The 1976 world conference of the Nonaligned Movement applauded Cuban internationalism, "which assisted the people of Angola in frustrating the expansionist and colonialist strategy of South Africa's racist regime and its allies." The next nonaligned conference was scheduled for Havana in 1979, to be chaired by Castro, with his becoming the de facto spokesman for the Movement. The conference in September 1979 marked the zenith of Cuban prestige. The nonaligned nations believed that Cuba was not aligned with the Soviet camp in the Cold War. However, in December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, an active member of the Nonaligned Movement. At the United Nations, Nonaligned members voted 56 to 9, with 26 abstaining, to condemn the Soviet Union. Cuba in fact was deeply in debt financially and politically to Moscow, and voted against the resolution. It lost its reputation as nonaligned in the Cold War. Castro, instead of becoming a high-profile spokesman for the Movement, remain quiet and inactive, and in 1983 leadership passed to India, which had abstained on the UN vote. Cuba lost its bid to become a member of the United Nations Security Council. Cuba's ambitions for a role in global leadership had totally collapsed.