On its Twitter account, the Cuban Foreign Ministry described the event as a heroic and transcendental deed that made the liberation of Angola and the independence of Namibia possible, and paved the way for the defeat of Apartheid in South Africa.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry also highlighted the celebration on the date of the Southern African Liberation Day, by agreement of the heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August 2018.

It pointed out that such a decision represents the SADC’s recognition of those who fell in a just struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination and of the legacy of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, a paradigm of the Cuban Revolution’s internationalism.

Taking place from November 15, 1987, to March 23, 1988, the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was the largest and longest military conflict in Angola and Africa, in general, after World War II.

The victory against the South African invaders and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), forced the Pretoria regime to withdraw from Angola and hold peace talks, and paved the way for the process to dismantling the Apartheid regime.

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