Portal:Cuba

Location of Cuba (red), Angola (green), and South Africa (blue), including South West Africa

The Cuban intervention in Angola (codenamed Operation Carlota) began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western coalition of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The intervention came after the outbreak of the Angolan Civil War, which occurred after the former Portuguese colony was granted independence after the Angolan War of Independence. The previously unimportant civil war quickly developed into a proxy war between the Eastern Bloc (led by the Soviet Union) and the Western Bloc (led by the United States). South Africa and the United States backed UNITA and the FNLA, while communist nations backed the MPLA.

Around 4,000 Cuban troops fought to push back a three-pronged advance by the SADF, UNITA, FNLA, and Zairean troops. 18,000 Cuban troops then proved instrumental in defeating FNLA forces in the north and UNITA in the south. The Cuban army helped assist the MPLA in repressing separatists from the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC). By 1976, the Cuban military presence in Angola had grown to nearly 36,000 troops. By effectively driving out the internationally isolated South African forces, Cuba was able to secure control over all the provincial capitals in Angola. Following the withdrawal of Zaire and South Africa, Cuban forces remained in Angola to support the MPLA government against UNITA in the continuing civil war. South Africa spent the following decade launching bombing and strafing raids from its bases in South West Africa into southern Angola, while UNITA engaged in ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, and harassment of Cuban units. (Full article...)

• ... that a hypothesized land bridge may have allowed some fish species to migrate from South America to Cuba?
• ... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
• ... that the 1919 foxtrot song "I'll See You in C-U-B-A" was an example of Cuba being perceived as "America's playground"?
• ... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?

Castro in July 1953

The early life of Cuban dictator and politician Fidel Castro spans the first 26 years of his life, from 1926 to 1952. Born in Birán, Oriente Province, Castro was the illegitimate son of Ángel Castro y Argiz, a wealthy farmer and landowner, and his mistress Lina Ruz González. First educated by a tutor in Santiago de Cuba, Fidel Castro then attended two boarding schools before being sent to El Colegio de Belén, a school run by Jesuits in Havana. In 1945 he began studying law at the University of Havana, where he first became politically conscious, becoming a staunch anti-imperialist and critic of United States involvement in the Caribbean. Involved in student politics, he was affiliated to Eduardo Chibás and his Partido Ortodoxo, achieving publicity as a vocal critic of the pro-U.S. administration of President Ramón Grau and his Partido Auténtico.

Immersed in the university's violent gang culture, in 1947 he took part in a quashed attempt to overthrow the military junta of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Returning to student politics, Castro was involved with violent demonstrations in which protesters clashed with riot police, at which he became increasingly left-wing in his views. Traveling to Bogotá, Colombia, he fought for the Liberals in the Bogotazo before returning to Havana, where he embraced Marxism. In 1948 he married the wealthy Mirta Díaz Balart, and in September 1949 their son Fidelito was born. Obtaining his Doctorate of Law in September 1950, he co-opened an unsuccessful law firm before entering parliamentary politics as a Partido Ortodoxo candidate. When General Fulgencio Batista launched a coup and overthrew the elected presidency, Castro brought legal challenges against him, but as this proved ineffective, he began to think of other ways to oust Batista. (Full article...)

Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933.

Machado was elected president in 1924 as the leader of the Liberal Party, a moderate reform-oriented party. He entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major political parties. However, his support declined over time and Machado took dictatorial powers. Despite promising to govern only for one term, he ran for re-election in 1928 and won a non-democratic election where the opposition was repressed. As protests and rebellions became more strident, his administration curtailed free speech and imprisoned, exiled, and murdered Machado's opponents. (Full article...)

• ... that the University of Havana (pictured) was founded in 1728?

• ...that the Cuban night lizard is less than 4 cm long and lives exclusively in the west corner of the southern-most coast of Cuba?

• ...that Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker who wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, and is known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba?

• ...that the Godfrey-Milliken Bill, was a Private Member's Bill introduced in the Canadian parliament by MPs Peter Milliken and John Godfrey to parody and attack the Helms-Burton Act devised by the United States, which aimed to tighten the United States embargo against Cuba?

• ...that there have been five Cuban constitutions since the nation attained its independence from Spain?