet state.

“Then, the campaign started known as Operation Carlota, code name for the most just, lengthy, large scale and successful internationalist military campaign undertaken by Cuba. “

Thirty-six thousand Cuban soldiers stopped the attack and launched an offensive that pushed the South African racists back 1,000 kilometers to the south, until they were on the other side of the border with Angola and Namibia. The South African column was stopped on November 13 and 14 on the banks of the Queve River, and it was precisely the instructors and their students from Benguela, who were to be the protagonists of this battle, together with the FAPLA units and special forces battalion. In the north, the mercenaries were driven back into Zaire.

In April 1976, the withdrawal of Cuban troops began, as agreed with President Neto, although combat units remained on the ground.

But the withdrawal schedule was to be hindered by the continued conspiracy between Pretoria and Washington, who in the eighties made public their aims, in the form of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s “constructive engagement” and “linkage” policies (leniency toward South Africa in exchange for support for U.S. strategic interests), which encouraged the South African regime in its attacks on Namibia and the launching of repeated invasions of Angola.

The Cuban response was to multiply Operation Carlota and the internationalism of the people of Martí, expressed in the support of their courageous fighters for another 15 years, until the last major South African invasion of Angolan territory at the end of 1987. The enemy, greatly emboldened, advanced strongly towards Cuito Cuanavale, a former NATO air base, and prepared to deliver the mortal blow against Angola.

There, Cubans and Angolans provided an unparalleled example of bravery which led to a historic victory. The resounding victory in Cuito Cuanavale, especially the lightning advance of the powerful group of Cuban troops in southwest Angola, put an end to the foreign military aggression. Some 55,000 Cuban soldiers fought there, demonstrating courage and the highest military ethics and professionalism in the midst of the hostilities.

Fidel, referring to the feat, expressed: “Rarely in history has war, the most terrible, heartrending and difficult of human actions, been accompanied by such humanism and humility on the part of the victors, despite the near-total absence of these values in the ranks of the vanquished. Firmness of principle and purity of aims explain the complete transparency of every campaign undertaken by our internationalist fighters.”

And he added that: “The Angola achievement and the struggle for Namibia’s independence against the fascist apartheid regime are a source of much strength to our people. The countless acts of heroism, self-sacrifice and humanism performed by over 300,000 internationalist fighters and some 50,000 Cuban civilian collaborators, who on a totally voluntary basis participated in missions to Angola, are a treasure of immense value.”

Cuba is proud of its history, its principles and of its children who fought in Angola, as well as the stoicism of their family and friends, faced with the sacrifice of their loved ones. 2,016 compatriots fell on Angolan soil, 160 in Ethiopia and 113 in other sister nations. They live on in the words of the famous anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral: “Cuban fighters are ready to lay down their lives for the liberation of our countries, and in exchange for this aid to our freedom and the progress of our people, all they take from us are their comrades who fell fighting for freedom.”

(Granma)

At the former Triunvirato sugar plantation in Matanzas, now the RebelSlaveMuseum, the ceremony was presided over by theFirst Vice President ofthe Councils of Stateand Ministers, Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, EstebanLazo,president of the Cubanparliament,andother members of the Party’s Politburo.

At the start of the cultural-political act and military parade, a floral wreath was laid at the monument to the fallen, sent by Fidel and Raúl.

The Cuban military mission in Angola was named Operation Carlota in honor of the legendary rebel slave of the Triunvirato sugar plantation, Carlota, who led one of the largest slave rebellions in Cuba, which took place on November 5, 1843.

Guests at the ceremony included members of the diplomatic corps and the military diplomatic corps accredited in Cuba, internationalist combatants of the FAR and Minint, a representation of the families of the martyrs killed in internationalist missions, a delegation from the Republic of Angola and the Five Cuban anti-terrorist heroes.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic corps of the African nation recalled the feats of the Cuban and Angolan forces and reaffirmed the eternal gratitude of the Angolan people to the Cuban heroes who gave their lives during the mission. In the words of Raúl Castro, “The supreme glory and merit belong to the Cuban people, the real protagonists of this epic feat.”

The birth of freedom was complex, and dark forces threatened to drown it. Three forces were at that moment fighting independently in that African territory: The Popular Movement for the Independence of Angola, the EM PI EL EI, led by doctor Agostinho Neto; the National Front for the Liberation of Angola, EF EN EL EI, headed by Holden Roberto: and the National Union for the Independence of Angola, UNITA, for its acronym in Portuguese, led by Jonas Savimbi.Of the three of them, only the first one , the EM PI EL EI, had a truly progressive national project, and very soon the other two groups were seduced by the United States, South Africa and the Government headed by dictator Joseph Mobutu, in neighbouring Zaire.

At Washington’s behest, the latter two combined to launch an invasion on several fronts against the independence forces headed by the EM PI EL EI. Free Angola would have died before being born, but in such delicate circumstances President Agostiño Neto asked far away Cuba for help.

Cuba, a small island nation, blockaded by the strongest power in the world and almost ten thousand kilometers away, issued a prompt answer: Cuba’s return message to Angola changed the course of the war and of history in a vast area of Africa’s South Western corner.

On two November nineteen seventy five, in the town of Caporolo, a group of Cuban advisors faced opposing forces, and for the first time Cuban and Angolan blood was spilled together on African soil.

On November four, after learning of that battle, the Commander in Chief and Historic Leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, ordered the deployment of the first Cuban combat units by air and sea.

Thus began Operation Carlota, one of the most outstanding military feats in modern history.

The Cuban troops and the patriotic Angolan Forces commanded by the EM PI EL EI, the Movement for the Liberation of Angola, resoundly defeated the aggressors near Luanda, Angola’s capital, and in Cabinda, an Angolan enclave in Congolese territory.

The historic victory allowed Angolan leader Agostiño Neto to proclaim the full independence of Angola on eleven November nineteen seventy five.

But the Free Angolan history had just begun. The fury of the United States and of its ally, racist South Africa, promoter of apartheid, unleashed a war that ended with an impressive victory of the freedom forces—Angolan and Cuban—topped by the historic Cuito Canavale battle, between December nineteen eighty seven and March nineteen eighty eight, which broke the back bone of the South Africa racist regime.

The consolidation of the sovereignty of Angola, the independence of Namibia, coupled with the ousting of the racist regime in South Africa and the installation of a democratic government in that former aggressive nation, were direct results of that resounding military victory.

Some three hundred thousand Cubans participated in that historic saga, while two thousand lost their lives in battle.

When Cuba returned home from Africa after fulfilling this honourable internationalist mission it only brought back the honour of its gallant participation and the bodies of its fallen sons, who were
buried in their own soil.

The history written by Cuba and by its combatants in Angola will live as long as there remains a single free, dignified person that remembers it.

(By Guillermo Alvarado, Radio Habana Cuba)