Washington, November 29 (RHC)-- Under the leadership of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro and his comrades, Cuba has played an out-sized role in supporting revolutionary and progressive movements around the world, far greater than might be expected from a relatively small country.

According to U.S. activist and writer Richard Becker, some of Revolutionary Cuba’s actions are well-known, such as its role in defeating the racist South African attempt to conquer Angola in the 1970s and 80s.  

Less known is the long history of Cuba’s solidarity with the Palestinian and other struggles in the Middle East and North Africa, a history that began shortly after the 1959 revolution.  A few months after the triumph, Raul Castro and Che Guevara visited Cairo, making contact with African liberation movements based there, and also visited Gaza, then under Egyptian administration, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Ricard Becker notes that Cuba saluted the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, and established ties with the FATAH movement the following year.  A close alliance was developed between Cuba and the leftist government of Syria in the late 1960s, and at the time both supported FATAH after it became the dominant force in the PLO.  Cuba provided political, educational and military support to FATAH, as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front (DFLP), the second and third largest organizations in the PLO.

Over the past several days, the major Palestinian groups have issued statements of mourning, and demonstrations of solidarity have taken place across Palestine.  The message from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the DFLP, said much about Fidel Castro’s historic role:

“From Angola to South Africa, Palestine to Mozambique, Bolivia to El Salvador, Fidel Castro’s legacy of international revolutionary solidarity and struggle continues to serve as an example in practice that transcends borders toward revolution, democracy and socialism.”