Friday, December 9, 2016

"Fidel's Colonial Massacre"


That's the title of an article at The Daily Wire.  I've already commented on Fidel Castro's death, so I found it an interesting sidelight on the issue.  Here's an excerpt.

The Stalinist MPLA party has ruled Angola with an iron-fist since 1975, when Fidel Castro plotted with a departing Portuguese colonial official, a pro-Communist viceroy named Rosa Coutinho, to bring thousands of Cuban military personnel and tons of equipment to the Angolan capital of Luanda. With this assistance, the MPLA seized control. Rosa Coutinho then canceled the election Angola's three independence armies had agreed to — sparking a civil war that left a million Angolans dead and drew the neighboring countries and the superpowers into the conflict.

On May 27, 1977, a hard-line black nationalist faction of the MPLA attempted a coup against then MPLA leader and President Agostinho Neto. Thanks to the Cubans, the coup failed and the plotters were executed. But the killing didn't stop there.

What commenced next was a systematic campaign of terror that is the subject of Lara Pawson's book In the Name of the People: Angola's Forgotten Massacre. This book, published in 2014, is the only in-depth study of the rampage launched by the Cubans and MPLA with a speech by Neto declaring "There will be no contemplations ... Certainly we will not waste time with trials. We will be as quick as possible." They were to kill their enemies in the name of the People.

Angolans began to disappear. Not just those suspected of black nationalist sympathies, but their families — as well as anyone who would dissent from the Party. Cuban tanks were brought in to level houses in poor neighborhoods, and one Cuban doctor remembers being brought to witness a mass execution and then handed pre-written death certificates to sign, "In every case, the stated cause of death was acidente de viacao — road accident." A new term entered Angolan vocabulary, "To be sent to Cuba," which could mean literally (as thousands of Angolans were sent there to be brainwashed or trained as killers), but it also became slang for "To be sent to death."

There's more at the link.  Highly recommended reading.

Fidel Castro was a murdering monster, a callous caricature of a human being.  His death leaves this planet a somewhat better place.  When his brother Raoul joins him in the grave, it'll be even more improved.

Peter

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

And Raoul is actually the nastier of the two... sigh

Anonymous said...

Thanks to JFK. Gave us Castro's Cuba and Public Employees Unions.

Ironically, the commies shot their most valuable ally.

TheOtherSean said...

It would be more correct to say JFK failed to remove Castro. Castro was already in power when JFK came to office.

Anonymous said...

Yes. He failed. From what I understand, he refused previously promised air support, allowing the supply ships to be destroyed. This is getting withing spitting distance of "gave" or perhaps, gave away.

Will said...

JFK turned out to be a typical Democratic politician. To have potential victory in hand, and to throw the war away. And they give it to the communists every time. Seems to be an underlying agenda for them.