Angola–Cuba relations that Angola's large oil reserves would serve well to make it a rich and strong backer of a Marxist expansion, Cuba focused on primarily supporting Angolan Marxist rebel movements over the liberation movements of other Portuguese colonies, thus beginning the special relationship between Cuba and Angola. Portugal set Angola's independence date for 11 November 1975. Three prominent liberation movements contended for the role of leading the newly formed independent country, namely: UNITA, FNLA and the MPLA. Each of the three movements received foreign assistance, UNITA from western countries, FNLA from China (and later from the West) and MPLA from the
Santa Cruz, Angola Santa Cruz, Angola Santa Cruz (also called Milunga ) is a city and a county in Angola . Santa Cruz was one of the first objectives of the independence movement UPA ( "União das Populações do Norte de Angola" , from 1962 FNLA ), which began in March 1961, the Portuguese colonial war in Angola. The popular resistance of the local population, which consisted largely of Portuguese settlers, was propagated by Portuguese propaganda as a feat against terrorist attacks by insurgents who were sinking abroad. After Angola's independence in 1975, Santa Cruz, like many other places, abandoned its Portuguese place