Spectre of epochal revolution, pantheon of sacred treasures of humanity struggles, the symbolic beauty of a slave woman, Carlota Lukumi, colossus of historical significance, illuminating future society of freedom. Like ancient Egyptian flower, thunder of heavenly and earthly creation, born and cradled by an African woman, testimony of a legendary slave woman, we cannot tell in written words.
Mother of our homeland Africa, ascending the temple of Angels, sacrificial lamb for human freedom, in the realms of the dead and the living, no chapel to make offerings, shadows of invincible mortals, heartbeat no more, uncompromising pathways of the journey of necessity, steadfastness and resoluteness, immense example of endurance and selflessness, steeped in unparalleled ethos of bravery and heroism. In the milepost of history, treasure store of resilience and courage, surmounting difficulties, triumph of humanity struggles.
Echoing through history, untold epic battles by battalions of warrior slave women, from Yoruba village of the Western African region of Nigeria and Benin, lured from the kindred heart of her mother, at the age of ten, through nightmarish dreadful waves of the Atlantic ocean, tormenting journey of the middle passage, born free to be a slave, atrocities of the slave labour in the hands of savage colonial masters, maroons in the mountain forest of the unknown, no tears to bathe, dreams of a future without hope.
Age of shifting paradigms of consciousness, drawing the line in the sand, harrowing squalor of slavery, beginning of new struggles for development of human society, sparks of revolutionary flames by an emboldened African slave woman, hewing blows against the enemy, wielding machete in the mist of patriarchal chauvinism, ours struggles for freedom. Our mother, Carlota Lukumi, Triumvirato, in sugar cane plantations, Matanzas, shaking foundations of the world of feudal oligarchy, homeland is humanity.
The slave woman Carlota and the African drums, mastering the art of the creation of music, its melody, rhythm, relics, profoundest of the human soul, therapy of a heart at the right place, tranquility we cannot do without, expressing the inexpressible, in the wilderness away from home, a new home in the Antilles, blistering sun in the plantation, dancing songs not just for themselves, but future generations. African drums, source of strength and inspiration, organising fellow slave woman and men, art of war we cannot take, what was born free remains free.
Magnanimity of tales of heroism, mothers of the nation, unparalleled history of acts of bravery, unmatched prowess, indispensable courage, uncompromising determination, hatching conspiracies for liberation, outshining the master, toppling the colonial mayor of Matanzas, Julián Luis Alfonso Sole, killing dozens of slaves owners and families, burning houses and infrastructure, new dawn of freedom struggles.
Life or death, besieged by merciless colonial army, mounting aggression by the Yankee, counterposing an impending world revolution, genocidal crimes against humanity, the slave people, heavy casualties, the hunter becoming the hunted, dozens colonial authorities and slaves dead, many captured and taken prisoner, some fleeing to the tropical forest mountains, seeking refuge amongst the local Taino communities, establishing independent maroon republics. Shockwaves through the American Peninsula, catastrophe of skirmishes between African slaves and European colonialism.
Renowned journalist and writer, Martha Rojas, in her majestic account, ‘Carlota the rebel’, says: ”For the white slave owners, what they heard that night sounded like the drums playing in the quarters to call ancestors. But the truth is that, at eight that Sunday evening, the 5th of November, Carlota, Narciso and Felipe, as well as Ganga Manuel, had their machetes sharpened.
That moment, the target was the manager of the plantation, his overseers, and lackeys, they were the first to feel the edge of the steel, their pistol and shotguns snatched, their armaments too, Carlota and her Captains, following the plan they had secretly devised, went from Triumvirato to the Acana plantations, to set the slave woman Fermina free, a veteran leader, chained by her masters with shackles and Ankles.”
She acclaims that Carlota, visitation of her revolutionary meditation, imaginations of the soul, horizons of her living spirit, the drums of Eduardo, of the Fula people, were echoing, in the mountain plateau of the West African region, where Senegal, Gambia, Tinkisso, Konkoure and Niger rivers originate, valley of the mountain plateau of Fouta Djallon, there was no need to talk, she knew what it was for, planning for months. For years, it was a dream for many slave people, born to live free, but like animals, with muzzles, shackles, under threat of being tied to the post, attacked by feral dogs, whipped by the master, that was not life.
Inexorable warning, slaughtering slaves like beasts, never to repeat again, gruesome forms of brutality, Carlota, tied to four horses moving into different directions, massacre of the most decorated slave woman, her body mauled into pieces, heroism redeemed by history, embodiment of our struggles, the world never the same, baton of hope to all ages, a banquet of honour, those to have volunteered their own lives, our freedom struggles, we shall achieve.
The famous writer and Poet, Sarah Louisa Forten, in her poem published in 1831, titled “The Grave of the Slave”, says:
“The cold storms of winter shall chill her no more,
her woes and her sorrows,
her pains are all o’er;
The sod of the valley now covers her form,
she is safe in her last home,
she feels not the storm.
The poor slave is laid all unheeded and lone,
Where the rich and the poor find a permanent home;
Not her master can rouse her with voice of command; she knows not and hears not his cruel demand;
Not a tear, nor a sigh to embalm her cold tomb,
No friend to lament her, no child to bemoan;
Not a stone marks the place where she peacefully lies,
The earth for the pillow, her curtain the skies.
Poor slave, shall we sorrow that death was thy friend,
The last and the kindest that heaven could send?
The grave of the weary is welcomed and blest;
And death to the captive is freedom and rest.”
The collapse of the Estado Novo, fascist autocratic regime, led by dictator Marcelo Caetano, heralded a new epoch, ending the centenarian domination of Portuguese colonialism in Africa, with the independence of the newly born democratic republics of Angola and Mozambique, heightening a new epoch, of protracted Cold War ideological power relations. To the world revolutionary movement, the collapse of the Portuguese dictatorship, was not only the victory, of the struggles of the African people, but of the worldwide humanity aspirations, for a better home.
Precendently before the proclaimed day, independence of the new democratic republic of Angola, the United States of America, through CIA-sponsored secret operation, Lafaaturi, and South African racist regime, “Operation Savanna” – in collaboration with the former dictator of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Mobuto se Seseko; rebel leader Jonas Savimbi of UNITA; and leader of FNLA, Holden Roberto – orchestrating the invasion of the capital city, Luanda, before the chosen leader of the people, President of MPLA, Agostinho Neto, could declare the new republic.
Heavily armed bandits from dictator Mobuto and FNLA of Holden Roberto advanced from the north and from the south was the largest contingent of bandits of the racist apartheid army and UNITA, besieging Luanda. At the behest of the leadership of MPLA, the Cuban government, under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro, sent thousands of men and women of the revolutionary army, with war machinery, to avert the political catastrophe, perpetuated by the US imperialism, destabilising the newly-born nation state of Angola.
The heroic revolutionary army of the republic of Cuba, with the assistance of MPLA and other liberation movements in the Southern African region, SWAPO, ANC, FRELIMO and others, inflicted heavy assault on the mercenaries from both the north and south of Angola. In the north, Mobuto suffered devastating blow at Cabinda, and in the south, the revolutionary army, destroyed the Quebec river bridge, making it difficult for the racist white South African army, to advance further into Luanda, which was just less than two hundred kilometres from Benguela, paving way for President Agostinho Neto to declare the birth of the new democratic republic of Angola.
The birth of the new republic of Angola heralded a new epoch of destabilisation of the Southern African region, by the racist regime, supporting UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique, killing millions of people and meting out the destruction of regional infrastructure. The involvement of the Cuban revolution in Angola from 1975 to 1989, with the defeat of Pretoria apartheid government at Quito Cuanavale, was Operation Carlota, named after the legendary slave woman from Africa, who waged the first slave rebellion in Cuba.
Paying tribute to the heroism of the Cuban revolution, its esteemed gesture of generosity, human solidarity and internationalism, the leader of the independent republic of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Amilcar Cabral, said the following:
“I don’t believe in life after death, but if there is, we can be sure that the souls of our forefathers, who were taken away to America to be slaves, are rejoicing today to see their children, reunited and working together, to help us be independent and free.”
One of the Cuban volunteers, who participated in the liberation of the Southern African region, General Rafael Moracen, says: “When we arrived in Angola, I heard an Angolan say that our grandparents, whose children were taken away from Africa as slaves, would be happy, to see their children return to Africa, to help free it. I will always remember those words.”
Elaborating profound bonds of comradeship and friendship between the people of Cuba and Africa, during the ceremony to honour the life and times, of the founding father of the African continent, Kwame Nkrumah, one of the Commanders of the Cuban revolution, Jorge Risquet, said the following:
“This was the understanding with which Cuban fighters, came to ancestral Africa, to fight side by side with the people against colonialism, and the oppressive apartheid regime. For 26 years, 381 000 Cuban soldiers and officers fought alongside African populations, between April 24, 1965, when Ernesto Che Guevara and his men crossed Lake Tanganyika, and May 25, 1991, when the remaining 500 Cuban fighters returned home triumphant, twenty-four hundred Cuban internationalist fighters lost their lives on African soil. Today we no longer send soldiers. Now, we send doctors, teachers, builders, specialists in various fields.”
The Commander in Chief of the Cuban revolution, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the battle of Playa Giron, during which the people of Cuba, defended the invasion of their newly-born republic by US-backed mercenaries, called the battle of Quito Cuanavale, the “Playa Giron of Africa”. Declaring that during the battle of Giron, African blood was shed by the descendants of the slave people, defending the homeland, in Quito Cuanavale, Cuban blood was shed by descendants of the indigenous Taino people of the Antilles, paying historical debt owed by Cuba to the African people.
Declaring during the ceremony: “Just as the imperialist and their pawns suffered the consequences of a Playa Giron, multiplied many times over Angola, the nation that comes to this land to wage war, will find itself facing thousands of Cuito Cuanavales, and defeats such as those, dealt to colonialism and apartheid, in heroic nations such as Angola, Namibia and South Africa, defeat they never imagined, would be linked to the history of this small Caribbean nation.”
Addressing millions of the world people at a rally in Matanzas, Cuba, during his first visit after his release from prison, President Nelson Mandela said:
“The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and justice unparalleled for its principled and selfless character. We in Africa are used to being victims of countries wanting to carve up our territory or subvert our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in African history to have another people rise to the defense of one of us.
“The defeat of the apartheid army was an inspiration to the struggling people in South Africa! Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organisations would not have been unbanned! The defeat of the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale has made it possible for me to be here today! Cuito Cuanavale was a milestone in the history of the struggle for southern African liberation.”
He further during the year 1994, thanking the generosity of the Cuban revolution, its ethos of solidarity and internationalism by saying:
“If today all South Africans enjoy the rights of democracy; if they are able at last to address the grinding poverty of a system that denied them even the most basic amenities of life, it is also because of Cuba’s selfless support for the struggle to free all of South Africa’s people and the countries of our region from the inhumane and destructive system of apartheid. For that, we thank the Cuban people from the bottom of our heart.”
With profundity, as we come to an end of the month of August, celebrating the heroism of women over centuries of struggles for liberation of mankind, I again dedicate this memoir to my wife, Delsey Madume Piitso, whom we have celebrated her birthday during the month, to all the woman of our country, the continent and the world. Mankind shall forever be indebted, to the immense contribution of women, to the struggles for the development of society.
Our mother, Carlota Lukumi, was not just a blossoming flower of the Antilles, but the most decorated slave woman cherished by history, symbol of human solidarity and internationalism, epitaph of the triumph of human struggles against adversity, unbroken loyalty to serve humanity, making the world a better home for all, the coming world, shall define itself of what it is, her exemplary leadership, the generosity to give her own life for the sake of the freedom of others.
Freedom is our humanity, embodiment of necessity, they fought for it, we shall fight for it, they will fight for it, though it will amount to thousands of hills to climb, we shall endure, striving to reach the top of each hill, on top of the longest peak, shall humanity appreciate, the grandeur beauty of the universe, its mountain kingdoms, valleys, rivers, flora and fauna, its unending horizons of the blue seas and skies, on the valleys of our mountain kingdoms, shall be a written history, of the glorious revolutionary life of our mother, Carlota Lukumi, whose episodes of revolutionary philanthropism, has define the future we want to be, pilgrimage of thousands hills, the hope of humanity freedom.
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Ambassador Phatse Justice Piitso is a member of the African National Congress, writing this article in his personal capacity.