Corruption in Angola they really are. Angola's colonial era ended with the Angolan War of Independence against Portugal occurred between 1970 and 1975. Independence did not produce a unified Angola, however; the country plunged into years of civil war between the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). 30 years of war would produce historical legacies that combine to allow for the persistence of a highly corrupt government system. The Angolan civil war was fought between the pro-western UNITA and the communist MPLA and had the characteristics typical of a
Cuban intervention in Angola diamonds. The civil war ended in 2002 after Jonas Savimbi was killed in battle. Cuban intervention in Angola In November 1975, on the eve of Angola's independence, Cuba launched a large-scale military intervention in support of the leftist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against United States-backed interventions by South Africa and Zaire in support of two right-wing independence movements competing for power in the country, the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). By the end of 1975 the Cuban military in Angola numbered more than 25,000