Return of fallen internationalists commemorated
Thirty-two years have passed, but Cuba has not forgotten. On December 7, 1989, the remains of 2,289 combatants who gave their lives on internationalist missions in Africa were returned to the arms of the homeland

Author: Pedro Ríoseco | internet@granma.cu
december 7, 2021 11:12:53

All the country’s cities received the remains of their prodigal sons, and honored to them in Pantheons of the Fallen established in all municipalities. Photo: Liborio Noval

Thirty-two years have passed, but Cuba has not forgotten. On December 7, 1989, the remains of 2,289 combatants who gave their lives on internationalist missions in Africa were returned to the arms of the homeland, in an effort entitled Operation Tribute.
All the country’s cities received the remains of their prodigal sons, and honored to them in Pantheons of the Fallen established in all municipalities.
General Antonio Maceo’s mausoleum, in El Cacahual, hosted the symbolic national ceremony with the remains of 16 internationalists, one from each provinces and the Isle of Youth special municipality, on the date when the Titan and his faithful assistant Panchito Gomez Toro fell in battle against the Spanish colonialists.
“These men and women, to whom we give an honorable burial today, in the warm land where they were born, died for the most sacred values, they died fighting against colonialism and neocolonialism, racism and apartheid, plundering and exploitation of the peoples of the Third World, for independence and sovereignty, for the right to wellbeing and development of all peoples, for socialism, for internationalism, for the revolutionary and dignified homeland that Cuba is today,” said Fidel at that time, reaffirming the commitment follow their example.
Of these internationalists, 2,085 were participating in military missions in the defense of the nascent independence of the People’s Republic of Angola, and 204 took on civilian tasks, as part of the 377,033 Cuban volunteers who fought in that country during the 15 and a half years of Operation Carlota.
The Cuban government always informed families of the death of each internationalist (in combat, due to accidents or illness), but it was impossible, in the middle of the war, to repatriate their corpses and bury them in their hometowns. But the Revolution did not forget any of its sons and daughters, and to fulfill that humanitarian commitment, Operation Tribute was organized.
As Army General Raul Castro Ruz said on December 12, 1976, “From Angola we will take with us only the intimate friendship that unites us to that heroic nation, the gratitude of its people and the mortal remains of our dear brothers and sisters who fell in the line of duty.” And so it was.

Eternal gratitude for Cuban blood shed to win Angola’s independence
As part of his official visit to the island, Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço met with Cuban combatants who fought in his country’s independence struggle, recalling those times

Author: National news staff | informacion@granma.cu
july 4, 2019 10:07:23

Cuba contributed decisively to the liberation of Angola.

Photo: Archive
As part of his official visit to the island, Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço met with Cuban combatants who fought in his country’s independence struggle, emphasizing his people’s eternal gratitude for this solidarity.

During the meeting, participants recalled those times, when Cuba’s friendship, solidarity, and cooperation was established, “consecrated and eternalized when both shed precious blood to defend the most noble human ideas; freedom, and the right to seek one’s own destiny,” Gonçalves said.

Upon receiving the José Martí Order, earlier this week, the highest distinction awarded by the Cuban state, the Angolan President emphasized that the two people’s “united in an indestructible alliance and defeated on all fronts the powerful forces attempting to prevent, with aggression and war, the independence of Angola, and the liberation of Namibia and South Arica from the grip of apartheid.”

Operation Carlota in Angola, from August of 1975 through May of 1991, when the last group of Cuban internationalists returned, was the Cuban government’s response to a request for help made by the historic leader of the Angolan Liberation Movement (MPLA), Agostinho Neto, given the aggression perpetuated by the apartheid regime in South Africa, with its internal and external allies, in an attempt to deny Angola independence, defeat the MPLA, and occupy the country.

A total of Cuban 385,908 combatants participated in the mission, and 2,398 gave their lives.

Not one of them was seeking personal glory or riches. They were motivated by the desire to be useful, and their loyalty to the Revolution’s internationalism.