The presentation explores the case of Arnaldo Ochoa, a top-ranking general in the Cuban military who once rivalled Fidel Castro in popularity and esteem across the island. News of Ochoa’s arrest, conviction and execution on grounds of corruption and drug-smuggling in 1989 shocked both Cuba and the globe. This talk explores what happened to Ochoa through the lens of his military leadership in Angola, the southern African nation whose independence Cuba had been supporting since 1975. Seemingly just the story of a drug-running general, el caso Ochoa provides an opportunity to examine race, military service, and what it meant to be a Cuban revolutionary 30 years after 1959.
