Africa’s Plight Among Warring Nations
Re “Angola’s Jonas Savimbi Was No Freedom Fighter,” Commentary, March 11: Piero Gleijeses is to be commended for bringing Africa’s tragic problems to the fore in a media world obsessed with the Middle East and for raising a much-needed alarm about the U.S. proclivity for supporting vicious warlords just because it seems a good idea at the time.
However, his attempt to burnish the regressive Fidel Castro’s image as a genuine revolutionary is a major disservice. When a usurper like Castro has his revolutionary credentials certified by the likes of Henry Kissinger, you know he’s a phony. Jonas Savimbi, his competitor Agostinho Neto and Castro were nothing but a triad of jockeying warlords proxying for the rival superpowers in Angola, an unfortunate country whose natural wealth has carried the curse of attracting voracious international predators.
Gilbert Dewart
Pasadena
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.