The Cuba–Angola airbridge (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

: Ponte aérea Cuba-Angola) was an

airbridge Airbridge or air bridge may refer to: * AirBridge (alliance) or AiRUnion, a defunct Russian-backed consortium * Airbridge (band), an early-1980s British progressive-rock band *Airbridge (logistics), the route and means of delivering material from ...

conducted in 1974 and 1975 to allow the arrival of Cuban troops and military equipment in Angola. Its goal was to support the

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, Abbreviation, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wi ...

political party, as part of a larger Cuban operation known as

Operation Carlota The Cuban intervention in Angola (codenamed Operation Carlota) began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western National Unio ...

. The airbridge allowed the entry of Cuban troops and military equipment in Angola to strengthen the weakened

People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola The People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola ( pt, Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola) or FAPLA was originally the armed wing of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) but later (1975–1991) became Ango ...

(FAPLA), the military wing of the MPLA. The Cuban special troops and military equipment were initially transported from Cuba in two old four-engine

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the Commonwealth. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved su ...

s by the Cuban national airline,

Cubana de Aviación Cubana de Aviación S.A., commonly known as Cubana, is Cuba's flag carrier, as well as the country's largest airline. It was founded in , becoming one of the earliest airlines to emerge in Latin America. It has its corporate headquarters in Ha ...

. The establishment of the airbridge revitalized the MPLA and is seen as a turning point in its consolidation of power in Angola.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuba-Angola airbridge Angolan Civil War 1974 in Cuba 1975 in Cuba 1974 in Angola 1975 in Angola Airbridge (logistics) Angola–Cuba military relations