‘Few times in history,’ boasted Castro, who flew in to visit the front, ‘has a war – the most terrible heart-rending human action imaginable – been accompanied by such a degree of humanity on the part of the victors.’ Cuban troops, he added, were there for fifteen years. As late as spring 1988, some 40,000 Cuban, Communist Angolan and Namibian troops defeated Angolan rebels and their South African allies at Cuito Cuanavale, the largest modern battle in African history. Over 300,000 Cuban troops served in the country.
