Embedded Files
Having entered his life only 17 years ago, I didn’t grow up hearing Tio Manolo’s stories about his time in the Congo. In fact, not many people did, since he kept that part of his life quiet for about 50 years—until a decade ago. So, it came as a surprise when, in 2014, he, along with the surviving Makasi comrades, the missionaries he helped rescue, and their children, reunited in Miami as part of a ceremony meant to honor the men who fought in the Congo. I didn’t attend that gathering. Ten years ago, his story wasn’t on my radar, and being occupied with graduate school, I was barely aware the reunion took place.
About this book
Ángel Benítez is my wife’s uncle, but since I married his niece at a young age, I’ve known him and loved him long enough to consider him part of my own family. And, in a way, I feel that, as someone who grew up without a father and he without children, we’ve given each other something we both longed for—family.
At that time, Operation Dragon Rouge had just been declassified, as the story of the Cubans in Africa began emerging. The narrative gained momentum after the 2014 reunion and culminated in a Miami-Dade proclamation, declaring July 19, 2022, Makasi Warriors Aviation Division Day, Makasi Warriors Naval Division Day, and Makasi Warriors Commando Division Day. This time, I attended.
By 2022, I had learned more about his history, and we had spent time discussing his life. After that moment in 2022, I began seriously considering writing his biography. Now, two years later, I’ve completed his memoir. I started as a student of history and ended up, or at least I believe I did, as a modest authority on the subject of Cubans in the Congo in 1964—or at least someone who can faithfully recount my uncle’s story.
As I progressed in my research—reading newspaper articles, various books on the topic, attending lectures, attempting to read CIA redacted documents, finding papers among my aunt’s belongings (Ángel’s wife), visiting museums, and most importantly, reading the diaries that Ángel wrote—I discovered details I had never heard before, pieces of the narrative that enriched my understanding of what truly happened during those turbulent months of 1964.
With every word I wrote, I grew certain that I was reconstructing a story that belongs not only to my family but to those brave individuals who found in the Congo their purpose, their struggle, and, for some, their final resting place.
I realized this story deserves to be told not only as a testament to courage and sacrifice, but also as a tribute to those who, amid chaos and war, remained steadfast in their mission. And most importantly, as a tribute to my uncle.
Coming November 2025
The Congo Crisis of the 1960s was one of the Cold War’s most explosive flashpoints; yet buried deep within its history lies a story few have ever heard. Over one hundred Cuban exiles, recruited by the CIA, were thrust into the jungles of Africa to fight communist-backed guerrillas. Among them was Ángel Manuel Benítez, a young exile, a soldier, and my uncle.
From the streets of Havana, through the swamps of Miami, and finally to the heart of Africa, Ángel’s journey is both intimate and epic. A student revolutionary who would become a man in exile; a fighter defined not just by battles but by conviction. His story climaxes at Kilometer 8 near Stanleyville, where a handful of Cuban commandos known as Makasi (“strong” in Lingala) launched a daring rescue that saved the lives of missionaries and their families amid chaos and gunfire.
But this is more than a tale of war. It is a meditation on loyalty, sacrifice, and the endurance of ideals. It is about the kind of men history often forgets—men willing to risk everything for a cause, for freedom, for the belief that bullets cannot kill ideas.
Part biography, part untold Cold War history, this book brings to life a man whose mission extended beyond battlefields—a man whose story, though just a fragment in history’s vast ledger, deserves to be remembered.
This is the story of Ángel Manuel Benítez. This is the story of the Makasi.
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