1. Jorge Risquet Valdes-Saldana was a Cuban revolutionary and politician.
13 Facts About Jorge Risquet
1. 2.
Jorge Risquet participated in the Sierra Maestra guerrilla campaign during the Cuban Revolution and became later involved in the Angola Civil War.
3.
Jorge Risquet participated in peace negotiations between Angola and South Africa, which led to the independence of Namibia and contributed to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid.
4.
Jorge Risquet was member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1980 to 1991.
5.
Jorge Risquet was politically active in Guatemala, where he represented Latin America in the World Federation of Democratic Youth until the US backed coup in 1954.
6.
In Guatemala, Jorge Risquet met Argentine doctor and late Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
7.
Jorge Risquet then fought in the Cuban Revolution, starting in 1958, leading Jorge Risquet to become an important figure within the new revolutionary government.
8.
Jorge Risquet additionally worked as an advisor to Raul Castro in 1991.
9.
Jorge Risquet's start in assistance to Africa was in 1965, when Castro sent him to work with the government of Congo-Brazzaville while Che Guevara fought against CIA-backed mercenaries in Congo-Leopoldville, or Zaire.
10.
However, the coup in conjunction with disappointment in the effectiveness of assisting the Angolan MPLA troops from Congo-Brazzaville led Jorge Risquet to leave Africa.
11.
In late 1977, after being tasked with leading the Cuban intervention in Angola, Jorge Risquet led the bargaining of compensation for more Cuban personnel in Angola after President Agostinho Neto requested for more aid.
12.
Cuba was economically burdened by the internationalist mission in Angola, and could not support the immense capital and human costs, leading to Jorge Risquet returning to Havana in 1979.
13.
Jorge Risquet maintained a diplomatic relationship with SWAPO, taking a hardline approach by persuading SWAPO to take the position that, if Namibian Independence were to occur, then South Africa would relinquish control of the wealthy Walvis Bay port back to the free Namibia.