-DATE-
19890627
-YEAR-
1989
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
LETTER
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
LETTER TO ANGOLA'S DOS SANTOS
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA RADIO PROGRESO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19890628
-TEXT-
Castro Sends Letter to Angola's Dos Santos

FL2705145789 Havana Radio Progreso Network in Spanish 1100 GMT 27 Jun 89

["Full text" of letter sent by President Fidel Castro to Angolan President
Jose Eduardo dos Santos]

[Text] Comrade Jose Eduardo dos Santos, president of the MPLA [Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola]-Party of Labor and of the People's
Republic of Angola:

Dear Comrade Jose Eduardo,

In the last 2 years, the concerted actions of Cuba and Angola in the
military and diplomatic fields were aimed at reaching a very precise goal,
independence for Namibia, safety for Angola, and peace in southwest Africa.
The cease-fire that was in effect yesterday, 24 June, in the Angolan
territory and the parade in Namibia of the withdrawal of South African
troops, and the return of refugees to their fatherland, are decisive steps
in the process in which we have been involved in and counts with the
unanimous support of the African countries and the international public
opinion.

Although we know that we will encounter difficulties, incidents, and
problems in the next few months, we trust that our decisive will to fulfill
the agreements signed and our vigilant and firm attitude will be able to
overcome the obstacles that may arise and reach the noble goal we have set.

With the Angolan Government's cease-fire agreement, the possibilities are
opened to reinitiate with renovated energy the great task of the national
reconstruction of your country destroyed by a devastating conflict of over
a quarter of a century.  The pages of heroism, dedication, and sacrifices
written with their blood and pain by the Angolan people and their
victorious FAPLA [People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola] will
have an important place in the history of the struggle of the African
people for their liberation.

Peach in Angola not only puts and end to the martyrology of its people but
it also benefits immediately other brother countries in the region,
inasmuch as the reconstruction and operation of the Benguela railroad will
allow Zayre, Zambia, and Zimbabwe use the cheapest and fastest way for its
exports and imports.

More importantly, the people of the continent's southern cone, the African
countries, will now be able to concentrate on the great historic task,
which is the sacred duty of all, the battle for the abolition of the
apartheid regime and the establishment of a democratic, united, and
nonracist South Africa.  All Africans will be able to unite in this goal
beyond their past or present actions or beliefs.

Cuba was, is, and always will be together with its brother African people.
It will always preach the necessary unity of its efforts and will take up
as its own the liberation of South Africans, all of them--black, mestizo,
Indian, and white--from the yoke of the anachronic apartheid regime.

Your efforts, Comrade Jose Eduardo, in the search for an African solution
to the Angolan conflict are meritorious and recognized by the international
community.  We do not doubt that you and the Angola leadership will be able
to overcome the obstacles that come up along the way, avoid all foreign
intervention in this genuinely African process, and achieve that awaited
and noble peace for Angola, safeguard of its national independence, its
territorial safety, and its right to elect sovereignly the path of its
development in benefit of its courageous people.

Allow me, Comrade Jose Eduardo, to express to you the recognition for your
hard work and your sagacity as a statesman and I ask you to pass it on to
the numerous African chiefs of state who have helped to find the achieved
solutions.  Receive our respectful greetings.

Fraternally,

Fidel Castro Ruz
-END-