The Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) affirmed the Operation Carlota, the Cuban military intervention in Angola that began in 1975, as "an expression of Cuba's commitment to justice and the self-determination of peoples."
The statement is particularly significant when the regime denounces any foreign interference in its internal affairs and the administration of Donald Trump accuses Havana of decades of international interventionism.
The message also contrasts with the recent statements made by Vice Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who stated on October 26 that Cuba “does not threaten, attack, or interfere in the internal affairs of any country,” a claim that CiberCuba challenged with numerous historical precedents.
The Carlota Operation mobilized hundreds of thousands of Cubans for over fifteen years to provide military support to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by Agostinho Neto. The intervention helped to halt the advance of the apartheid South African forces and later contributed to the process that led to Namibia's independence.
But it also allowed the MPLA to consolidate its power, one of the organizations that were vying for control of Angola during its independence from Portugal. Havana did not limit itself to defending a people from external aggression: it took military sides in an internal conflict, although this was done at the request of the MPLA itself and in the face of other forces that were also receiving foreign support.
Additionally, their military presence preceded the South African offensive of October 1975. U.S. historical documents record between 1,200 and 1,900 Cuban troops in Angola before the formal commencement of Operation Carlota.
The Cuban interventionism was not limited to Africa either. In 1964, the Organization of American States condemned the government of Fidel Castro for promoting subversive actions against Venezuela, explicitly labeling them as aggression and intervention in its internal affairs.
This history connects with the accusations made by the State Department in July 2026. In a report presented by Secretary Marco Rubio, Washington described nearly seven decades of espionage, infiltration, and revolutionary exportation as part of the Cuban regime's international strategy.
Havana rejected the document, describing it as propaganda aimed at justifying a hostile policy and even a potential U.S. military aggression.
Internationalism in Angola and interference in Cuba?
The assertion made by MINFAR raises an uncomfortable question: if intervening militarily in another country to defend justice and self-determination is a legitimate act of solidarity, could the United States invoke those same principles to intervene in Cuba?
Washington could argue that it seeks to restore political freedoms, human rights, and the ability of Cubans to democratically choose their leaders. These are rights that remain restricted under a constitutional system that enshrines the Communist Party as the leading force of society and the State.
Naturally, invoking a just cause does not automatically make a military intervention legal. The United Nations Charter establishes limits on the use of force, and there are historical and legal differences between Angola and a hypothetical U.S. operation in Cuba.
But those rules must be applied regardless of who intervenes and the ideology of the affected government. Neither the internationalist solidarity proclaimed by Havana nor the defense of democracy invoked from Washington constitute, on their own, authorizations to use force.
The political contradiction lies in that the Cuban regime claims its right to intervene in defense of foreign causes that it considers legitimate, while equating national sovereignty with the preservation of its own political monopoly.
The sovereignty of Cuba, however, does not belong to the Communist Party, but to the Cubans. And the self-determination that MINFAR celebrates when recalling Angola also includes the right of a people to freely decide who should govern them.
A right that, more than half a century after Operation Carlota, still cannot be exercised through plural political competition on the island.
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