Cuba in Africa

The end of Portuguese colonialism ignited the dormant liberation struggles in South Africa and in neighbouring Namibia. Cuba was, as Piero Gleijeses argues in this important exposition on the topic, the catalyst for the transformation of the region from one dominated by white settler minority rule to single party constitutional democracies led by the former liberation movements. The author’s careful use of archival material and interviews from the three main protagonists– Cuba, the United States and South Africa – is the key distinguishing feature of this authoritative account. Covering one and a half decades, the book describes in great detail the policy initiatives, debates and reactions as the three capitals sought to shape the politics of a region on the cusp of change.