• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

Algeria to Mourn Fidel Castro's Internationalist Legacy

  • Fidel Castro speaking at a rally. The Cuban revolutionary leader died at the age of 90.

    Fidel Castro speaking at a rally. The Cuban revolutionary leader died at the age of 90. | Photo: Reuters

Published 6 December 2016
Opinion

Algeria became the first nation to receive internationalist military aid from Cuba, following a brigrade sent to Chile in 1960 after an earthquake.

Following suit with many world leaders expressing their condolences and admiration for Fidel Castro and his internationalist, anti-imperialist solidarity, Algerian authorities have declared eight days of mourning in his honor.

Declaring it a “great loss for the Algerian people” in a written statement, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika expressed his gratitude for the key role that Fidel and the Cuban army played in the Algerian Liberation War against French colonizers between 1954 and 1962.

OPINION:
Tribute to Fidel Castro on His 90th Birthday

"I salute him as an authentic defender of the values of peace, respect and national sovereignty, and of his uncompromising struggle for the rights of people to self-determination," President Bouteflika said in a statement quoted by Xinhua news agency.

In 1961, Cuba began its first internationalist mission by providing assistance to Algeria’s National Liberation Front rebels fighting against French colonialism.

By 1962, Algeria had gained its independence and soon after entered into diplomatic relations with the Caribbean island. It didn’t take long for Algeria’s first prime minister, Ben Bella, to define his country’s struggle as Castro-style socialism after a visit to the island in 1962.

The island would also go on to support Algeria militarily in their struggle against U.S.-backed Morocco, which sought to expand by encroaching on contested areas of the two borders. It happened despite Cuba having signed a three-year contract to sell sugar to Morocco at $184 million. In the end, no fight ensued as the Algeria and Morocco signed a ceasefire on Oct. 30.

WATCH: Sahrawi children go to a school provided by Cuba and Venezuela

Cuba also provided medical aid, sending 56 doctors for the first time in 1963. “Today, around 1,000 Cuban medical practitioners, including 500 ophthalmologists, work in health fields across Algeria as part of its ongoing health agreement,” reported The New Arab.

The relationship between the two countries was crucial to the liberation efforts that would overtake the African continent, with Cuba always there in solidarity with various anti-colonial struggles. One of these examples was in Zaire, where “Medicos Guerrilleros with Che Guevara” was founded to provide medical assistance.

Indeed, by 1964, the Kennedy administration was already fearful that “Algeria (had) become...an all-important base for extending Cuban influence in Africa," according to a State Department intelligence report of the same year.

But after a coup ousted Bella in 1965, the two countries grew apart for a while as the new leadership turned its focus to pan-Arab interests and away from African liberation.

The relationship would be re-established down the road, leading incumbent Cuban President Raul Castro to comment in 2009, during a state visit to Algeria, that the friendship was “as indestructible as fifty years ago.”

The commitment between the two countries was evidenced yet again this year.

RELATED:
Cuba, Vietnam Celebrate Historic Friendship with Official Visit

Apart from medical and educational agreements signed between the two, Algeria is hoping to help offset the lower oil supplies from Venezuela by sending the island cheap crude oil.

After having sent a brigade to Chile to help people recover from an earthquake, Algeria was the first to receive internationalist military assistance from Cuba. Throughout the years, Fidel would send military and medical assistance to places around the world facing struggles either against imperialism or natural disaster, from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East and Asia.

Some of the lesser known places include Algeria, Ghana, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Belize, Hait and Equatorial Guinea, among others.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.