UNITA and the FNLA pitted against the MPLA. The MPLA held the capital and its port. Through this part Cuban soldiers and Soviet arms and technicians entered the country in support of the MPLA. This assistance turned the tide in favor of the leftists. Although South African forces and American supplies were sent to aid UNITA and FMLA, the MPLA and its Cuban Soviet allies overcame the opposition parties by February 1976 The first contact between Cuban government officials and the leadership of guerrilla organizations fighting to end Portuguese colonialism in Angola is believed to have taken place in 1965. The renown Ernesto Che Guevara and other Cuban officials met with Agostinho Neto, political leader of the MPLA, and his military commander in chief somewhere in present day Zaire or in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) About two hundred Cuban troops led by Guevara were at the time involved in providing support to anti government guerrillas fighting against Premier Moises Tshombe in Zaire.
Within a few months of this meeting Cuban troops began to train MPLA guerrillas both in Cuba and in the Congo. Cuban ships delivered weapons to the MPLA through Brazzaville and continued to do so for over ten years. In 1966, Neto and other MPLA officials visited Cuba and from that time on maintained contact with the Cuban goveroment Angolan Communists were provided a haven in Cuba Some were given scholarships to attend Cuban schools.
The final assault to take over Angola came after the military coup etat in Portugal in 1974. The new Portuguese government invited the principal guerrilla organizations fighting for the liberation of Angola to participate in the formation of a transition government until the final withdrawal of Portuguese forces from that country.
The three guerrilla organizations clashed, however, in a bloody civil war.
Zambia was offering support to UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi. This group had also