Angola–Portugal relations recession, had made buying large corporations that they would not have been able to afford if Portugal had not been in a crisis an easy picking for the Angolan government. Portugal had also sold some real estate and port wine estates. Angola now had stakes in the Portuguese economy from banking to energy to media. Angola–Portugal relations Angola–Portugal relations have significantly improved since the Angolan government abandoned communism and nominally embraced democracy in 1991, embracing a pro-U.S. and to a lesser degree pro-Europe foreign policy. Portugal ruled Angola for 400 years, colonizing the territory from 1483 until independence in 1975.
Angola–Cuba Declaration of 1984 declaration of independence. In response, Cuba intervened in favor of the MPLA, which became a flash point for the Cold War. With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence on 11 November 1975, with Agostinho Neto becoming the first president, though the civil war continued. At this time, most of the half-million Portuguese who lived in Angola – and who had accounted for the majority of the skilled workers in public administration, agriculture, industries and trade – fled the country, leaving its once prosperous and growing economy in a state of bankruptcy. Cuban intervention in Angola is believed