Cuba and the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola: Non-Military Aspects of Cooperation
Abstract
The article studies the activity of Cuban internationalist mission in Angola from the moment of achieving independence from Portugal in 1975 until the complete withdrawal of the Cuban military and civil specialists from the republic in 1991. Descriptive and quantitative methods are used for the analysis of the cooperation between Cuba and Angola on education and healthcare as well as for scrutiny of its meaning for the development of the Angolan society and its impact on the quality of life. The scale of the engagement of Cuban specialists in the Angolan educational and medical organizations is estimated.
The long-term consequences of this cooperation for the Angolan social sphere as well as for its state and society are considered. The author proves the concept of dual influence of the Cuban mission on the Angolan society, which resulted, on the one hand, in building up a permanent dependence of the Angolan education and healthcare systems from the foreign aid and inhibiting their development and, on the other hand, in a considerable positive impact on the Angolan social sphere and, in prospective, on its economy, with the civilian aid playing an important role in maintaining order and backing the authority of the MPLA, which was necessary for its victory in the civil war.
References
1. Blunden M. South-South Development Cooperation: Cuba’s Health Programmes in Africa / M. Blunden // International Journal of Cuban Studies. – 2008. – No. 1. – P. 32–41.
2. George E. The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale / E. George – Frank Cass, 2005. – 354 p.
3. Gleijeses P. Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959- 1976 / P. Gleijeses – University of North Carolina Press, 2002. – 576 p.
4. Gleijeses P. Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991 / P. Gleijeses. – University of North Carolina Press, 2013. – 672 p.
5. Hatzky C. Cuban Internationalism in Africa: Civil Cooperation with Angola and its Aftermath / C. Hatzky // Cuba and Africa, 1959–1994: Writing an Alternative Atlantic History. – Wits University Press, 2020. – P. 85–105.
6. Hatzky C. Cubans in Angola: South-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976–1991 / C. Hatzky. – University of Wisconsin Press, 2015. – 388 p.
7. Hazanov A. M. Istoriya Angoly v novoye i noveyshee vremya [The History of Angola in Modern Era] / A. M. Hazanov – Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russia Academy of Science, 1999. – 392 p.
8. Kirk J. Healthcare Without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism / J. Kirk – University Press of Florida, 2015. – 360 p.
9. Martynov B. F. Sovetsko-kubinskie otnosheniya posle Karibskogo krizisa, krah razryadki i uroki na budushchee. [Soviet-Cuban Relations after the Caribbean Crisis, the Collapse of Détente and Lessons for the Future] / B. F. Martynov // Iberoamerikanskie tetradi. [Cuadernos Iberoamericanos]. – 2022. – №10(1). – P. 38-52. – URL: https: //www. iberpapers. org/jour/article/view/477/377 (accessed: 22. 12. 2023).
10. Ralston R. Cuba in Africa and Africa in Cuba / R. Ralston // Contemporary Marxism. – 1983. –No. 7. – P. 140–153.
11. Tokarev A. A. FNLA v antikolonialnoy borbe i voyne v Angole [FNLA in the Anti-Colonial Struggle and Civil War in Angola] / A. A. Tokarev – The Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, 2006. – 184 p.
Review
For citations:
Myzin F. Cuba and the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola: Non-Military Aspects of Cooperation. International Aspect. 2023;4(4):19-29.
Views:
101
Email this article 