User:Zperrier25/sandbox

Early Life and Political Career
Risquet grew up in a poor family living in a solar, or a tenement home where a family lived in one room and shared a bathroom with other families. Living in poverty, both of Risquet's parents worked in the tobacco industry and developed a relationship in the Cuban Communist Party, in turn radicalizing Risquet in his youth. During Batista's rule, Risquet was subjected to torture and imprisoned for five months, due to his leadership in the Popular Socialist Party (PSP).

Representing Cuba, in October 1964 Risquet met with Nikita Khrushchev in regards to getting greater Soviet support for Cuba in the face of American hegemony. This meeting fell apart, as Khrushchev was not receptive to aiding Cuba, and, according to Risquet himself, "the tone was bitter." Upon his return from Africa in 1967, Risquet was in multiple government roles, including Minister of Labor, where he led public policy of lambasting Cuban women that stayed at home, rather than committing to working. He additionally worked as an advisor to Raúl Castro in 1991.

Missions to Africa
Risquet's start in assistance to Africa was in 1965, when Castro sent him to work with the government of Congo-Brazzaville while Che Guevara fought against CIA-backed mercenaries in Congo-Leopoldville, or Zaire. There, he was integral in ameliorating a military coup from taking place, and he additionally was a part of Congo-Brazzaville's first initiative to vaccinate children for polio, and as a result thousands of Congolese youth were inoculated. However, the coup in conjunction with disappointment in the effectiveness of assisting the Angolan MPLA troops from Congo-Brazzaville led Risquet to leave Africa. Risquet's return to Cuba was additionally caused by President Luís Cabral's rejection of additional Cuban assistance in Guinea-Bissau.

Because of his efforts in the Congo and close ties with the MPLA, Risquet was chosen to lead diplomatic relations with Angola once the dictatorship under Portugal fell apart in 1975. In late 1977, after being tasked with leading the Cuban intervention in Angola, Risquet led the bargaining of compensation for more Cuban personnel in Angola after President Agostinho Neto requested for more aid. After about four months of negotiations, the Cuban and Angolan governments came to a consensus in January, greatly expanding the thousands of Cubans providing education and healthcare in the region as the civil war continued.