Overview
This is a compelling and dramatic account of Cuban policy in Africa from 1959 to 1976 and of its escalating clash with U.S. policy toward the continent. Piero Gleijeses's fast-paced narrative takes the reader from Cuba's first steps to assist Algerian rebels fighting France in 1961, to the secret war between Havana and Washington in Zaire in 1964-65—where 100 Cubans led by Che Guevara clashed with 1,000 mercenaries controlled by the CIA—and, finally, to the dramatic dispatch of 30,000 Cubans to Angola in 1975-76, which stopped the South African advance on Luanda and doomed Henry Kissinger's major covert operation there.
Based on unprecedented archival research and firsthand interviews in virtually all of the countries involved—Gleijeses was even able to gain extensive access to closed Cuban archives—this comprehensive and balanced work sheds new light on U.S. foreign policy and CIA covert operations. It revolutionizes our view of Cuba's international role, challenges conventional U.S. beliefs about the influence of the Soviet Union in directing Cuba's actions in Africa, and provides, for the first time ever, a look from the inside at Cuba's foreign policy during the Cold War.
Editorials
John Lewis Gaddis
Drawing on previously unavailable Cuban and African as well as American sources, the author tells a story that's full of fresh and surprising information.Michael H. Hunt
This breakthrough work confirms Piero Gleijeses's reputation as a master practitioner of international history.Melvyn P. Leffler
This book is indispensable for understanding international relations in the 1960s and 1970s.Los Angeles Times
Gleijeses brilliantly describes those deceits and disguises, with all their accompanying blood and guts and glory. Over the 10 years it took him to research this book, Gleijeses seemingly tracked down every lead, every participant, every document on all sides of the conflicts. His book is a necessary corrective to past misinterpretations of how and why the Cubans intervened in Africa. . . . A fascinating account of Cuban involvement in Africa.New York Times
Gleijeses's research . . . bluntly contradicts the Congressional testimony of the era and the memoirs of Henry A. Kissinger. . . . [This] book strongly challenges common perceptions of Cuban behavior in Africa. . . . After reviewing Dr. Gleijeses's work, several former senior United States diplomats who were involved in making policy toward Angola broadly endorsed its conclusions.Washington Post Book World
Conflicting Missions . . . is fascinating . . . and often downright entertaining. . . . Gleijeses recounts the Cuban story with considerable flair, taking good advantage of rich material. The cast of characters all by itself would ignite lively conversations among Africa hands and students of U.S. policy in the developing world. . . . Rich and provocative.Economist
Admirable . . . A racy tale of revolutionary romance.From the Publisher
Admirable.(The Economist)
"After reviewing Dr. Gleijeses's work, several former senior United States diplomats who were involved in making policy toward Angola broadly endorsed its conclusions.
(New York Times)"
A necessary corrective to past misinterpretations of how and why the Cubans intervened in Africa.
(Los Angeles Times)
Rich and provocative.
(Washington Post Book World)
"Gleijeses gained remarkable access to Cuban documents, and his major contribution lies in what he has discovered there.
(Foreign Affairs)"