Editing Thomas Sankara (section)

===Relations with other countries===

Thomas Sankara defined his program as anti-imperialist. In this respect, [[France]] became the main target of revolutionary rhetoric. When President [[François Mitterrand]] visited Burkina Faso in November 1986, Sankara criticized the French for having received [[P. W. Botha]], the [[Prime Minister of South Africa]], which still enforced [[apartheid]]; and [[Jonas Savimbi]], the leader of [[UNITA]], in France, referring to both men as 'covered in blood from head to toe'. In response, France reduced its economic aid to Burkina Faso by 80% between 1983 and 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telerama.fr/cinema/films/capitaine-thomas-sankara,483035.php|title=Capitaine Thomas Sankara de Christophe Cupelin – (2014) – Film documentaire|via=www.telerama.fr}}</ref>

{{ill|Guy Penne|fr}}, President Mitterrand's advisor on African affairs, organized a media campaign in France to denigrate Thomas Sankara in collaboration with the [[DGSE]]. It provided the press with a series of documents on supposed atrocities intended to feed articles against him.<ref name="monde-diplomatique.fr"/>

Sankara set up a program of cooperation with [[Cuba]]. After meeting with [[Fidel Castro]], Sankara arranged to send young Burkinabés to Cuba in September 1986 to receive professional training and to participate in the country's development upon their return. These were volunteers recruited on the basis of a competition; priority was given to orphans and young people from rural and disadvantaged areas. Some 600 teenagers were flown to Cuba to complete their schooling and receive professional training to become doctors (particularly gynecologists), engineers, or agronomists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/08/11/les-burkinabes-formes-a-cuba-sont-restes-fideles-a-sankara-et-a-la-mission-qu-il-leur-avait-confiee_6048706_3212.html|title="les Burkinabés formés à Cuba sont restés fidèles à Sankara et à la mission qu'il leur avait confiée"|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|date=11 August 2020}}</ref>

Denouncing the support of the [[United States]] to [[Israel]] and [[South Africa]], he called on African countries to boycott the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles]]. At the [[United Nations General Assembly]], he denounced the [[United States invasion of Grenada|invasion of Grenada by the United States]]. The latter nation responded by implementing trade sanctions against Burkina Faso. Also at the UN, Sankara called for an end to the veto power granted to the great powers. In the name of the 'right of peoples to sovereignty', he supported the national demands of the [[Western Sahara]], [[Palestine]], the Nicaraguan [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinistas]], and the South African [[African National Congress|ANC]].

While he had good relations with Ghanaian leader [[Jerry Rawlings]] and Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]], Sankara was relatively isolated in West Africa. Leaders close to France, such as [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] in [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Hassan II of Morocco|Hassan II]] in [[Morocco]], were particularly hostile to him.<ref>Amzat Boukari-Yabara, ''Africa Unite ! : Une histoire du panafricanisme,'' Paris: La Découverte, 2014</ref>