WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.160
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back everybody. Today we're gonna be talking about the

2
00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:10.640
<v Speaker 1>Vispas Negatis, the Black Wasps, which is Cuba's elite special Operations,

3
00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.240
<v Speaker 1>and a lot of people haven't never heard of them yet.

4
00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:16.320
<v Speaker 1>They have real combat experience to operate one of the

5
00:00:16.359 --> 00:00:19.039
<v Speaker 1>toughest logistical environments on the planet, and just a few

6
00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.719
<v Speaker 1>months ago found themselves in a direct confrontation with US

7
00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:26.960
<v Speaker 1>Special Operations. They're not a large, well funded formation like

8
00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.039
<v Speaker 1>some of the units we usually discussed. Cuba has been

9
00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:31.879
<v Speaker 1>under a US embargo for over sixty years. After the

10
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.880
<v Speaker 1>Soviet Union collapsed, the island went through the special period

11
00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:38.799
<v Speaker 1>of extreme shortages. Yet this unit continues to select trained

12
00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.119
<v Speaker 1>deploye operators who have fought in Africa and more recently

13
00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.200
<v Speaker 1>provide a close protection to a head of state under

14
00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:47.320
<v Speaker 1>direct threat. So today we're going to break them down.

15
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.840
<v Speaker 1>The Black Wasps were officially stood up on December one,

16
00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.960
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty six, about almost forty years ago, but their

17
00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.719
<v Speaker 1>lineage goes back further. In nineteen seventy four, the Cubans

18
00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.799
<v Speaker 1>created a Landing and assaw for great under the Ministry

19
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.280
<v Speaker 1>of the Interior. That unit cut its teeth in Angola

20
00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.760
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy five during the Battle of Kinfogundo. By

21
00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.840
<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventy seven, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces

22
00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:15.040
<v Speaker 1>society it needed its own dedicated special ob capability. The result,

23
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:19.400
<v Speaker 1>after years of refinement, became the BMTE the Black Wasps.

24
00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.239
<v Speaker 1>What stands out immediately is the scale and the experience.

25
00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:24.799
<v Speaker 1>Cuba deployed hundreds of thousands of troops do on goal

26
00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:28.280
<v Speaker 1>over more than a decade. The Black Wasps and their

27
00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:33.480
<v Speaker 1>preda Predator serve units operated in that environment jungle Savannah

28
00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:38.000
<v Speaker 1>against South African conventional forces that is not simulated training,

29
00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:41.200
<v Speaker 1>that is, a sustained combat deployment. Operators who survived those

30
00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:44.319
<v Speaker 1>years brought back hard won lessons in small unit tactics.

31
00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:48.439
<v Speaker 1>Those veterans became the cadre that built the modern unit.

32
00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:52.319
<v Speaker 1>The unit works in five person subgroups. Both men and

33
00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.200
<v Speaker 1>women serve in the teams. Five operators give them a

34
00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:58.560
<v Speaker 1>very small, agile footprint, easier to insert, easier to sustain,

35
00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.200
<v Speaker 1>harder for an adversary to detain, similar to the Delta

36
00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:05.439
<v Speaker 1>forces in the US. The structure suits rapid response and recommissions,

37
00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:10.479
<v Speaker 1>which appear to be core tasks. Graduation exercises, include extended

38
00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:14.479
<v Speaker 1>survival problems in the Sienaga, the Sapata swamps around the

39
00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:18.240
<v Speaker 1>southern coast of Ida de Lahovan Dude, the Island of Youth.

40
00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:21.639
<v Speaker 1>The goal is to produce operators with what Cuban sources

41
00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:27.080
<v Speaker 1>have called Volontu dijedro iron will. Instructors have included Vietnamese

42
00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.639
<v Speaker 1>Special Forces, North Korea Special Forces, Chinese and even the

43
00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.400
<v Speaker 1>Russian Spetsnets. You're looking at a blend of Soviet doctrine

44
00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.159
<v Speaker 1>in Southeast Asian jungle warfare and Spetznatz style direct action.

45
00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.879
<v Speaker 1>That combination is interesting because it forces a unit to

46
00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:46.439
<v Speaker 1>synthesize the different approaches rather than copy one model. What

47
00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.280
<v Speaker 1>about equipment, Well, again, remember their resource constrained. The Black

48
00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:54.039
<v Speaker 1>Wasps don't have the latest Western or even Russian next

49
00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.599
<v Speaker 1>generation systems. Their inventory is a mix of modernized Soviet weapons,

50
00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:01.159
<v Speaker 1>Cuban national production, and whatever they can maintain or adapt.

51
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:05.400
<v Speaker 1>You'll see modified aks fitted with Cuban made Vilma reflex

52
00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:09.280
<v Speaker 1>sites and suppressors. They have used the FSS VENTUREZ suppressed

53
00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.840
<v Speaker 1>right sniper rifle SVD dragonovs and Cuban designed systems like

54
00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:19.000
<v Speaker 1>the Mambi fourteen point five millimeter bullpup anti material rifle,

55
00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:25.199
<v Speaker 1>also the Alejandro Bolt action sniper. The key point is adaptation.

56
00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.319
<v Speaker 1>Cuban armors and technicians have kept these systems running and

57
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.120
<v Speaker 1>in some cases improved them locally. You cannot import freely,

58
00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:36.439
<v Speaker 1>you become a very good at maintenance cannibalization. That is

59
00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.560
<v Speaker 1>a different skill set from the one developed by forces

60
00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:41.039
<v Speaker 1>that can call from new production runs or foreign military

61
00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.639
<v Speaker 1>sales on a regular basis. The Black Wasps have had

62
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.360
<v Speaker 1>to master both combat and sustainment under constraint. Their mobility

63
00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:54.319
<v Speaker 1>assets are similarly pragmatic UAZ vehicles, BRDM scout cards and

64
00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:57.919
<v Speaker 1>whatever car whatever can be kept running. Nothing flashy, but

65
00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.719
<v Speaker 1>reliable enough for the missions they are given and resource

66
00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.240
<v Speaker 1>constrained environment. Reliability and the ability to repair in the

67
00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:09.000
<v Speaker 1>field matters more than peak performance operationally. The unit's most

68
00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.919
<v Speaker 1>significant historical experience remains on Gola. Cuban forces as a

69
00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.160
<v Speaker 1>whole performed incredibly, performed credibly in several engagements against better

70
00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:21.360
<v Speaker 1>equipped opponents. The Special troops learned to operate in small groups,

71
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:23.800
<v Speaker 1>use terrain, and make the most of limited fire support.

72
00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:30.079
<v Speaker 1>Those lessons appeared to have been institutionalized more recently in January,

73
00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:33.279
<v Speaker 1>Elements of the Black Wasps were reportedly serving as part

74
00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:36.360
<v Speaker 1>of the close protection detail from Maduro. During the US

75
00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:39.920
<v Speaker 1>operation that resulted in Maduro's capture. Cuban operators engaged US

76
00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.600
<v Speaker 1>special forces in close corridors fighting inside the fort at

77
00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:46.959
<v Speaker 1>the Duenna Complex. Cuban authorities later repatriated the remains of

78
00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:50.399
<v Speaker 1>thirty two personnel, many of them from this unit. Regardless

79
00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.279
<v Speaker 1>of the broader political context, the fact that these operators

80
00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.040
<v Speaker 1>were placed in the innermost ring of protection and stood

81
00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.480
<v Speaker 1>their ground against a Delta Force led element tells you

82
00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:02.040
<v Speaker 1>something about the level of trust place in them. What

83
00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.279
<v Speaker 1>I find most instructive for our audience is how this

84
00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.839
<v Speaker 1>unit illustrates the difference between resources and capability. Every military

85
00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.600
<v Speaker 1>wants the newest night vision, the best radios. The Black

86
00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.079
<v Speaker 1>Wasp have had to do without many of these advantages,

87
00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.600
<v Speaker 1>yet to maintain a selection process that produces operators will

88
00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:22.120
<v Speaker 1>into fight and small teams farm from home, A training

89
00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.040
<v Speaker 1>pipeline informed by multiple foreign special operation traditions. Operating in

90
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:31.279
<v Speaker 1>a resource constrain environment forces prioritization. Cuba cannot afford to

91
00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:36.160
<v Speaker 1>waste effort on marginal units, and the Black Wasps are

92
00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.519
<v Speaker 1>clearly a priority formation. That focus, combined with real combat

93
00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.160
<v Speaker 1>heritage from Africa and continuous training under difficult conditions, appears

94
00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.120
<v Speaker 1>to have produce a unit that punches above its weight,

95
00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:52.360
<v Speaker 1>as the budget would suggest for Western special operations. There

96
00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:54.879
<v Speaker 1>are useful parallels here. We trained hard and we have

97
00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:59.800
<v Speaker 1>excellent equipment, but we should never assume that an adversary

98
00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:02.800
<v Speaker 1>would that our resources are automatically less capable. History is

99
00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:05.959
<v Speaker 1>full of examples of forces are compensated from material shortages

100
00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:10.720
<v Speaker 1>through superior training, cohesion, and tactical abservations adaptation, and the

101
00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:14.439
<v Speaker 1>Black Wasps are just one of those examples, still operating today.

102
00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.519
<v Speaker 1>They're not a mythical super unit though, and they're not

103
00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.160
<v Speaker 1>ten feet tall. They're professional soldiers who've been asked to

104
00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:24.959
<v Speaker 1>do difficult things what their country could provide. In many ways,

105
00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.399
<v Speaker 1>that makes their continued existence more noteworthy than have had

106
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.319
<v Speaker 1>unlimited funding in the newest gear. The Black Wasps are

107
00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.959
<v Speaker 1>worth studying. Their story is not widely told in English

108
00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.079
<v Speaker 1>language sources, which is why we spend time pulling the

109
00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:39.759
<v Speaker 1>history together for this episode