CUBA: Triumph of the Revolution and African Solidarity
Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos entering Havana, 8 January 1959.
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After five and a half years of revolutionary struggle, Cuban revolutionaries dislodged the dictator and US puppet Fulgencio Batista, forcing him to flee or be tried as a war criminal. The 1st of January 1959 is a day that the Cuban people under the leadership of Comrade Fidel Castro struck a mighty blow for the sovereignty of nations, free from imperial Western interference.
Once under the thumb of the Spanish, then in the vice grip of the United States, The 26th of July Movement, or MR-26-7, ensured not only the freedom for Cubans that endures to this day, but also provided material, military, and ideological support for freedom fighters all over the world. This support extended to Africa in its liberation struggles. This is why Africa will always stand in solidarity with the Cuban people in its continuing struggle against the punitive blockade and sanctions against Cuba.
Cuba: Comrade of the African
Cuba sent medial and military supplies to the Algerian National Liberation Front in its struggle against colonial France and its allies, estabilshing a Cuban mission after independence. They also established a similar military mission in Ghana in 1961 in solidarity with the fledgling government of that country under the leadership of Pan-Africanist revolutionary, President Kwame Nkrumah.
In the proxy war against the Apartheid government, Cuban military might was crucial in humiliating the joint South African and US forces against Angolan Liberation movement the MPLA. Almost 40 000 Cuban troops helped to drive the South African Defence Force out of Angola.
There is no debt between comrades, only partnership. This is a partnership that the African people will not forget or abandon. Africans must certainly not sacrifice this comradeship on the table of expedience, or at the behest of neocolonial powers who have oppressed us, continue to suppress the development of Cuba, and exploit the wealth and people of the African continent.
That’s why African socialists celebrate and commemorate the Triumph of the Revolution with the Cuban people, and continue to work for the manifestation of our own triumph over the oppressive forces that bedevil and beleaguer our progress.
