No abstract
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. THIS ARTICLE ASSESSES the impact of the Cuban military on strategic, diplomatic and political relationships in southern Africa. It does not deal with why Cuba and its Soviet benefactor have interested themselves in the region, nor does it discuss Soviet influence on Cuban foreign policy.1 The aspects covered here include: (1) how Cuba and Angola fit into the complex pattern of regional relations in southern Africa; (2) an outline of the region's main territorial actors and guerrilla movements, along with a brief history of Cuban involvement in the area; (3) the response of South Africa to this foreign spoiler of its regional hegemony; (4) regional cooperation in southern Africa insofar as it is a response to South Africa's militancy in the face of international communism as represented in the region by Cuba; and (5) Cuba's effect upon the economy and polity of Angola and Mozambique. I. BACKGROUND NEARLY 500 YEARS elapsed between the founding of Portugal's first trading post in southern Africa and the granting of independence toPortugal's colonies. At the end of that period Portugal suffered a military coup which gave rise to a domestic turmoil that made its new government even more hasty to jettison colonies than had been the case with the other European colonizers. In Angola, Portugal was determined to transfer power to whatever contending anti-colonial movement controlled the capital that day (11 November 1975).One of the Angolan independence movements, the Movimento Popular de Libertagao deAngola (MPLA), was able to call on Cuba to help it win the day. The Soviets had begun backing the MPLA in the early-1960s, in keeping with Khruschev's policy of support for national liberation movements. Part of that assistance consisted of military training provided by Cuban advisors.2 Since then, Cuba has continuously supported the MPLA. The Soviets, by contrast, twice let their (Frente Nacional de Libertagao de Angola); and the second time in 1973-74, due to differences with the MPLA leadership. In early 1975, the Soviets began airlifting arms to the MPLA, while Cuba sent military advisors. By midyear the MPLA controlled the capital and much of the country. However, when aid from the United States, South Africa and China to a coalition of rival groups began to turn the tide, the MPLA requested further assistance from Cuba, and the Soviet Union airlifted Cuban troops into Angola. With their help, the MPLA prevented the rival coalition from taking Luanda, the capital city The US has supported one of the MPLA's...
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