As Angola gained its independence, Cuba sent a military force to help its new government beat back a South African invasion. Cuba’s long-term role in Angola transformed the politics of Southern Africa and reshaped its own national identity.

The end of Portuguese colonial rule in Angola fifty years ago was also the beginning of a Cuban military mission that had a major impact on the country’s history, beating back a South African invasion and denying Pretoria the opportunity to bring its local allies to power. It also left its mark on the region as a whole: Nelson Mandela credited the Cuban victory over the South African army in 1988 with hastening the fall of apartheid.

When Cuba’s armed forces became openly involved in Angola in November 1975, there was a widespread assumption that Cuba

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