and came to develop what was described as a "really passionate hatred" of Begin. During his final government in 1980–84, Trudeau's government took markedly pro-Palestinian positions as Trudeau was described as being "pro-Arab" by this point. Trudeau and Castro Trudeau was known as a friend of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba. In January 1976, Trudeau visited Cuba to meet Castro and shouted to a crowd in Havana "Viva Cuba! Viva Castro!" ("Long Live Cuba! Long Live Castro!"). In November 1975, Cuba had intervened in the Angolan Civil War on the side of the Marxist MPLA government supported by the Soviet Union which was fighting against the UNITA and FNLA guerrilla movements supported by the United States, South Africa and Zaire (the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo). Though both Zaire and South Africa had also intervened in Angola, sending in troops to support the FLNA and UNITA respectively, it was the Cuban intervention in Angola that caused the controversy in the West. Many people in the West saw the Cuban intervention as "aggression", and as a power play by the Soviet Union to win a sphere of influence in Africa. Angola was amply endowed with oil, and many saw the victory of the MPLA/Cuban forces in the first round of the Angolan civil war in 1975–76 as a major blow to Western interests in Africa. Trudeau's remarks in Havana were widely seen in the West as not only expressing approval of Cuba's Communist government, but also the Cuban intervention in Angola. In fact, Trudeau did press Castro in private to pull his troops out of Angola, only for Castro to insist that Cuba would pull its forces out of Angola only when South Africa likewise pulled its forces out of not only Angola, but also Southwest Africa (modern Namibia) as well. Trudeau's embrace of Castro attracted much criticism in the United States, which allowed Trudeau to pose as a leader who was "standing up" to the United States without seriously damaging American-Canadian relations. Reelections 1972 election On September 1, 1972, over four years into the Liberals' five-year mandate, Trudeau called an election for October 30. At the start of the campaign, polls showed the Liberals 10 points ahead of the Progressive Conservatives led by Robert Stanfield, who previously lost to Trudeau in the 1968 election. However, the results produced a Liberal minority government, with the Liberals winning 109 seats