Slavery in Angola within the first six months of 1961. The Portuguese Army and Air Force put down the uprising and blacked out the incident to the press. The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) said the Portuguese military killed ten thousand people in the massacre. Conservative estimates are around 400 casualties. These events are considered the beginning of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974). After the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, Angola was offered independence from Portugal. After independence in 1975, during the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002), both the largest opposition group, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
1970s in Angola the week before independence. While Cuban officers led the mission and provided the bulk of the troop force, 60 Soviet officers in the Congo joined the Cubans on November 12. The Soviet leadership expressly forbid the Cubans from intervening in Angola's civil war, focusing the mission on containing South Africa. In 1975 and 1976 most foreign forces, with the exception of Cuba, withdrew. The last elements of the Portuguese military withdrew in 1975 and the South African military withdrew in February 1976. On the other hand, Cuba's troop force in Angola increased from 5,500 in December 1975 to 11,000 in