THE EDITOR, Sir:
I THOROUGHLY enjoyed reading Martin Henry's article 'Cuba and the end of Apartheid'. Just to add my two bits to the article: The highest ranking officer at the time in Angola was Antonio Rosa Coutinho named by the Portuguese military as the all-powerful commissioner of Angola who admitted without any hesitation that if were not for the Cubans the MPLA would have been annihilated. Fidel ran the show from both sides of the Atlantic, one in Cuba and one in Angola.
All this would never have been possible without the Russians. For it was not true that Cuba 'acted alone' in Angola, at worst scorning and at best pre-empting their Russian comrades. From 1961 on when Moscow began backing the MPLA, the Russian regime wavered only twice in its support, in 1963 and again in 1974, both being brief periods when it appeared that the MPLA was going to lose. Fidel relied on the Russians for logistical support when he routed the South African troops who had belatedly entered Angola across the southern Namibian border, and at the same time put the blame for his own new kind of 'interventionism' on the apartheid government of South Africa.
MAJOR THREAT
There was no government of Angola when the Cubans arrived. Fidel knew from his own experience that the government was going to be 'elected' by those who took Luanda first. So on November 11,1975 the MPLA entered the city and proclaimed the country independent. This was a major threat to the United States. Castro was indeed the conquistador. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara must have looked down from heaven with pride in those famous eyes of his. After all Angola is just a stage to fight Uncle Sam.
Just to satisfy Mr. Henry's curiosity about the executed Cuban military officer, this was Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez who was a soldier's soldier. He served with Castro in the Sierra Maestra, and as far away as Venezuela, in the Congo, Ethiopia and in Nicaragua. When he was accused of drug-running and faced the firing squad he said 'My last thought will be of Fidel, and the great revolution he has given our people'.
I am, etc.,
Dr MICHAEL LEON
silverfox@cwhiptop.com
George Town Hospital
Dental Clinic
P.O. box 915 Grand
Cayman.B.W.I
Via Go-Jamaica
