Fare thee well Castro, a true friend of Africa

Castro’s death has provoked a multitude of mixed emotions. Mine is one of sadness but even more of gratitude for his immense contribution to the freedom struggles of the peoples of Africa, Latin and Central America, Asia, and the Caribbean. When it came to liberation struggles, Castro’s perception of the world rose above nationalities and focused on humanity. He showed us what self-determination means by standing up to the most powerful nation in the world, the United States, and enduring economic sanctions in the quest for human dignity (Agaciro). He reminded us,as our own leader does, that Agaciro is claimed not given by the powerful and should be defended by all means necessary. Castro also proved to us that health, education, food and shelter are rights not commodities for sale to those who can afford them. The Cuban revolution gave hope to the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world. For Castro and the Cuban people, internationalism was a necessary component of meaningful transformation. Emancipation of one country was unsustainable if the majority of the developing world remained in bondage, either under colonialism, neo colonialism or continued exploitation through unfair trade and other ways by powerful countries. With this understanding, Cuba under Castro committed itself to aiding other oppressed nations. The cold war heightened this commitment and, in many cases, Cuba’s heroic solidarity with the developing world’s struggles for self-determination became a pretext for the West to do everything in their power to annihilate it. The fact that Cuba allied itself to the then Soviet Union, gave the West further ammunition to try to remove Castro. Cuba made a conscious decision to support liberation movements, virtually singlehandedly and to seek material assistance from its allies when necessary. Castro and the Cuban people endured intense propaganda, several attempted assassinations against Castro and an economic embargo by the US, which has lasted over 50 years. However, this did not diminish Cuba’s solidarity with the struggling peoples of the world nor did it stop those who clearly understood Cuba’s genuine intentions from embracing it. When Castro appeared at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration in April 1994, the South Africans, young and old and those from the rest of Africa, chanted Fidel! Fidel! In combat, Cubans fought alongside the liberation forces in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Vietnam, Grenada, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Guinea Bissau, South Africa, Algeria; the list goes on. In addition, many African liberation fighters, including President Kagame underwent training in Cuba. Africa is a distant continent and was not part of the colonial Spanish world but Castro’s solidarity with the African peoplewas and has been unrivaled. Castro, the revolutionary of our time, a great military strategist and a giant intellectual, understood African people’s struggles for freedom and for harnessing the immense resources to benefit its citizens. Cuba’s role in the liberation struggles in Africa, should be acknowledged and taught in our schools. In a long interview with journalist, Ignacio Ramonet, Castro recalled Cuba’s mission in Africa as early as 1961, barely two years after the Cuban Revolution, when Cuba sent a ship of weapons to Algerian insurgents fighting the French for independence. In 1964, Castro’s comrade, Che Guevara visited 9 African countries: Algeria, Egypt, Mali, former Belgian Congo, Guinea, Ghana, Benin, Tanzania and Congo Brazzaville (French). Che Guevara also met with African leaders who were in the forefront of independence movements. The purpose was to assess liberation movements and how Cuba could assist. But nowhere did Cuba have as profound an impact and changed the course of history as in Southern Africa. Cuba aided all the liberation movements in Southern Africa, in military training, weapons, education, medical services and in direct combat missions. Before Angola’s independence, which was scheduled for 11 November 1975, the apartheid South African forces attempted to thwart Angola’s efforts to freedom. Agostinho Neto, MPLA’s first leader, sought the help of Cuba. Cuban troops entered into combat with the South African apartheid army, which was well equipped and supported by the United States, and a number of Western powers. Cuba, with Angolan fighters, launched a fierce offensive against South African forces forcing the enemy to retreat. This was a decisive battle, which beat the South Africans and its allies hands down. This sent a chilling message to Apartheid South Africa that they could not continue to bomb and kill people of the region with impunity. SWAPO freedom fighters and refugees who had sought refuge on the borders of Angola suffered immensely under the apartheid army as exemplified by the massacre at Kassinga. Mozambique, which had just gained independence in June 1975, was still under attack by Apartheid South Africa using its surrogate forces of RENAMO, which maimed the largely peasant population. South Africa knew that independence to Angola would mean the loss of Namibia and, ultimately the end of apartheid. There was also so much at stake for the United States because the then Soviet Union, an ally of Cuba, had supported the liberation wars in Southern Africa. Angola, rich in minerals and oil resources, could not be allowed to develop freely and to fall into the hands of the Soviet bloc. The South African army and its Western allies armed and trained UNITA, which bled Angola and diverted vital resources and energy from the development of Angolan. The apartheid government was getting desperate. With sanctions biting at home, internal organisation of defiant campaigns by workers, students etc. and ANC guerillas intensifying their attacks inside South Africa, the apartheid army attempted to stop the wheel of history. In 1987, at the height of the cold war, the South African army invaded Angola. Cuba, without hesitation, once again mobilised resources, both human and material, to come to the aid of the Angolan people. To Cuba, this invasion was grave, involving not only the South Africans but the French and Belgian troops, which threatened Angola’s fragile independence. Castro talked of how the Angolan army incurred heavy losses and lost new equipment. In solidarity with the reassembled Angolan army, SWAPO and ANC guerilla fighters took on the apartheid army and its allies in the historic battle at Cuito Cuanavale, which was a turning point in Southern African struggles for self-determination. There have been arguments and counter arguments about Cuito Cuanavale, but what is important is that the Cuban role was crucial in winning the war that broke the camel’s back. The combined forces of Cuban and Angolan forces and Namibia’s guerrilla fighters, under the command of the famous general Leopoldo Cintas Frias who had fought brilliantly in the Cuban revolution, efficiently deployed guerrilla war-fare tactics and the use of modern weaponry in an operation which decided the war. The defeat of the powerful and well equipped apartheid army and its Western allies brought all sides to the negotiating table. It hastened Namibian independence and the end of apartheid was a matter of time. Cuban assistance to Africa did not end with direct combat in the wars of liberation. While the wars were waging, Cuban doctors and nurses were treating the injured and when necessary sending them to Cuba for extended treatment. Cuba sent thousands of technicians, including teachers and doctors to many African countries after independence. In former Portuguese colonies, this assistance was critical considering the dire need for trained human resources, especially doctors and teachers. For nearly 500 years, Portuguese colonialism was built upon slave trade and systematic pillaging of its African colonies of Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome e Principe, Angola and Cape Verde. The historian Walter Rodney summarised Portuguese colonial rule in Africa: “The Portuguese stand out because they boasted the most and did the least”. By the time of independence, over 95% of the population in Mozambique and most of the other colonies could not read or write. It was not surprising that at independence not a single medical doctor had been trained in Portuguese Mozambique. Cuban doctors whose focus was and still remains primary health care, based on preventive rather than curative care, proved precious to long neglected citizens of those countries. Cuba understood that most Africans were plagued by curable diseases due to poor nutrition, poor hygiene, lack of social amenities etc. and, therefore, concentrated on prevention in combination with treatment. However, in countries which had health systems heavily geared toward curative care, such as South Africa, a section of medical practitioners shunned or frustrated the deployment of Cuban doctors, who threatened their methods of treatment, which yield huge profits. Castro’s Cuba invested heavily in the health of its people and by 2007 it boasted of 77.5% life expectancy and has continued to increase capacity in the field of medicine.Cuba has been able to create a strong medical research and biotechnology industry that informs its manufacture and development of affordable generic medicines, vaccines and alternative medicines. Communicable diseases no longer claim lives of under-fives and its advanced research in the cure of cancers is an envy of advanced countries, so much so that pharmaceutical companies in these powerful countries are vying for joint ventures even before the embargo is lifted. Whatever the state of events in Africa today, Cuba’s intervention under Castro was a necessary component to get us to an important stage in our history. Cuba remains an invaluable and reliable ally to Africa, and has a lot to offer in the post embargo period. The writer is a social and political observer.

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Fare thee well Castro, a true friend of Africa