2023 Author: Katelyn Chandter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:08
Cuban special forces "Black Wasps" specialize in warfare in the jungle. Today, this is the most combat-ready special forces in the tropics, the tactics of which are based on the action of individuals or small groups of reconnaissance saboteurs. The individual training of individual fighters has no analogues in terms of its complexity.
Cuban Special Forces - Tropas Especiales "Avispas Negras" (Spanish Special Forces "Black Wasps"), or simply - Black Wasps, was originally created to ensure the personal safety of Fidel Castro and other leaders of the Cuban Revolution and is officially a division of the Ministry of the Interior.
Initially, it consisted of fighters who already had serious experience in guerrilla and insurgent fighting in various countries of Latin America, many of them fought alongside Che Guevara, including in the Congo, fought with Batista's supporters in Cuba itself.
But very soon they were in demand outside the territory of the Freedom Island. On the personal order of Fidel Castro, special forces soldiers began to provide assistance to revolutionary movements abroad.
They were the first to be sent to Angola in November 1975 to help the People's Liberation Movement for the Liberation of Angola. This African state was a very tasty morsel for the United States and South Africa - the country possessed rich minerals: diamonds, oil, phosphates, gold, iron ore, bauxite and uranium, so they made every effort to prevent the leaders of the pro-Marxist movement from coming to power. Today we can confidently assert that the mission of Cuban military specialists contributed to Angola's choice of the socialist path of development.
In addition, the Cuban special forces fought in Ethiopia and Mozambique, in the countries of Central America. One of the Cuban officers who fought in Ethiopia said that “Russian advisers for Ethiopians are like Martians. Firstly, they are "faranji" (white), and secondly, they live almost under communism. Another thing is we, Cubans: there are many mulattos among us, there are Negroes. In addition, recently we lived in the same filth and hopelessness, just like the Ethiopians. Therefore, we easily understand each other. " And today Cuban military advisers are fighting in many countries of the world.
Cuban special forces "Black Wasps" specialize in warfare in the jungle. Today, some experts believe that this is the most combat-ready special forces in the tropics and the individual training of individual fighters has no analogues in terms of its level of complexity.
The tactics of the "Black Wasps" are based on the action of lonely or small groups of reconnaissance saboteurs, who are in a state of autonomous mode for a long time when operating on enemy territory.
The Black Wasps fighters masterfully wield all types of weapons from many countries of the world: be it AKMS, AKMSN, Vintorez, RPG-7V, SVD, AS Val or Hungarian ADM-65 or Czech CZ 75, or Cuban-made weapons.
In 1980, in Cuba, in the city of Los Palacios (Pinar del Riobyl province), a Special Forces Training Center was opened - "Escuela Nacional de Tropas Especiales Baragua" (Cubans call it "School").
The Training Center, known as "Baragua", occupies a fairly large area, there are several artificial reservoirs and swamps built there. There is a layout of city streets in real dimensions, a network of underground communications, etc.
At the same time, about 2500 people are trained and retrained at the Training Center - not only "Black Wasps" but also parachute troops and marines.
However, not all cadets are Cubans. Like the teachers - since 2000 in Baragua "on exchange", several officers of the PLA (Chinese Army) teach as instructors, and so on.
At the Baragua Center, fighters are trained in jungle combat tactics, survival in difficult conditions and infiltration into enemy territory, sabotage, martial arts, special sniper actions, parachute and diving training, psychological and information warfare.
Hand-to-hand training is primarily based on "karate-operetiva", a style developed by officer Raul Riso (aka Domingo Rodriguez Oquendo, master of Joshinmon karate).
It should be noted that the name of this person is directly related to the training of hand-to-hand fighters of the special forces of the KGB of the USSR and the training of specialists of the GRU General Staff of the USSR Ministry of Defense. It was he and his school who at one time had a huge impact on our "Alpha" and "Vympel".
This is how the soldiers of the Soviet Alpha unit, who were trained at the Cuban military training center, described the training of the Cuban special forces "Black Wasps".
The camp was located in a picturesque lowland, surrounded by hills covered with forests. The teaching was carried out by the aces of their business. Especially the Alpha members remembered training on the so-called "Che Guevara path".
The trail is a trail that passes through seven hills, the length of the trail is about 8 km. Training booby-traps, obstacles of various difficulty, stretch marks and other unexpected surprises for the commandos were installed on the trail.
Dress code - shorts and no shoes. To increase the load, each fighter carries with him a blank weighing about 8 kg, imitating a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and a pouch with training mines was also attached to his belt.
Alpha members remember well that from the first training session they came back "dead".
In the future, the teachers of the center taught the cadets to pass minefields, and it was necessary to clear all types of mines "blindly" and by hand, quickly overcome barbed wire obstacles, remove sentries and penetrate airfields, warehouses, fuel terminals, etc.
Daily passage of the "Che Guevara trail", practicing various modes of movement, intensive physical training - the usual training for a Cuban special forces soldier.
Special forces are taught to fully merge with the environment. Moving in a bent position after 15 minutes causes pain in all muscles, and cadets are required to walk like this for hours. In addition, this walking was practiced as part of a group: the one in front probes the ground in front of him with his feet in order to detect stretch marks and mines. The group follows the trail.
Since the human eye reacts to rapid movement, the group moves slowly and smoothly for greater stealth, so that they can immediately freeze if a flare takes off.
That there are only night crawling movements for 12 hours in a row. In this case, the task of the group is to invisibly enter the protected object.
The fighters move slowly, overcoming obstacles of different levels, including noise mats made of reeds, dry leaves, fragments of slate, barbed wire fences (the wire is first bitten, broken by hands - in this case, it does not make a sound, then it is spread with special hooks in different directions and provide an exit path).
In complete darkness, the leader of the group, when finding mines, checks them for retrievability, neutralizes traps, removes stretch marks or indicates their location. At this time, the group lies motionless and waits for his command.
The soldiers are smeared with mud or a masking composition of herbs, the weapons are also processed so that glare is not visible.
In the process of training, the fighters of the Cuban special forces, in addition to group operations, participate in complex exercises at various facilities. For example, they learn to place a magnetic mine on a tank that turns out to be empty, because when a magnet is brought to it, a sound is heard, comparable to a small explosion, and as a result, the task will be considered failed.
During a training assignment for the destruction of a battalion stationed in a barracks, seven Cuban special forces fighters imperceptibly creep up to the object and throw thick checkers, previously brought in belt bags (bolso), into the windows of the barracks. Towers with sentries are being destroyed at the same time. Those few enemy fighters who survived after the first strike of the special forces, as a rule, can no longer offer worthy resistance.
Fuel terminals, airplanes at airfields, ammunition depots are exploding, and a special forces group has already left the facility, disguising its campaigns. Such training builds power and energy in every fighter.
All existing types of weapons are mastered in the training center. Cuban instructors teach you how to shoot for real: day, night, on the move, on sound, on a moving target, from the hip, on the flash and much more.
The soldiers master the unique skill of firing a mortar without a base plate (from the moment of the first launch to the first explosion, the cadets managed to fire up to 12 shots) - the fire strike turned out to be deafening, and the calculation left the firing point in time.
The fighters also undergo training in the conduct of combat operations in urban conditions - they master secret operations, methods and locations, methods of movement around the city, detection and evasion from observation.
It is believed that the Cuban special forces are one of the best in organizing ambushes and kidnapping.
Cubans, teaching the tactics of the operation in the most detailed way, make all participants think, without exception. They believe that a commander or a fighter will be able to make the only correct decision only when he knows many such decisions, and for this training is based on practicing any surprises.
Inputs to assignments can be incredible. The main goal of the training is that there should not be unexpected questions and situations during special operations. All possible situations are thought through as much as possible - only then any operation is "doomed" to success.