Cuban military internationalism
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Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n foreign policy during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
emphasized providing direct military assistance to friendly governments and resistance movements worldwide. This policy was justified directly by the Marxist concept of
proletarian internationalism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...
and was first articulated by Cuban leader
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
at the
Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America The Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America ( es, Organización de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina), abbreviated as OSPAAAL, was a Cuban political movement with the stated purpose of ...
in 1966. However, as an informal policy it had been adopted as early as 1959, shortly after the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
. It formed the basis for a number of Cuban military initiatives in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, often carried out in direct conjunction with the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and
Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
member states which provided advisory or logistical support. These operations were often planned by the Cuban general staff through an overseas headquarters known as an internationalist mission. Military internationalism formed the crux of Cuba's foreign and military policy for almost three decades, and was subordinate only to domestic defense needs. Its support for resistance movements in
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
contributed to Cuba's diplomatic isolation in that region and was instrumental in triggering its suspension from the
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
. Internationalist operations ranged from varying degrees of covert activity and espionage to the open commitment of combat troops on a large scale. The Cuban military presence in Africa was especially notable, with up to 50,000 troops being deployed to Angola alone. Cuban forces in Africa were mainly black and
mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
. Castro justified the use of the armed forces on the African continent as a result of the debt Cuba owed Africa due to its participation in the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
and the contributions patriotic black Cubans had made to the
Cuban War of Independence The Cuban War of Independence (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months ...
. Internationalist missions were perceived by the Cuban government as one means of combating the global influence of the United States by proxy, and Cuba's opponents during these efforts were often decried as American pawns. Likewise, the US government and its allies perceived the
Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias; FAR) are the military forces of Cuba. They include ground forces, naval forces, air and air defence forces, and other paramilitary bodies including the Territorial Tro ...
(FAR) as a Soviet proxy, and the use of internationalist missions as a means to indirectly increase Soviet military influence worldwide. There were also more practical reasons for deploying Cuban troops abroad, such as giving the relatively inexperienced armed forces combat experience across a wide range of theaters. By the mid 1980s, a quarter of Cuba's total military strength was committed to its internationalist missions, fighting with socialist governments or factions in various civil conflicts. At least 200,000 Cuban citizens had served overseas with the FAR in a number of capacities. Military internationalism ended with the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
in 1991, which curtailed much-needed Soviet logistical and
financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
support needed to sustain Cuba's foreign expeditions. The FAR terminated all its major overseas commitments between September 1989 and May 1991.


Origin

Following the success of the Cuban Revolution, the
26th of July Movement The 26th of July Movement ( es, Movimiento 26 de Julio; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates its 26 July 1953 attack on the army barracks on San ...
assumed power in Havana and began revising the country's foreign policy. Many of its leading members, including
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
, believed that Cuba held a special place in the vanguard of international revolutionary movements and began pursuing the active support of revolutionaries in other countries. Castro's interest in revolutionary causes extended beyond Cuba's shores, as he had previously participated in the 1948
Bogotazo El Bogotazo (from "Bogotá" and the ''-azo'' suffix of violent augmentation) refers to the massive riots that followed the assassination in Bogotá, Colombia of Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on 9 April 19 ...
riots and was sympathetic towards anti-government forces in the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
. Support for revolutions abroad thus became an integral part of the radical new Cuban regime's policies, long before it embraced socialism or diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Approximately 1,000 Cubans fought in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
in the 1936–39
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
(nearly all of them in the Communist ranks of the
International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...
). On April 24, 1959, about 80 militants, including a number of Cuban revolutionaries, landed in
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
during a short-lived attempt to overthrow that country's government. The expedition failed and they were arrested after a skirmish with the Panamanian National Guard. Castro held the expedition had been carried out without his foreknowledge and denied all involvement. This led to the establishment of the so-called "Panama precedent", by which the Cuban government agreed that its support for revolution would not supersede relations with other states that were otherwise friendly (in this case, Panama). However, Castro reserved the right to intervene in any country plagued by tyranny or despotism.


List of internationalist operations

The FAR officially recognizes 5 military interventions of Cuba: in Algeria, Syria, Congo, Angola, and Ethiopia. However other sources expand the list including Nicaragua. This list only includes the sending of Cuban military personnel as regular forces recognized as
belligerent A belligerent is an individual, group, country, or other entity that acts in a hostile manner, such as engaging in combat. The term comes from the Latin ''bellum gerere'' ("to wage war"). Unlike the use of ''belligerent'' as an adjective meaning ...
s between the States. Military invasions are added separately for coup purposes. * 1963: The
Sand War The Sand War or the Sands War () was a border conflict between Algeria and Morocco in October 1963. It resulted largely from the Moroccan government's claim to portions of Algeria's Tindouf and Béchar provinces. The Sand War led to heightene ...
in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
was the first intervention of Cuban armed forces in foreign territory. Cuba sent 686 men, a battalion of 22 tanks, artillery and mortar groups, and a battery of anti-tank guns. * 1973–1974: During the War of Attrition (November 1973–May 1974) that followed the
Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
(October 1973),
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
requested military aid from Cuba and the Cuban government sent two tank brigades that participated in combat operations against the Israeli army. * 1975–1991: Regular Cuban forces entered
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
in a mission called Operación Carlota (''Operation Carlota'') to support the communist government and participate in the
Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...
and the
South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...
. Cuban troops, supported by Soviet logistics and using sophisticated Soviet weapons, defeated
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
's armed forces in conventional warfare. Cuban troops also defeated the
FNLA The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independenc ...
and
UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
armies and established
MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...
control over most of Angola. Cuban troops allegedly committed atrocities in Angola, including rape, looting, and napalming of civilians with Russian-made rockets. * 1975–1991: Cuban troops were stationed in
Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before t ...
,
Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
, with the mission of supporting units in Cabinda, Angola. * 1977–1978: During the
Ogaden War The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali War (, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orineti), was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the Ethiopi ...
, 16,000 Cuban troops—armed and transported by Moscow—entered into
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
to support the Ethiopian socialist government and help defeat an invasion force of Somalians. In retaliation to the Somali invasion, Cuban-Ethiopian forces, directed by Soviet generals Grigory Grigoryevich Varisov and
Vasily Ivanovich Petrov Vasiliy Ivanovich Petrov (russian: Васи́лий Ива́нович Петро́в; – 1 February 2014) was a Russian military official and Marshal of the Soviet Union. Background Petrov was born in 1917 in Chernolesskoye, Stavropol Gove ...
, launched a counter-attack in early February 1978, accompanied by a second attack that the Somalis did not expect. A column of Ethiopian and Cuban troops crossed northeast into the highlands between Jijiga and the border with Somalia, bypassing the SNA-
WSLF The Western Somali Liberation Front ( so, Jabhadda Xoreynta Somali Galbeed; abbreviated WSLF) was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assistin ...
force defending the Marda Pass.
Mil Mi-6 The Mil Mi-6 (NATO reporting name Hook), given the article number ''izdeliye 50'' and company designation V-6, is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter that was designed by the Mil design bureau. It was built in large numbers for both mili ...
helicopters helilifted Cuban
BMD-1 The BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, which was introduced in 1969 and first seen by the West in 1970. BMD stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Desanta'' (Боевая Машина Десанта, which literally ...
and
ASU-57 The ASU-57 was a small, lightly constructed Soviet assault gun specifically designed for use by Soviet airborne divisions. From 1960 onwards, it was gradually phased out in favour of the ASU-85. Development history The task to develop a lightw ...
armored vehicles behind enemy lines. The attackers were thus able to assault from two directions in a "pincer" action, allowing the re-capture of Jijiga in only two days while killing 3,000 defenders. The Somali defense collapsed and every major Somali-occupied town was recaptured in the following weeks. The last significant Somali unit left Ethiopia on 15 March 1978, marking the end of the war. The Somali army, which had taken a severe beating from Cuban artillery and aerial assaults, was destroyed as a fighting force. A large Cuban contingent remained in Ethiopia after the war to protect the socialist government. Assisted by Soviet advisors, the Cuban contingent launched a second offensive in December 1979 directed at the population's means of survival, including the poisoning and destruction of wells and the killing of cattle herds. The execution of civilians and refugees, and rape of women by the Ethiopian and Cuban troops was prevalent throughout the war. * 1979–1990: In the
Sandinista Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Fr ...
in
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
, Cuba sent military personnel who took control of the Nicaraguan military security and intelligence services. Some Cuban personnel were accused of abuses, including an incident where a Cuban adviser killed two civilians in
Nueva Guinea Nueva Guinea () is a town and a municipality in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. Nueva Guinea was founded in the 1960s and saw significant growth in the early 1970s as the US Peace Corps helped to move families from the ...
after one spilled beer on his uniform.


Failed invasions

* 1959: Failed expedition to
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
in order to start a revolutionary movement in the country. They were arrested after a skirmish with the Panamanian National Guard. * 1959: Failed expedition to the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
to overthrow the government in alliance with Dominican exiles. The ten Cubans and 200 Dominican exiles were massacred just hours after having disembarked. * 1963 and 1967: Failed expeditions to
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
in order to overthrow the government together with Venezuelan exiles, including the
Machurucuto raid The Machurucuto raid, also known as the Invasion of Machurucuto, was a battle involving Venezuelan Army and National Guard troops against Cuban trained guerrillas. On 10 May 1967, a dozen guerrillas landed in Venezuela at the beach of Machurucuto ...
. The Venezuelan government repelled the invasion by destroying Cuban artillery installed in Venezuelan islands.


See also

*
Cuban medical internationalism After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Cuba established a program to send its medical personnel overseas, particularly to Latin America, Africa, and Oceania, and to bring medical students and patients to Cuba for training and treatment respectively. In 2 ...
*
Foreign interventions by Cuba Cuba intervened into numerous conflicts during the Cold War. They sent medical and military aid into foreign countries on various occasions. The interventionist policies of Cuba during the Cold War were controversial and resulted in isolatio ...
* List of wars involving Cuba *
Military history of Cuba The military history of Cuba begins with the island's conquest by the Spanish and its battles afterward to gain its independence. After the Communist takeover by Fidel Castro in 1959, Cuba became involved in many major conflicts of the Cold War ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuban Military Internationalism Foreign relations of Cuba Cold War military history of Cuba Military history of Cuba Internationalism