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Cuba and the Struggle for Algerian Independence, 1959–1962

Cuba et la lutte pour l’indépendance de l’Algérie, 1959-1962
Cuba y la lucha por la independencia de Argelia, 1959-1962
Salim Lamrani
Cet article est une traduction de :
Cuba et la lutte pour l’indépendance de l’Algérie, 1959-1962 [fr]
Autre(s) traduction(s) de cet article :
Cuba y la lucha por la independencia de Argelia, 1959-1962 [es]

Résumés

Cet article analyse l’engagement de Cuba aux côtés du Front de Libération Nationale algérien entre 1959 et 1962, depuis les tribunes des Nations unies jusqu’à l’aide matérielle et militaire apportée au Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Algérienne (GPRA). À partir des archives diplomatiques françaises et étasuniennes, des débats onusiens, de la presse et des sources cubaines et algériennes, il montre que La Havane ne se contente pas d’un soutien rhétorique, mais fait de la cause algérienne une priorité de son internationalisme d’État. La rupture avec l’alignement pro-français du régime Batista, la reconnaissance du GPRA, le vote systématique en faveur de l’autodétermination et l’envoi d’armes et de combattants témoignent d’un choix de principe, assumé malgré les pressions de Washington et le risque de détériorer les relations avec Paris. L’étude met en lumière le traumatisme diplomatique provoqué en France par ce basculement, ainsi que la façon dont la convergence algéro-cubaine incarne, aux yeux des États-Unis, la menace d’un front anticolonial et anti-impérialiste au sein du Tiers-monde.

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Texte intégral

Introduction

1Far from being a marginal episode in the Algerian War of Independence, Cuba’s support for the National Liberation Front (FLN) was rooted at the heart of the geopolitical realignments taking place at the turn of the 1960s. As colonial Algeria was shaken by the uprising of November 1, 1954 and France attempted to contain this drive for freedom mainly through military means, another revolution, thousands of miles away, was upsetting the established order: the one waged in the Sierra Maestra by the Cuban insurgents led by Fidel Castro. Very early on, these revolutionaries recognized in the struggle of the moudjahideen a kindred cause, both anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, and made Algeria a central reference point in their revolutionary consciousness.

2Yet the unique role played by Cuba during the 1959–1962 period remains relatively unknown. A close reading of French diplomatic records, U.S. archives, UN debates, and Cuban and Algerian sources reveals that far from limiting itself to rhetorical support, Havana carried out diplomatic, political, and material initiatives of unexpected scope. These efforts contributed to isolating Paris on the international stage and legitimizing the Algerian cause across Latin America.

3Examining French reactions to Cuba’s political realignment – from compliant ally of “French Algeria” under Fulgencio Batista to firm supporter of the right to self-determination under Fidel Castro – sheds light on the depth of the diplomatic shock caused by this reversal of alliances. As the prestige of the Cuban Revolution grew throughout Latin America, French diplomats feared that Havana’s example would spread, prompting other states in the region to break with their traditional alignment on Western positions.

4Cuban solidarity with Algeria served as an early laboratory of Fidelista internationalism, grounded in revolutionary ideals and anti-colonial convictions, where diplomatic backing, logistical assistance, and military aid were combined despite intense political and economic pressure from Washington. Between 1959 and 1962, the Algerian cause became for Cuba a decisive test of its Third-Worldist vocation, and Havana’s support helped place Algeria’s independence within a broader project for the emancipation of the Global South. The genesis of this revolutionary friendship, forged in the heat of anti-colonial struggle, would shape relations between the two countries for decades.

  • 1 Isaac Saney, “African Stalingrad: The Cuban Revolution, Internationalism and the End of Apartheid”, (...)

5From a historiographical perspective, although the Algerian War of Independence has generated extensive literature – as has the foreign policy of the Cuban Revolution and its later internationalist campaigns in Africa – the 1959–1962 period remains relatively understudied in analyses of South-South revolutionary connections. Works portraying Algeria as a “Mecca of revolutionaries” generally emphasize the post-1962 era, while research on Cuban involvement in Africa focuses primarily on Angola and southern Africa.1 By reconstructing Cuba’s role during the final phase of the Algerian War, from UN platforms to forms of material and military assistance, this article shows how the Algerian cause rapidly became a top priority of Cuban state internationalism.

1. “When we were fighting in the mountains, the Algerians were fighting in the wilayas”

6In the mountains of the Sierra Maestra, while they had been waging an insurgent war against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista since December 1956, the Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro followed with keen interest the evolution of the Algerian people’s struggle for independence, launched by the uprising of November 1, 1954. Opposed to a military regime backed by the United States, they shared the aspirations for freedom and sovereignty of the National Liberation Front (FLN) moudjahideen and were outraged by the abuses committed by the French army against supporters of a free Algeria, abuses they likened to the repressive methods of Batista’s forces.

  • 2 Herbert L. Matthews, “Cuban Rebel Is Visited in Hideout. Castro Is Still Alive and Still Fighting i (...)
  • 3 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de los Consejos de Estado (...)

7Fidel Castro mentioned the Algerians’ fight for freedom for the first time during his famous interview with New York Times journalist Herbert L. Matthews in February 1957: “The Cuban people hear on the radio all about Algeria.”2 He would later evoke the special bond linking the two revolutions: “Something special ties us to Algeria. When we were fighting in the mountains, the Algerians were fighting in the wilayas.”3

  • 4 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State”, November 4 (...)

8The 1954 armed uprising left a deep impression in France and around the world. Subjugated since 1830 and oppressed by poverty and colonial arbitrariness, the Algerian people demanded independence. Clarence Douglas Dillon, U.S. ambassador to France, stressed in a telegram to the State Department the sense of shock prevailing in Paris: “All French officials have been most impressed by the obvious organization of the outlaws in that, within space of few hours some 30 incidents occurred throughout eastern and even western Algeria, and timing appears to have been perfect.”4

  • 5 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State”, November 1 (...)
  • 6 Lewis Clark, “The Consul General at Algiers (Clark) to the Department of State”, November 30, 1954, (...)

9Jacques Chevalier, Minister of National Defense and Armed Forces, informed Dillon that Paris had dispatched “large forces” to crush the rebellion, including several “regiments from Indochina.”5 According to Lewis Clark, U.S. Consul General in Algiers, the government of Pierre Mendès France had adopted “extraordinary measures,” with a “considerable and widespread reinforcement of military and police” to neutralize the movement.6 France was taking the Algerian revolt seriously.

  • 7 John Foster Dulles, “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, May 27, 1955, (...)

10Yet the Algerian question required a political solution rather than a campaign of repression. Criticism did not come only from Third World nations. Washington regretted “the Inability of the French to formulate and implement specific and imaginative programs to which the local population could rally and which other countries might reasonably support.” Moreover, the abuses committed against civilians suspected of collaborating with the rebels not only fueled widespread resentment but also provoked “moral condemnation and adverse political repercussions” in world opinion.7

  • 8 Herbert Hoover Jr., “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, June 17, 1955 (...)
  • 9 Henry Cabot Lodge, “Telegram From the Mission at the United Nations to the Department of State”, No (...)
  • 10 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, March 7, (...)
  • 11 Herbert Hoover Jr., “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, March 8, 1956 (...)
  • 12 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, November (...)

11As early as 1955, the United States warned its European ally: The “political aspirations of the local population […] cannot be met by repressive police measures alone.”8 It was also politically impossible for Washington to adopt, at the United Nations, a position “in defense of French colonialism.”9 France, “in best cases,” would face “very difficult times,”10 and the U.S. could not support in Algeria “what might become a long and bloody military campaign, including operations against Muslim civilian population.”11 The U.S. diplomatic assessment was unequivocal: France was displaying “a narrowness of view and lack of realism” on the Algerian question and, “unless new proposals” to satisfy the aspirations of the Arab-Muslim population, “the situation will only deteriorate.12

  • 13 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, November (...)
  • 14 John Bovey, “Memorandum of a Conversation”, November 29, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United Stat (...)
  • 15 Salim Lamrani, « Conversations avec HO Hai Quang : ‘La plus grande puissance militaire et économiqu (...)

12According to Prime Minister Guy Mollet, the Europeans in Algeria – “whose loyalty was not to France but to themselves” – sought to impose their own project in the form of an apartheid regime. They “were seeking a solution along South African lines, which would involve the creation of an independent Algeria dominated by European elements.”13 The Algerian revolutionaries, however, refused such a fate. Ferhat Abbas, FLN leader, warned at the outset of the conflict that the Paris government “must realize, from their knowledge of the Indo-Chinese situation, that France would never win the Algerian war. Algerians would continue to fight until the French accepted the principle of equality.”14 Indeed, the Vietnamese victory at the historic Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 profoundly inspired peoples of the Global South and galvanized Algerian revolutionaries determined to follow the path opened by Ho Chi Minh.15

  • 16 Matthew Looram, “Memorandum From Matthew Looram of the Office of the Western European Affairs to th (...)
  • 17 David G. Nees & Matthew Looram, “Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant (Holmes (...)
  • 18 Lindsay Parrott, “France Opposes U.N. Algeria Step”, The New York Times, September 25, 1959. See al (...)

13By 1957, the United States concluded that Algerian independence was inevitable: “It is no longer a question of how France can permanently keep Algeria a part of the Metropole, it cannot be done. The eventual formation of an Algerian state in some form or another is inevitable.”16 The thesis that “Algeria is an integral part of the metropole” was unrealistic. The only viable solution lay in “a cease-fire” and “a negotiated settlement based on eventual self-determination for the Algerians.”17 Nevertheless, this diagnosis did not prevent the United States from supporting France at the United Nations, to the point that M’Hammed Yazid, Minister of Information of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), accused Henry Cabot Lodge, the U.S. representative at the UN, of “acting as France’s lawyer.”18

14Cuba, for its part, had already chosen the side of independence.

2. Cuba’s Support for the Algerian Cause at the United Nations

  • 19 Diario de la Marina, « Respalda Cuba a Francia en el grave problema de Argel », December 7, 1957, p (...)
  • 20 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Minist (...)
  • 21 Thomas J. Hamilton, “U.N. Algeria Question Has Pitfalls for U.S.”, The New York Times, July 5, 1959 (...)

15While Fulgencio Batista’s military regime had systematically sided with Paris on the Algerian question in international forums,19 the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959 marked a turning point. Philippe Grousset, the French ambassador in Havana, saw this coming and expressed his concern just days before the dictator’s fall: “From a French perspective, we can only regret the departure of a man who, throughout his two presidencies, was a sincere friend of France.”20 The New York Times also highlighted Batista’s support for French Algeria and noted that the balance of power at the United Nations could now shift: “The overthrow of the Batista government in Cuba, whose delegation fought for the French with great determination last year, has increased the possibility that an independence-for-Algeria resolution will be adopted this time.”21

  • 22 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Minist (...)

16On March 12, 1959, in an improvised speech, Fidel Castro declared that one of the “greatest emotions” he had experienced since the triumph of the Revolution was “receiving the gold medal of the Algerian people fighting for their independence.” A few weeks earlier, Cuba’s chargé d’affaires in Cairo had accepted the distinction awarded by the FLN to the Prime Minister. Ambassador Grousset expressed his concern to Roberto Agramonte, then Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, stressing that such statements put “traditional friendship” between the two countries to the test. He even went so far as to worry about the creation of a “committee in support of the Algerian people” in Santa Clara. For its part, the Quai d’Orsay warned in a telegram to Havana that “other demonstrations, such as an official reception of Mohamed Yazid or any other representative of the GPRA, would have serious consequences for Franco-Cuban relations.”22 It was certainly not the kind of language to use with the new revolutionary authorities, who were particularly sensitive to issues of national sovereignty. Paris would soon discover that Cuba’s commitment to Algerian independence would exceed even its most pessimistic expectations.

  • 23 Sous-Direction des Nations unies et des Organisations internationales, « La question algérienne à l (...)

17As early as June 1959, in anticipation of the upcoming General Assembly session, the French UN and International Affairs Sub-Directorate issued a memo on potential voting shifts across the Americas regarding the Algerian question. One country in particular drew the attention of French diplomacy: “At the next session, we will have to reckon with the loss of Cuba, a particularly serious setback, both because of the sometimes decisive role played in previous debates by its delegate, Dr. Núñez Portuondo, and because of the moral authority the regime of Mr. Fidel Castro has acquired in Latin America.” Thanks to the prestige of its revolution, Havana had become an influential voice in the region. It was imperative, the memo stressed, to prevent the United Nations from offering “the Algerian rebels the considerable moral support of a resolution broadly validating their aspirations,” and to try to limit Cuba’s influence.23

  • 24 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Minist (...)

18That same June, on behalf of the revolutionary government, Che Guevara embarked on a nearly three-month tour of Africa, Asia, and Europe, visiting Egypt, India, Japan, Indonesia, Ceylon, Burma, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Morocco, and Spain. One stop especially concerned Ambassador Grousset: Cairo, capital of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser, a fervent supporter of Algerian independence. The French envoy raised the issue with Minister Agramonte, expressing concern over Guevara’s visit to Egypt and warning of the influence of the Argentine revolutionary’s “very radical ideas,” particularly the possibility of a meeting with the Algerian exile committee based there. The diplomat even voiced a rather curious hope: “Let us hope that the civil marriage he contracted the day before yesterday with a very young Cuban woman will temper his interest in the Algerian rebellion within the framework of his communist convictions.”24 His wish went unfulfilled: Cuba had fully embraced the cause of Algerian independence.

19In New York, Ambassador Armand Bérard, head of France’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, also expressed concern to Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville about the likely outcome of the next resolution on Algeria – again invoking Cuba:

  • 25 Armand Bérard, « M. Bérard, chef de la Mission permanente de la France auprès de l’organisation des (...)

Last year we avoided, by a single vote, a two-thirds majority in favor of a motion unfavorable to France. That vote may not be found again this year. The change of government in Cuba makes this possibility impossible to ignore. The adoption of such a motion – particularly if by a strong majority – would seriously harm us at the UN and would have even more regrettable repercussions in Algeria and North Africa.
In 1959 the Cuban government of Fidel Castro will vote against us. The prestige of the bearded revolutionaries is great in Central American countries, and Fidel Castro’s stance may cause other Latin American states to hesitate.25

  • 26 Maurice Couve de Murville, « M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères, aux représenta (...)
  • 27 Délégation française aux Nations unies, « Note de la Délégation française aux Nations unies », Dece (...)

20The warning was taken seriously. In July 1959, the Quai d’Orsay circulated a letter to French diplomatic missions worldwide expressing anxiety over the “Algerian question,” which had been added to the agenda of the UN General Assembly’s fourteenth session at the request of twenty-five African and Asian states. Latin American countries, representing a quarter of the Assembly, had “almost unanimously supported France in the past.” But circumstances were changing, particularly because of one country: “Cuba, which had always given us active and sometimes decisive support, now risks not only voting with our adversaries, but also pulling hesitant states in the same direction.”26 Indeed, the year before, in 1958, “the Cuban delegate, Mr. Núñez Portuondo, had vigorously defended France’s position and denied any UN competence in the Algerian matter.”27 With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, that era was definitively over.

  • 28 Robert de Boisseson, « M. de Boisseson, Ambassadeur de France à Santiago du Chili, à M. Couve de Mu (...)
  • 29 Raoul Spitalier & Jacques Baeyens, « Note de la Direction d’Amérique », Janvier 11, 1960, document  (...)
  • 30 Kathleen Teltsch, “Cuba Bars Choice Between Two Blocks”, The New York Times, September 25, 1959.
  • 31 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. du Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville (...)

21Raúl Roa, the new Cuban Foreign Minister, whom French diplomats described as both “skilled and eloquent,”28 yet “radical and combative”,29 dispelled any remaining doubt in September 1959: Cuba “would vote in favor of Algerian independence” at the UN General Assembly.30 A few days earlier, the press had reported statements made by Che Guevara in Morocco announcing the “favorable stance” Cuba would adopt in New York, prompting Roger Robert du Gardier, the new French ambassador in Havana, to alert the Quai d’Orsay.31

  • 32 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, M (...)

22On the island, sympathy for the Algerian cause was widespread. Cuban newspapers regularly emphasized the legitimacy of the FLN’s struggle against colonial oppression, much to the frustration of French diplomacy. In a November 1959 message to Paris, Ambassador du Gardier lamented a “new campaign” in the Cuban press against “French colonialism.” For Havana, the Algerian question was a “vital cause.” The diplomat noted the island’s firm commitment to Third-World emancipation: Cuba aspired to serve as “a bridge between Afro-Asian countries and Latin American republics” and “a spiritual and moral guide for all the underdeveloped nations of the world fighting against Western ‘imperialism’ and ‘capitalism.’”32

23And Cuba kept its word. During its speech at the United Nations in December 1959, Havana’s representative expressed solidarity with the insurgents and reaffirmed the country’s unwavering support for the principle of self-determination. Cuba went beyond a formal political declaration and forcefully endorsed the Algerian cause. As Le Monde reported:

  • 33 Jean Knecht, « Le représentant soviétique s’est abstenu de mentionner la motion afro-asiatique », L (...)

The intervention most awaited was that of the Cuban delegate, Mr. Roa, who, had there been a prize for virulence, would undoubtedly have won it. Conducting a full-scale prosecution of France in Algeria, he surpassed even Mr. Choukeiri [the Saudi representative] in the harshness of his tone, no small feat.33

  • 34 Thomas J. Hamilton, “Talks on Algeria Urged in U.N. Vote”, The New York Times, December 8, 1959. Vo (...)
  • 35 Sous-Direction des Nations unies et Organisations internationales, « Question d’Algérie », December (...)
  • 36 The New York Times, “Morroco Affirms Link”, December 10, 1959.

24Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, and Panama were the Latin American nations that voted in favor of the resolution calling for “the implementation as early as possible of the right of self-determination of the Algerian people.”34 Paris lamented Havana’s “hostility.”35 Cuba’s determined support for Algerian independence even encouraged Morocco to open its first diplomatic mission in Latin America, in Havana on December 10, 1959.36

  • 37 Raoul Spitalier & Jacques Baeyens, “Note de la Direction d’Amérique”, January 11, 1960, document 17 (...)

25Despite Cuba’s stance on Algeria, Minister Roa was not hostile to France, a country he sincerely admired. “He does not appear devoid of sympathy toward us,” acknowledged the Quai d’Orsay. “During the time of Free France, he maintained very cordial relations with our representative in Havana,” the ministry noted. Cuba was not France’s enemy, and Paris readily recognized Havana’s “friendly sentiments toward us,” as shown by its decision to send students to study in France, its preference for Air France flights to Europe, and its frequent requests for technical assistance. Cuba’s posture in international forums was guided above all by “its anti-colonialism,” which for Havana was a supreme cause.37

26For Cuba, there was only one possible outcome for Algeria: independence.

3. Outright Independence

  • 38 Dwight D. Eisenhower & Charles de Gaulle, « Entretien en tête-à-tête du général de Gaulle et du pré (...)

27On December 19, 1959, during a meeting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Élysée Palace, General de Gaulle reiterated France’s position on the Algerian question: “We want free elections that will allow the Algerians to express their will clearly. If they want to remain French, they will say so. If they want to form an Algerian government tied to France, so be it. If they want to tear themselves away, then to hell with them!”. The Algerian people had firmly chosen the path of self-determination to put an end to the intolerable conditions in which they lived. The man of June 18 had no difficulty recognizing this reality: “Life in that country is very harsh, and before they can concern themselves with politics, people have to think about their day-to-day existence, just to survive – miserably, in fact.” Yet the looming prospect of Third World emancipation hardly delighted the French head of state: “Speaking of independence, in a few years we will have at the United Nations thirty Black nations, twenty Islamic nations, fifteen Asian nations, ten Communist countries, and seventeen Western nations. It is a worrying prospect.”38

  • 39 The New York Times, “The World. Algeria, Round 1”, July 3, 1960.
  • 40 The New York Times, “The World. Fencing on Algeria”, July 10, 1960.
  • 41 Johannes V. Imhof, “Memorandum of Conversation”, January 3, 1961, Foreign Relations of the United S (...)

28The first official negotiations between the two sides began in July 1960 in Melun.39 The positions were still far apart, and Ferhat Abbas, by then Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), explained why: “Even in negotiation the French Government holds to the colonialist viewpoint and rejects any discussion between equals.”40 French diplomacy clearly struggled to free itself from the racist prejudices inherited from 130 years of colonial domination, as illustrated by the exchanges between the French ambassador in Washington, Hervé Alphand, and U.S. Secretary of State Christian A. Herter: “With Arabs, one could never be certain whether agreements that had been reached would not again become negotiable.”41 The balance of forces on the battlefield and the Algerians’ determination to win their freedom would eventually force Paris to adopt a more accommodating stance and accept the irreversible course of history. Sooner or later, Algeria would gain its independence.

  • 42 Cabinet du Ministre, « Réunion des Ministres des Affaires étrangères des Six », July 18, 1960, docu (...)
  • 43 Salim Lamrani, « Las primeras sanciones económicas de Estados Unidos contra Cuba », Revista Cubana (...)
  • 44 Cabinet du Ministre, « Réunion des Ministres des Affaires étrangères des Six », July 18, 1960, op. (...)

29Maurice Couve de Murville had a clear aversion to the government in Havana, largely because of its position on the Algerian question. He made this plain to his German, Belgian, Italian, Luxembourgish, and Dutch counterparts during a meeting of the “Group of Six” in The Hague in July 1960. The island’s emancipation from the tutelary shadow of its powerful northern neighbor was inconceivable to him: “For the first time, a Latin American country has slipped out of the United States’ sphere of influence. Subversion has already taken root in the heart of Central America,” he lamented. “We cannot yet say that the Cuban regime is Communist,” he conceded,42 thus implicitly expressing his reservations about the Eisenhower administration’s justification for the first economic sanctions against Cuba.43 Largely insensitive to the political realities of the Third World, the head of the Quai d’Orsay had difficulty grasping the resonance of the Cuban Revolution, which embodied the aspirations of Southern peoples to greater independence: “It is striking to see how much Mexico, which is nevertheless a stable country, shows sympathy for the Cuban regime.”44

  • 45 Le Monde, “Le discours du premier ministre cubain à l’Assemblée générale de l’O.N.U. durerait quatr (...)
  • 46 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por el Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, Primer Ministro del Go (...)

30Cuba, deeply attached to its sovereignty, was naturally sensitive to the Algerians’ aspiration to self-determination. Western media took note, pointing out that the island “would demand for [Algeria] nothing less than full and outright independence.”45 In his first address to the United Nations in September 1960, Fidel Castro made Cuba’s position on self-determination crystal clear: “We stand with the Algerian people, just as we stand with those peoples still subjected to colonialism in Africa and with the Black population discriminated against in the Union of South Africa. We stand with all peoples who long to be free.”46

  • 47 Kathleen Teltsch, “Soviet Asserts U-2 Spies on Algerians”, The New York Times, September 14, 1960.
  • 48 Direction d’Afrique-Levant, « Les États africains d’expression française à la quinzième session de (...)
  • 49 Maurice Couve de Murville, “Letter from Foreign Minister Couve de Murville to Secretary of State He (...)
  • 50 Joseph C. Satterthwaite, “Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Sat (...)

31At the UN, Havana denounced U.S. military support for France.47 French diplomats, for their part, noted that Castro’s speech – as well as those of other world leaders such as Nasser, Tito, and Sékou Touré, had left a strong impression.48 In Paris, officials recognized that there was only one possible outcome to the Algerian question. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter, Maurice Couve de Murville admitted there could be no solution other than independence: “Algeria will be Algerian, with its own government and its own institutions.”49 The U.S. State Department reached the same conclusion in a memorandum of January 1961: “There is no longer any question that an ‘Algerian Algeria’ will be created.”50

  • 51 Mission de liaison pour les Affaires algériennes, « Séjour de la mission du G.P.R.A. en Amérique la (...)
  • 52 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, M (...)

32Cuba was a trailblazer in Latin America in supporting Algerian independence. In 1960, a GPRA delegation toured the continent, but was only received at the highest level in Havana. As the Quai d’Orsay noted: “The only head of state to receive it was the President of Cuba.”51 The delegation met President Osvaldo Dorticós “with a protocol substantially identical to that normally reserved for heads of official diplomatic missions,” the French embassy in Havana reported, evidence of the importance Cuba attached to the Algerian cause.52

  • 53 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, M (...)

33France had consulted its ambassador in an attempt to dissuade the Cuban authorities from hosting representatives of the Algerian people, but he was categorical: Cuba did not allow others to dictate its conduct, and any attempt at pressure would be counterproductive. He insisted: “In my opinion, there is no chance that the approach ordered, whether made forcefully or cautiously, will produce any result whatsoever, except perhaps the formal recognition of the GPRA, which remains a very real threat here.” He reminded Paris that, “despite repeated interventions,” neither West Germany nor Nationalist China had managed to prevent delegations from East Germany and the People’s Republic of China from being officially received in Cuba, which had even signed trade agreements with those countries.53

  • 54 État-major général de la Défense « Aperçus sur l’évolution possible de la politique du G.P.R.A. », (...)

34In September 1960, the Intelligence Division of the French Joint Defense Staff published a study highlighting “the community of interests between the FLN and Cuba and the dangers this collusion poses for U.S. policy in Africa.” 54Algeria, once independent, intended to wage a broader struggle against colonialism, first across the African continent, and later on a global scale. Cuba, for its part, had become a haven for Latin American revolutionaries and supported all movements working toward emancipation.

  • 55 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, M (...)

35In Cuba, 1961 was marked by the Bay of Pigs invasion and mounting U.S. hostility toward the revolutionary government. French ambassador Roger Robert du Gardier summarized the dilemma confronting Washington after the “humiliating defeat” at Playa Girón: either intervene directly in Cuba and trigger a violent backlash throughout Latin America, or tolerate the establishment of a Communist regime on the island. “In the latter case, it is more than likely that Cuba’s example would successively lead all the Latin American countries […] to declare in turn a ‘people’s democracy’ on the Cuban model,” he concluded, underlining the impact of the Cuban Revolution across the continent and the true reasons for the Kennedy administration’s hostility toward the island. Cuba’s name resonated powerfully in a hemisphere where “the populations of the various Latin American republics are already highly attracted to Fidelismo and deeply anti-Yankee by temperament.”55

  • 56 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre de (...)

36In Washington, Ambassador Hervé Alphand also sent his own assessment of the Bay of Pigs paramilitary operation to Maurice Couve de Murville. In his view, CIA and Pentagon reports had “underestimated the strength and loyalty of Fidel Castro’s militia and fostered the illusion of a possible popular uprising in Cuba.” The United States’ Western allies, such as the United Kingdom, had in fact warned President John F. Kennedy about the uncertain nature of such a venture. During Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s visit to Washington, Kennedy received an intelligence report from the British services that was “clearly unfavorable to an expedition of this kind.” The French diplomat could not resist questioning the quality of the president’s advisers: “One wonders who could have influenced his decision in such a disastrous manner.” He pointed to the main culprit: “The CIA is, of course, on the hot seat.”56

  • 57 Ibid.

37Far from curbing U.S. hostility toward Cuba, the humiliation of defeat only intensified Washington’s thirst for revenge, according to Alphand: “President Kennedy made it very clear, in his April 20 statement, that the honor and prestige of the United States required that the Castro regime be overthrown.” The French ambassador lent a sympathetic ear to one of the few dissenting voices calling for talks with Havana: journalist Walter Lippmann. Lippmann was convinced the revolutionary government was solidly entrenched, backed by massive popular support and a strategic alliance with the Soviet Union. “For the first time, a public figure of Mr. Lippmann’s reputation and influence has cast doubt on the United States’ ability to eliminate the Fidel Castro regime by military means and has advised, in the absence of anything better, resigning itself to its continued existence,” Alphand observed.57

38Alphand himself favored a hard line on Cuba and clearly did not view the revolutionary government in a positive light. In May 1961, just days before President Kennedy’s visit to France, he sent another memorandum to his minister. “The Americans have been badly shaken by the spectacular failure of the invasion of Cuba,” he wrote. Despite intense pressure, Kennedy had resisted the “hawks” who wanted to send in the Marines to support the exiles. Given the balance of forces and the risk of a bloodbath, this was, in fact, a prudent and wise decision, but it did not seem to please the French diplomat, who would have preferred a full-scale invasion. He put forward his perspective in a disconcerting analysis blending astrology and ethnic stereotypes:

  • 58 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des (...)

When confronted with adversity, President Kennedy appears to have maintained his composure, his self-confidence, and his ambition to overcome obstacles and achieve his goals. Born under the sign of Gemini, his character has two opposing sides: at times, like a brilliant Harvard student, he likes to study and surround himself with the widest range of advice; at other times, the reactions of the Irish politician resurface and, suddenly, without taking into account the multitude of often contradictory opinions offered to him, he acts with little reflection.
In the Cuban affair, for example, which was launched after extensive deliberation but on the basis of false information, it seems that in just a few minutes, and under pressure from Mr. Stevenson, the president decided to forbid any support from U.S. forces and to make that decision public.58

  • 59 Secrétariat général, « Comptes rendus des entretiens de Gaulle-Kennedy (31 mai– 2 juin). III. Entre (...)

39During his meeting with General de Gaulle on June 1, 1961, President Kennedy spoke of the threat posed by the Cuban Revolution. In his view, it was crucial “to give the impression to the nations of Latin America that they can solve their problems and raise their standard of living without turning to Fidelismo.” In so doing, he implicitly acknowledged that the process of socio-economic transformation launched in 1959 had improved living conditions on the island. Since the rest of the continent faced similar problems, the odds of revolutionary movements multiplying were high. But the task would not be easy, Kennedy conceded: the United States was “psychologically ill-placed in the Cuban affair.” In the eyes of the world, the giant to the north seemed intent on crushing the small island that had chosen its own path.59

  • 60 Cabinet du Ministre, « Compte-rendu. Entrevue du général de Gaulle avec M. Dean Rusk », June 5, 196 (...)

40Initially, the Cuban government had not envisaged a strategic alliance with the Soviet Union. On the contrary, Havana hoped to maintain relations with the United States on a less asymmetrical footing, one in which Cuba’s interests would be taken into account, while also preserving ties with Western Europe. It was the Eisenhower administration’s aggressively hostile policy that pushed the new authorities to turn to Moscow in order to survive. The Kremlin leader summed this up with striking clarity during a nearly eight-hour meeting with President Kennedy in Vienna on June 3–4, 1961. “Mr. Khrushchev said it was U.S. policy in Cuba that forced the Cubans to become communists,” U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk later reported to General de Gaulle.60

  • 61 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France à Washington à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre de (...)
  • 62 Cabinet du Ministre, « Compte rendu de la visite officielle de M. Couve de Murville à Copenhague. E (...)

41The USSR, however, had acknowledged the wisdom shown by President Kennedy when he resisted Pentagon pressure to launch a full-scale military invasion of Cuba after the Bay of Pigs landing. Maurice Dejean, French ambassador to the Soviet Union, relayed the Soviet view to his superiors: “American conduct in the recent Cuban affair has greatly impressed Soviet leaders. They had feared that, in a region where the Washington government has such major interests and such powerful means, it would prove unable to accept so resounding a setback.”61 Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville drew a sober lesson from the Bay of Pigs fiasco: “It is dangerous to rely too heavily on secret services.”62

42For its part, Cuba did not limit its solidarity with Algeria to declarations of principle.

4. Cuba’s Material and Military Support to the National Liberation Front

  • 63 Direction des Affaires politiques (Mission de liaisons pour les Affaires algériennes, « Reconnaissa (...)
  • 64 Secrétariat général, « Compte rendu de la réunion des chefs d’État et de gouvernement des Six », Ju (...)

43Cuba was the only country in the Americas to recognize the Algerian government-in-exile in June 1961, just weeks after the Bay of Pigs invasion, thereby earning the hostility of de Gaulle’s France in a highly unfavorable geopolitical context. “Its decision was the subject of an official declaration on June 28, 1961. Its example has so far not been followed by any other member of the American continent,” noted the French Foreign Ministry’s Liaison Mission for Algerian Affairs.63 Yet only a few days later, in July 1961, during a meeting of the Six Heads of Government in Bonn, Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani underlined the popularity and influence of the revolutionary government across the hemisphere: “Castro’s efforts have aroused great sympathy.”64

44In December 1961, during the visit of Lakhdar Brahimi, official representative of the GPRA, to Cuba, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara expressed their full support for the Algerian cause. “Both reaffirmed that their government was ready to do everything in its power to help us,” the diplomat wrote in his mission report. Brahimi stressed Cuba’s influence: “The Cuban Revolution and its leader are very popular throughout the South American continent. […] In addition, many opposition leaders from other Latin American countries live in Havana or travel there frequently.” Invited to give his view on the peace negotiations between Paris and Algiers, Fidel Castro offered the following analysis:

  • 65 Lakhdar Brahimi, “Note to the GPRA Minister of Foreign Affairs, ‘Mission to Cuba’”, January 18, 196 (...)

Algeria has made enormous sacrifices and the sooner the war ends, the better. […]
With respect to negotiations […], what is most important to take from France is power. You cannot let the levers of political control in the hands of the French. Specifically, the maintaining of public order (public security) must be in your own hands.
Make the largest concessions possible with respect to economic matters (oil in particular), guarantees to the European minority, and military bases. Once peace has been restored and you are firmly in control, then you will be able to do anything you want. Because international conditions are such that once France has exited politically, it will never be able to come back.65

  • 66 Secrétariat général, « Compte rendu des conversations franco-marocaines de Champs des 10 et 11 mai (...)

45France was indeed particularly sensitive to natural resources, and de Gaulle readily admitted as much during his meeting with King Hassan II of Morocco in 1962: “There is oil and gas in Algeria, in which France has an interest.” For his part, Hassan II was keen to reassure the French head of state about Rabat’s relations with Havana. These, he insisted, were economic rather than ideological: “Morocco has ties with Cuba because of sugar, not because of Fidel Castro.” If Rabat purchased sugar from the island, it was first and foremost “to save twenty billion in foreign currency.”66

  • 67 Direction des Nations Unies et Organisations Internationales, « La questions algérienne à la seiziè (...)
  • 68 Piero Gleijeses, “Cuba’s First Venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961–1965”, Journal of Latin American St (...)
  • 69 Peter Braestrup, “Castro Will Visit Algerians in May”, The New York Times, April 22, 1963.

46Havana’s support for Algeria went far beyond expressions of political solidarity in international forums. On this point, the French diplomatic mission in New York stressed that Cuba had delivered one of the “most unpleasant speeches” directed at France on the Algerian question during the UN General Assembly’s sixteenth session.67 In January 1962, Cuba provided material and military aid to the FLN, shipping a consignment of weapons to a rear base of the moudjahideen located in Oujda, Morocco, five kilometers from the Algerian border. The ship Bahía de Nipe, used to transport the military equipment, did not return to Cuba empty: several dozen wounded Algerian fighters, along with around twenty war orphans, were taken aboard and hosted on the island to receive medical care and education.68 The American press summed up Cuba’s role as follows: “During the Algerian war for independence the Castro regime provided medical care for wounded Algerian nationalists and also provided some military equipment as well as diplomatic support.”69

  • 70 Organization of American States, “Eight Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs”, J (...)

47All this took place in an extremely unfavorable geopolitical context for Cuba. That same month, from January 22 to 31, 1962, during the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States in Punta del Este, Uruguay, the member states yielded to Washington’s pressure and voted, by majority, to exclude Cuba. No fewer than fourteen countries on the continent had already broken off diplomatic relations with Havana. Only Canada and Mexico refused to bow to U.S. demands and maintained normal relations with the island.70

  • 71 Hervé Alphand, « M. Dejean, Ambassadeur de France à Moscou à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Aff (...)

48A few days later, in February 1962, President Kennedy imposed a full economic embargo on Cuba. Moreover, the White House did not intend to stop there: it sought to rally the Western world to the campaign against the Cuban Revolution. Ambassador Hervé Alphand emphasized this in a message to Maurice Couve de Murville: “It is now toward their European and Canadian allies that the United States appears to be turning in an attempt to obtain a tightening of the economic boycott applied to the Cuban regime.” The ultimate goal was the island’s “slow economic strangulation.” Such was the price to be paid for the Cuban Revolution, in the French diplomat’s view, who added a wish of his own: “One may hope that it will collapse of its own accord for having refused to take into account either geographic realities or economic necessity.”71

  • 72 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. du Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville (...)

49On February 19, 1962, Cuban Foreign Minister Raúl Roa summoned the heads of Western European missions to warn them against giving in to U.S. pressure and adopting sanctions of their own against Cuba. French ambassador Roger du Gardier seized the opportunity to express his regret that “a campaign continued to be conducted against France by information outlets under the Cuban Cabinet’s control and that, in particular, a television serial called Under the Algerian Sky portrayed all French people as murderers, criminals, spies, or traitors.”72

  • 73 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de los Consejos de Estado (...)
  • 74 Thomas F. Brady, “Cold War Winds Blow In Algeria”, The New York Times, October 3, 1962.

50But for Cuba, the Algerian cause was sacred. “Algeria was the country where our internationalist conscience was tested for the first time,” Fidel Castro would later recall.73 The Algerian people, and especially the National Liberation Army, felt a deep sense of gratitude toward the leader of the Cuban Revolution. The New York Times noted “the admiration of Algerian Army officers for Prime Minister Fidel Castro of Cuba.” The paper elaborated: “[Mr. Castro’s portrait] is a pin-up on walls of staff headquarters and officers of the general staff freely criticize United States policy toward Cuba as ‘imperialist and capitalist.’”74

  • 75 Claude Julien, « Le cargo français ‘La Coubre’ explose dans le port de La Havane », Le Monde, March (...)

51Cuba, for its part, had not forgotten France’s unfriendly attitude. In 1960, when the revolutionary government requested authorization from Paris to purchase weapons for its defense, amid growing hostility with the United States and tensions with the Dominican Republic under Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo, de Gaulle flatly refused, “in accordance with an interministerial decision under which no weapons would be sent to the Caribbean region.” Havana was thus paying for its support of Algeria. Yet when Santo Domingo submitted a similar request, the Quai d’Orsay complied with the military regime’s demand. Le Monde did not let this inconsistency pass unnoticed: “Shortly before this decision, however, France had sold tanks and jet aircraft to the Dominican Republic.”75 Between Castro and Trujillo, Paris’ preferences were clear.

52With Algeria, Cuba inaugurated what would become the core of its foreign policy, what it would call “internationalism”: active, concrete support for peoples fighting for their emancipation, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In the midst of open conflict with the United States, which had sworn to destroy the Cuban Revolution, Havana subordinated the maintenance of good relations with another major power, de Gaulle’s France, to the principles guiding its external policy, above all the duty of solidarity. Algerians would never forget Cuba’s outstretched hand.

Conclusion

53Far from being a matter of circumstance or mere diplomatic calculation, Cuba’s commitment alongside the National Liberation Front was rooted in a principled logic that shaped the foreign policy of the Revolution from the outset. As Havana faced mounting pressure from Washington, continental isolation within the OAS, and economic sanctions aimed at “strangling” the island, Fidel Castro’s government chose to make the Algerian cause a priority, even at the risk of worsening its situation by antagonizing de Gaulle’s France. The recognition of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic in 1961, the reception of Algerian delegations at the highest level of state, the steady diplomatic support at the United Nations, the shipment of military equipment, and the care provided to wounded fighters and war orphans all attest to a concrete commitment that went far beyond formal declarations of solidarity.

54From the French perspective, Cuba’s reversal, from staunch supporter of “French Algeria” under Fulgencio Batista to active ally of the FLN under Fidel Castro, was a major rupture. Reports from ambassadors in Havana, Washington, New York, and Moscow reveal a dual anxiety: the loss of a traditional supporter in Latin America and the fear that the prestige of the Cuban Revolution might encourage other states on the continent to challenge colonialism. Viewed through the Algerian prism, French diplomacy lays bare its own contradictions: defense of a colonial order that had become indefensible on the international stage, persistent incomprehension of the aspirations of Third World peoples, and deep mistrust of any political experiment escaping Western tutelage.

55For the United States, the convergence between a fighting Algeria and revolutionary Cuba symbolized the threat of an anti-colonial, anti-imperialist front capable of undermining its hegemony in the Global South. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Havana’s open defiance of U.S. primacy, and the sympathy enjoyed by Fidel Castro in Latin America, Africa, and Asia all fueled Washington’s desire to turn Cuba into a cautionary example. Yet, as the Algerian case shows, pressure did not achieve the total diplomatic isolation sought; on the contrary, it reinforced the island’s centrality within emerging Third World solidarity networks.

56In this context, Algeria occupies a special place in the political memory of the Cuban Revolution. Fidel Castro himself would describe it as the first territory where the island’s internationalist conscience was “put to the test.” The National Liberation Army, and later the National People’s Army, likewise preserved a vivid memory of Cuban support, reflected in the tributes paid to the Cuban leader and in the sustained political closeness that would characterize bilateral relations after independence. Far from fading with the end of the conflict, Algerian-Cuban friendship would deepen through military, medical, and technical cooperation, as well as a consistent convergence of views in international forums.

57Ultimately, the genesis of the revolutionary friendship between Algeria and Cuba, as it unfolded between 1959 and 1962, goes beyond the narrow framework of a bilateral relationship. It illustrates the birth of a state-driven internationalism that makes solidarity with struggling peoples a core component of foreign policy. By subordinating the maintenance of good relations with a power like France to the imperative of supporting the Algerian people, Havana affirmed a hierarchy of values in which the duty of solidarity outweighs diplomatic calculation. Algeria, for its part, inscribed its own experience of liberation within a broader horizon, that of Third World emancipation, to the point of becoming “the Mecca of revolutionaries.” It is in this articulation between national struggle and universal project that the enduring significance of the historic encounter between the Cuban Revolution and the Algerian War of Independence lies.

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Notes

1 Isaac Saney, “African Stalingrad: The Cuban Revolution, Internationalism and the End of Apartheid”, Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 33, n°5, September 2006, p. 81–117; Piero Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Washington, Cuba, and Africa, 1959–1975, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 2013 Piero Gleijeses, Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 2013; Nelson P. Valdés, “Cuba y Angola: una política de solidaridad internacional”, Estudios de Asia y África, El Colegio de México, October-December 1979, n°4, p. 609–612; Jeffrey James Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016.

2 Herbert L. Matthews, “Cuban Rebel Is Visited in Hideout. Castro Is Still Alive and Still Fighting in Mountains”, The New York Times, February 24, 1957, p. 1, 34.

3 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros de la República de Cuba, en la cena oficial ofrecida por el Presidente de la República Argelina Democrática y Popular », República de Cuba, May 6, 2001. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/esp/c060501e.html (website accessed on November 15, 2025).

4 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State”, November 4, 1954, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume IX, Part I, document 166. See also: The New York Times, “The World. Troubles in Algeria”, November 7, 1954.

5 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State”, November 12, 1954, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume IX, Part I, document 169.

6 Lewis Clark, “The Consul General at Algiers (Clark) to the Department of State”, November 30, 1954, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume IX, Part I, document 170.

7 John Foster Dulles, “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, May 27, 1955, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 58.

8 Herbert Hoover Jr., “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, June 17, 1955, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 59.

9 Henry Cabot Lodge, “Telegram From the Mission at the United Nations to the Department of State”, November 1, 1955, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 64.

10 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, March 7, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 67.

11 Herbert Hoover Jr., “Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France”, March 8, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 68.

12 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, November 21, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 77.

13 Clarence Douglas Dillon, “Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State”, November 29, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 79.

14 John Bovey, “Memorandum of a Conversation”, November 29, 1956, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 80.

15 Salim Lamrani, « Conversations avec HO Hai Quang : ‘La plus grande puissance militaire et économique mondiale se refuse à admettre qu’elle a été vaincue au Vietnam par un peuple de paysans chaussés de sandales en caoutchouc’ », Études caribéennes, hors-série n°15 Conversations émancipatrices, November 2025.

16 Matthew Looram, “Memorandum From Matthew Looram of the Office of the Western European Affairs to the Deputy Director of the Office (Torbert)”, September 13, 1957, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa and South Asia, Volume XVIII, document 92.

17 David G. Nees & Matthew Looram, “Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant (Holmes) to the Secretary of State”, February 20, 1958, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Arab-Israeli Dispute; United Arab Republic; North Africa, Volume XIII, document 269.

18 Lindsay Parrott, “France Opposes U.N. Algeria Step”, The New York Times, September 25, 1959. See also: Le Monde, « MM. Pineau et Cabot Lodge repoussent deux résolutions afro-asiatiques », February 14, 1957.

19 Diario de la Marina, « Respalda Cuba a Francia en el grave problema de Argel », December 7, 1957, p. 1, 20A.

20 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères », December 28, 1958, T. n°152 à 155 in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1958, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1993, p. 927-928.

21 Thomas J. Hamilton, “U.N. Algeria Question Has Pitfalls for U.S.”, The New York Times, July 5, 1959. See also: Le Monde, « M. Pineau a ajourné de 24 heures sa nouvelle intervention », December 6, 1957 ; Henri Pierre, « Les efforts de conciliation se multiplient en coulisse », Le Monde, December 7, 1957.

22 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères », March 13, 1959, document 156, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1994, p. 349-51.

23 Sous-Direction des Nations unies et des Organisations internationales, « La question algérienne à la quatorzième session de l’assemblée générale des Nations Unies », June 4, 1959, document 330, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1994, p. 770.

24 Philippe Grousset, « M. Grousset, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane, à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères », June 6, 1959, document 334, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1994, p. 777-778.

25 Armand Bérard, « M. Bérard, chef de la Mission permanente de la France auprès de l’organisation des Nations unies, à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères », June 25, 1959, document 377, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1994, p. 885-887.

26 Maurice Couve de Murville, « M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères, aux représentants diplomatiques de France à l’étranger », July 22, 1959, document n° 33, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 84-89.

27 Délégation française aux Nations unies, « Note de la Délégation française aux Nations unies », December 13, 1958, document n° 412, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1958, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1993, p. 862.

28 Robert de Boisseson, « M. de Boisseson, Ambassadeur de France à Santiago du Chili, à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », August 24, 1959, document n° 82, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 217.

29 Raoul Spitalier & Jacques Baeyens, « Note de la Direction d’Amérique », Janvier 11, 1960, document 17, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 33.

30 Kathleen Teltsch, “Cuba Bars Choice Between Two Blocks”, The New York Times, September 25, 1959.

31 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. du Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », September 3, 1959, document n° 101, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 261.

32 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », November 27, 1959, document n° 254, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 625.

33 Jean Knecht, « Le représentant soviétique s’est abstenu de mentionner la motion afro-asiatique », Le Monde, December 5, 1959.

34 Thomas J. Hamilton, “Talks on Algeria Urged in U.N. Vote”, The New York Times, December 8, 1959. Voir également Le Monde, « La résolution et les scrutins », December 15, 1959.

35 Sous-Direction des Nations unies et Organisations internationales, « Question d’Algérie », December 28, 1959, document n° 305, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 799.

36 The New York Times, “Morroco Affirms Link”, December 10, 1959.

37 Raoul Spitalier & Jacques Baeyens, “Note de la Direction d’Amérique”, January 11, 1960, document 17, op. cit., p. 34.

38 Dwight D. Eisenhower & Charles de Gaulle, « Entretien en tête-à-tête du général de Gaulle et du président Eisenhower », December 19, 1959, document n° 295, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1959, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1995, p. 759.

39 The New York Times, “The World. Algeria, Round 1”, July 3, 1960.

40 The New York Times, “The World. Fencing on Algeria”, July 10, 1960.

41 Johannes V. Imhof, “Memorandum of Conversation”, January 3, 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa, document 35.

42 Cabinet du Ministre, « Réunion des Ministres des Affaires étrangères des Six », July 18, 1960, document n° 32, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 106.

43 Salim Lamrani, « Las primeras sanciones económicas de Estados Unidos contra Cuba », Revista Cubana de Derecho, Volumen 4, n°2, número Centenario, 2024, p. 13-53.

44 Cabinet du Ministre, « Réunion des Ministres des Affaires étrangères des Six », July 18, 1960, op. cit.

45 Le Monde, “Le discours du premier ministre cubain à l’Assemblée générale de l’O.N.U. durerait quatre heures”, September 27, 1960.

46 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por el Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, Primer Ministro del Gobierno Revolucionario, en la sede de las Naciones Unidas, Estados Unidos », September 26, 1960. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1960/esp/f260960e.html (website accessed on May 6, 2020). See also: Max Frankel, “Castro Arrives in Suboed Mood”, The New York Times, September 19, 1960; Max Frankel, “Cuban Puts Case”, The New York Times, September 27, 1960.

47 Kathleen Teltsch, “Soviet Asserts U-2 Spies on Algerians”, The New York Times, September 14, 1960.

48 Direction d’Afrique-Levant, « Les États africains d’expression française à la quinzième session de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies », fin décembre 1960, document 308, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 834-35.

49 Maurice Couve de Murville, “Letter from Foreign Minister Couve de Murville to Secretary of State Herter”, November 5, 1960, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Arab-Israeli Dispute; United Arab Republic; North Africa, Volume XIII, document 317.

50 Joseph C. Satterthwaite, “Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Sattherthwaite) to Secretary of State Rusk”, January 30, 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa, document 37.

51 Mission de liaison pour les Affaires algériennes, « Séjour de la mission du G.P.R.A. en Amérique latine », December 5, 1960, document 256, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 710. See also: Giraldo Mazola, “La independencia del pueblo argelino, nuestro pueblo la siente como propria”, Granma, July 5, 2012.

52 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », December 1, 1960, document n° 251, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 698.

53 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », August 13, 1960, document n° 72, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 213.

54 État-major général de la Défense « Aperçus sur l’évolution possible de la politique du G.P.R.A. », September 29, 1960, document 149, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1960, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1996, p. 424.

55 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », April 28, 1961, document n° 223, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 544.

56 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », April 28, 1961, document n° 224, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 545-52.

57 Ibid.

58 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », May 11, 1961, document n° 235, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 581-82.

59 Secrétariat général, « Comptes rendus des entretiens de Gaulle-Kennedy (31 mai– 2 juin). III. Entretien du général de Gaulle et du président Kennedy à l’Élysée », June 1, 1961, document n° 265, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 683.

60 Cabinet du Ministre, « Compte-rendu. Entrevue du général de Gaulle avec M. Dean Rusk », June 5, 1961, document n° 265, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 730.

61 Hervé Alphand, « M. Alphand, Ambassadeur de France à Washington à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », June 26, 1961, document n° 307, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1997, p. 951.

62 Cabinet du Ministre, « Compte rendu de la visite officielle de M. Couve de Murville à Copenhague. Entretiens avec M. Krag », September, 1 1961, document, n° 91, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 351.

63 Direction des Affaires politiques (Mission de liaisons pour les Affaires algériennes, « Reconnaissance du ‘G.P.R.A.’ », November 24, 1961, document n° 190, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 634.

64 Secrétariat général, « Compte rendu de la réunion des chefs d’État et de gouvernement des Six », July 18, 1961, document n° 36, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1961, Tome II, 1er juillet– 31 décembre, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 634.

65 Lakhdar Brahimi, “Note to the GPRA Minister of Foreign Affairs, ‘Mission to Cuba’”, January 18, 1962, Wilson Center, Digital Archive, International History Declassified, Fond: GPRA 1958-62, Archives Nationales d’Algérie, Alger. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/121596 (website accessed on November 15, 2025).

66 Secrétariat général, « Compte rendu des conversations franco-marocaines de Champs des 10 et 11 mai 1962 », May 10, 1962, document n° 149, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1962, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 484.

67 Direction des Nations Unies et Organisations Internationales, « La questions algérienne à la seizième session de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies (1961) », January 15, 1962, document n° 13, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1962, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 28.

68 Piero Gleijeses, “Cuba’s First Venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961–1965”, Journal of Latin American Studies, February 1996, volume 28, n°1, p. 160.

69 Peter Braestrup, “Castro Will Visit Algerians in May”, The New York Times, April 22, 1963.

70 Organization of American States, “Eight Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs”, January 22–31, 1962. https://www.oas.org/council/MEETINGS%20OF%20CONSULTATION/Actas/Acta%208.pdf (website accessed on November 13, 2025).

71 Hervé Alphand, « M. Dejean, Ambassadeur de France à Moscou à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », February 16, 1962, document n° 57, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1962, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 172, 176.

72 Roger Robert du Gardier, « M. du Gardier, Ambassadeur de France, à La Havane à M. Couve de Murville, Ministre des Affaires étrangères », February 19, 1962, document n° 62, in Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français, Documents diplomatiques français 1962, Tome I, 1er janvier– 30 juin, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1998, p. 186.

73 Fidel Castro Ruz, « Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros de la República de Cuba, en la cena oficial ofrecida por el Presidente de la República Argelina Democrática y Popular », op. cit.

74 Thomas F. Brady, “Cold War Winds Blow In Algeria”, The New York Times, October 3, 1962.

75 Claude Julien, « Le cargo français ‘La Coubre’ explose dans le port de La Havane », Le Monde, March 7, 1960.

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Salim Lamrani, « Cuba and the Struggle for Algerian Independence, 1959–1962 »Études caribéennes [En ligne], 16 | Février 2026, mis en ligne le 12 février 2026, consulté le 13 mars 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/38049 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15qcd

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Salim Lamrani

Professeur des universités, Faculté de Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département d’études hispaniques et latino-américaines, Université de La Réunion

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