William Blum - Martin Bell - Secrets of the CIA TV - Misha Glenny - The Curse of Oil TV - Cold War Armageddon TV - Panorama TV - Castro vs The World TV -
Angola was one of the few examples of US interventions where the Soviet Union was actually involved. There were three guerrilla groups fighting against Portuguese rule for many years. The Soviets were backing one of them, the US and China were backing the other two. And it turned out to be one big horror. William Blum, author Killing Hope
Angola was one of the great battlefields of the Cold War. Martin Bell, war correspondent
The civil war in Angola was the longest running war I believe anywhere in the world in the twentieth century ... The war is over but the dying isn’t. Martin Bell
The CIA chose to influence the conflict in the most convenient way it could. It spread propaganda and pumped money into Angola. Millions of dollars were provided for mercenaries, and nearly one hundred agents were sent to the country. Secrets of the CIA, Sky One 2006
Nature has endowed Angola with abundant resources. Unfortunately, its leaders have been fighting for so long that they neglected to spread the country’s natural largesse among the people. Misha Glenny, McMafia
A four-way proxy war between Soviet military intelligence and Cuba on the side of the governing MPLA, and the CIA and the South African Defence Forces (SADF) in similarly inglorious coalition with Jonas Savimbi’s anti-communist UNITA. ibid.
It was the perfect trade circle. Weapons manufactured mainly in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union ... would be flown into the conflict areas of Africa. Russian pilots were especially welcome as they often knew the terrain well from the Cold War period. The weapons were traded for diamonds ... The only people who lost out were the dead and maimed Angolans. ibid.
With the minimum of resources and at considerable personal risk, Global Witness decided to map every twist and turn in the road that brought diamonds from Angola to London and New York. ibid.
And in late 1998 they published their report, A Rough Trade: The Role of Companies and Governments in the Angola Conflict. Apart from illustrating who all the bad guys on the ground were, they pointed the finger at the Western corporate world. De Beers was the central target, as it enjoyed a near-monopoly on the sale of rough diamonds through its London subsidiary. ibid.
Angola may have some of the richest oil reserve but it remains one of Africa’s poorest countries. The Curse of Oil I: Rich and Poor, BBC 2004
When asked about this lack of transparency and the missing billions Angola’s government says in effect that it has lost the receipts. ibid.
The US has committed itself to another proxy war. Angola’s massive wealth and mineral resources may have been its motive. Cold War Armageddon s1e5, Discovery 2016
The billionaire who corruptly exploited her own country. Leaked documents reveal how a president’s daughter made billions. Isabel dos Santos lives the high life from her London home. But we find the people left in squalor so she make money. And we reveal the UK deal that could bring her down. Panorama: The Corrupt Billionaire, Richard Bilton reporting, BBC 2020
She is Africa’s richest woman: Isabel dos Santos has billions. A yacht and celebrity friends. But she calls London her home … Her fortune is down to her dad: President Eduardo dos Santos who ruled Angola for 38 years. The country’s got vast natural resources, but much of its wealth has been lost to corruption. ibid.
The people here live next to an open sewer … As the tide rises, the water just moves in to where people are living their lives. ibid.
Angola is not a free country. Filming and asking questions attracts the militia. ibid.
How to exploit a country: Oil, Diamonds … Isabel dos Santos is the corrupt billionaire: and Africa’s richest woman made her fortune exploiting her homeland. ibid.
By the end of 1975 Cuba was sent 7,000 troops to Angola. Kissinger’s negotiators were outraged. Castro vs The World I: The Armed Struggle, BBC 2020
As the talks continued, Castro launched a huge surge in Cuba troops, sending another 20,000 soldiers to Angola. Castro took some of his most sophisticated Soviet-supplied anti-aircraft systems, ear-marked to defend Cuba, and sent them to Angola. ibid.
South Africa was forced to pull out of Angola and Namibia. ibid.