Au cœur des ténèbres. L’expérience congolaise du Che : naissance d’une politique cubaine en Afrique (avril-novembre 1965)

Details

Supervisors

Gijs, Anne-Sophie

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en histoire, à finalité spécialisée: communication de l'histoire

Abstract

enIn April 1965, following an international tour lasting several months, Ernesto Che Guevara and around a hundred Cubans travelled to Congo-Leopoldville with the aim of training local rebels in the art of guerrilla warfare. Their stay lasted seven months. At the end of the mission, Guevara wrote a report for the Castro government, beginning with the striking sentence: "This is the story of a failure". The aim of this study is to shed light on the motivations and circumstances that led to this revolutionary commitment, to question the reasons for its failure, and to clarify the conditions of the Cubans' departure and the role of the CIA at that precise moment. Analysis of a variety of international sources, both written and oral, shows that the operation was a disaster. Nevertheless, the failings of Western intelligence services, combined with negotiations between Washington and Havana, enabled Cuban troops to leave the Congo without major losses, and without Che's presence even being betrayed.