Cold War in the Congo: The Confrontation of Cuban Military Forces, 1960-1967

aidasnn:

Cold War in the Congo: The Confrontation of Cuban Military Forces, 1960-1967

It is widely acknowledged that Congo became an East- West battlefield during the first half of the decade of the 1960s, yet the participation of Cuban exiles in the struggles is rarely noted. In this absorbing volume Villfana details the contribution made by Cuban exiles to the preservation of democracy in Congo. When Congo was given its independence by Belgium in the 1960, most of its people believed their new government had been installed by the West and opposed it. Anti-colonial, anti-government Congolese patriots started fighting. Some were pro-communist, some anti-communist, and most didnt know the difference. Many countries were involved on both sides of this conflict: Cuba, the Soviet Union, The Peoples Republic of China, the United States (represented by military advisors, the CIA and Cuban exiles), Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and several African nations. The Cold War made the involvement of some of these countries predictable, but not the Cuban involvement. Villafaa explores reasons for Castros involvement in Congo. He considers whether Castro was operating with a master plan, of which Africa was a key. He discussed why Castro chose Che Guevara to head the ill-fated military expedition. He considers why the United States allowed Castro to freely export his revolution, and why it used Cuban exiles to prevent the mineral riches of Congo from falling into the hands of international communism. Villafaa shows that CIA-sponsored Miami Cuban exiles were instrumental in thwarting Castros plans for Congo, which were believed to have included a confederacy with Tanania and Congo, to gain control of Central Africa and its vast resources.

Rebagelling because the Congo, as many of you know, is a place of interest to me! Shall read later.

I absolutely looooove bandwagons.

I’ve put up a few posts on Facebook in the past about Africa and conflict minerals and child soldiers. I’ve urged my friends to look at the videos and research these topics for themselves. 

The videos I posted haven’t attracted any attention.

Suddenly this Kony 2012 video comes out, and everyone’s all gung-ho over stopping child soldiers.

I suppose I am a little bitter, but I feel as if I have a right to be. (And call me hipster if you like for going against Invisible Children, I don’t care.) The proof is clearly in the pudding as far as calling this video a “trend”. People didn’t care before — well, at least, my friends on facebook didn’t. Now everyone’s posting and reposting it all over my Facebook dashboard. 

I even posted a link TODAY on facebook to a very simple, decidedly less-than thirty minute video about conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Has there been any activity? Any likes/comments? No.

But there sure have been on that Condescending Wonka picture I posted, urging people to review the facts before supporting Invisible Children.

And if you’re wondering, I posted both about an hour ago. Zero likes/comments on the conflict minerals video, and about 5 likes/9 comments (myself included) on the Wonka picture. SEE WHAT I MEAN. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

I TOTALLY SPELLED ‘CHRIST’ AS ‘CRUST’. LOL.