The Dergue Monument, Ethio-Cuban Relationships

The Communist bond of years past is marked by the Dergue monument. This is Mangusto Haile Mariam leading the Ethiopian charge and interestingly, the dress and the faces of the people he is leading in this monument look quite American and don't have either Cuban or Ethiopian features.

And here is Castro leading the troops in the other direction. There was also a photo gallery of those who lost their lives during the conflict...but only the Cubans who died were memorialized.

And the center of the monument is this tower, featuring the red star, the hammer and the sickle.

Here the soldiers do reflect the ethnic features one would expect on fighters from Cuba and Ethiopia. Mussolini and the Italians occupied Ethiopia for several years and consequently, when one listens to people speaking in Amharic, one can hear Italian and Spanish words, as well as English woven into their conversations. I enjoyed that a lot because I could often get the gist of what was being said, so could ask a question and APPEAR intelligent. It upset folks to think I might be able to understand what they were saying!