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Cuba played secret role
in Vietnam War
Brisbane
Courier Mail,
Australia, May 3, 2005.
HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba has disclosed its military
engineers took part in the widening of the
famous Ho Chi Minh Trail in the midst of
Vietnam's war with the US, according to
an interview with a Cuban participant in
the official paper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel
Youth).
Retired Cuban colonel, Roberto Leon, opened
up about an episode touted as "one
of the greatest secrets" of the 1965-1975
war, when he led a team of 23 Cuban military
engineers and about 50 Vietnamese nationals
in work on the trail over seven months.
He said the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network
of roads and tunnels stretching thousands
of kilometres largely through jungle, "enabled
the advance to the south of Vietnamese troops
in their fight for reunification of the
country" thanks in part to help from
Cuba starting in 1973.
Mr Leon said that construction of the trail
started in 1959 and lasted 15 years, but
that it was in September 1973, during Cuban
President Fidel Castro's visit, that authorities
asked him for technical help to expand the
network.
A group of 43 Vietnamese nationals arrived
in Cuba in November of that year as a result
of the deal and, after training in Cuban
military construction techniques, returned
to their country with their Cuban trainers.
The revelations come as Vietnam veterans,
their families and officials finish commemorations
to mark the 30th anniversary of the end
of the war.
Agence France-Presse
© Queensland
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