World: Fidel Columbus and His Crew

"Just like Christopher Columbus, I have discovered a continent in struggle."

Cuban Premier Fidel Castro may talk like an explorer, but he acts more like, well, a messianic leftist conquistador. Since he began a major airlift of troops to Angola three years ago, the bearded Communist dictator has expanded his country's military presence in Africa to ominous dimensions. Some 43,000 Cuban troops, roughly one-third of his country's regular armed forces, are now stationed on the continent. In addition to the army-size units in Angola (20,000 troops) and Ethiopia (17,000 troops), there are contingents in Mozambique, the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Libya and...

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