Struggle for Independence

Cape Verde - The Struggle for Independence

[Note: This page awaits further development by and the contributions of those who took part in the actual independence movement as well as qualified historians and others with special knowledge of the subject. Photographs, personal accounts and other documentary material are sought. Comments and questions may be addressed to: rleary@umassd.edu

I have attempted to record herein historical facts relating to the independence struggle. No endorsement or criticism of any particular party, political philosophy, or persons should be inferred from the information included herein or the presentation thereof. I would like to particularly acknowledge the books of Dr. Richard Lobban, Basil Davidson, Mustafah Dhada, and Colm Foy, from which much of the material on this page has been obtained, as well as the online archive of material on the Portuguese transition to democracy at the Universidade De Coimbra.]

Acronyms

CONCP - Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies

FARP - Forças Armadas Revolucionárias do Povo
FRELIMO - Liberation Front for Mozambique
MFA - Portuguese Armed Forces Movement
MING - Movement for the National Independence of Guinea
MPLA - Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
OAU - Organization of African Unity
PAIGC - African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde
PAICV - African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde
PIDE/DGS - Polícia Internacional de Defesa do Estado /Direcção Geral de Segurança
UNTG - National Union of Guinean Workers

Chronology

"They [the famines of the 1940's] provoked a new trend of thought. There had to be a change, there had to be a different future. Many emigrated; not just for jobs but in the search for a way ahead. Some of us went to Portugal, others to Angola, several to Bissau. Yet all of us went with the same notion, the idea of finding a different way ahead." - Aristides Pereira

Summer, 1949 - Series of radio talks by Amilcar Cabral in Praia.

Amilcar Cabral

1953-54 - Cabral carries out agricultural census in Guinea for the Portuguese Ministry of Overseas Territories.

9/19/1956 - Founding of the PAIGC.

8/3/59 - Pidgiguiti massacre.

12/60-9/61 - PAIGC conducts agitation program calling for peaceful end to colonial rule.

4/61 - Creation of CONCP.

3/62 - Abortive PAIGC attack on Praia.

6-7/62 - Acts of sabotage in Guinea Bissau.

1/63 - PAIGC initiates full-blown military campaign.

1/23/63 - PAIGC attacks Portuguese fort at Tite.

7/63 - New front opened in Northern Guinea Bissau.

2/64 - First Party Congress of the PAIGC takes place in the liberated zones at Cassaca. The PAIGC's political and military forces are reassessed and restructured.

4/64 - Major engagement at Como Island.

11/64 - FARP units open the eastern front. Fighting intensifies on all three fronts - North, South, and East.

1967 - OAU gives its full support to PAIGC.

2/19/68 - PAIGC attack on Bissalanca Airport, center of Portuguese Air Force operations..

2/69 - PAIGC takes Medina Boe.

2/69 - Gen. Antonio de Spínola arrives in Guinea

1969 - Assassination of FRELIMO President Eduardo Mondlane.

7/1/70 - Cabral and leaders of FRELIMO and MPLA given audience with Pope.

7/27/70 - Death of Salazar.

11/22/70 - Portuguese invade Conakry.

1971 - PAIGC attacks on Farim, Bafata, and Bissau.

1972 - UN Mission visits liberated zones.

Nov. 2, 1972 - UN General Assembly recognizes the "legitimacy of armed resistance in Africa against Portugal."

1/20/73 - Assassination of Amilcar Cabral.

3/73 - PAIGC forces begin employment of surface-to-air missles.

5/73 - Siege and fall of the major Portuguese fort of Guiledge.

7/18-22/73 - Second PAIGC Congress held at Medina Boe. Aristides Pereira elected new secretary-general. Luis Cabral becomes deputy secretary-general.

8/21/73 - First secret meeting of the Portuguese revolutionary captains, soon to be transformed into the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), takes place in Bissau.

9/9/73 - An underground meeting of the revolutionary captains takes place in Monte Sobral (Alc·Áovas), Portugal. The MFA (Movimento das ForÁas Armadas [Armed Forces Movement]) is founded.

11/2/73 - Gen. Spínola relieved as commander of the war.

2/12/74 - Garrison at Copa falls after a 40-day siege.

4/25/74 - MFA ends facism in Portugal.- The unfolding of the coup:

"The struggle of the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies had decisively influenced the rise of the Armed Forces Movement, and contributed much to the advancement of the ideas of political justice among young Portuguese officers, notably the captains, on the need to end the fascist-colonialist dictatorship and the colonial wars, thus giving way to the rights of the colonized to self-determination and independence." - General Vasco Gonçalves

5/1/74 - Political prisoners released from Tarrafal.

8/28/74 - PAICG delegation arrives in Sao Vicente to establish headquarters.

9/14/74 - Portugal recognizes independence of Guinea Bissau.

9/29/74 - General strike in Cape Verde creates tensions in Lisbon.

9/30/74 - Spinola marginalized by MFA majority.

11/1/74 - Joint PAIGC-MFA denunciation of Spinola and endorsement of PAIGC.

12/9/74 - PAIGC militants sieze São Vicente's pro-colonial Radio Barlavento.

12/19/74 - Agreement signed in Lisbon recognizing the right of the Cape Verdian people to independence if they so choose it.

5/11/75 - Spinola stages unsuccessful coup against MFA.

"The process of decolonization in the minds of the Armed Forced Movement was neither a linear development nor a smooth one. On the contrary, it was the target after 25 April of an acute conflict between two basic political lines.

One of these was the libertarian, anti-neocolonialist and anti-imperialist trend of the progressive sectors of the AFM. The other trend was neocolonialist, representing Rightist sectors of the AFM and most of the officers and sergeants, with their leader being the President of the Republic, General Spinola. - General Vasco Gonçalves

6/20-26/75 - PAIGC delegation meets with Portuguse government representatives in Cascais, Portugal.

6/30/75 - First Capeverdean elections held to choose representatives to People's National Assembly. Under UN supervision, 92% of votes cast go to PAIGC.

7/5/75 - Cape Verde Independence proclaimed.

A brief chronology of post-independence events of significance.

10/30/75 - Controversial granting of powers to DiNaS (Direcção Nacional de Segurança.)
12/75 - Friendship accords signed with Angola.
9/5/80 - Constitution of Cape Verde adopted.
11/80 - Guinea-Bissau President Luís Cabral overthrown, seriously eroding Cape Verde - Guinea-Bissau unity.
1/19/81 - Formation of the PAICV (African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde).
6/82 - Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau restore diplomatic relations at Maputo summit.
1/13/91 - MpD dominates first multi-party national elections.
7/24/92 - New Cape Verdean flag adopted.
12/95 - MpD dominates second multi-party national elections.

References

Map of West African Region - Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau
Map of Cabo Verde
Map of Guinea-Bissau
Go to Microsoft's Expedia web page to get an interactive map of Guinea-Bissau and links to facts about Guinea-Bissau from the online Encarta Concise Encyclopedia. Use the interactive map feature to zoom out to see the regional context of Guinea-Bissau and its proximity to the Cape Verde Islands.
An extremely detailed photograph of the Guinea-Bissau - Senegal border region taken by the Space Shuttle.
Richard Lobban
- Cape Verde - Crioulo Colony to Independent Nation . Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995.
- Lobban, Richard and Marlene Lopes. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cape Verde, 3rd ed . Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1995.
- Democracy and Elections in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. A paper presented on 12 February, 1996 at Brown University.
Mustafah Dhada. Warriors at Work: How Guinea Was Really Set Free. Niwot, CO:University Press of Colorado, 1993.
Colm Foy. Cape Verde: Politics, Economics and Society (Pinter Publishers UK, 1986; St Martins Press, US, 1988
Basil Davidson
- The Fortunate Isles: A Study in African Transformation. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1989.

Online Resources

Online archives at the Universidade de Coimbra - An extensive and detailed chronicle of the Portuguese transition to democracy, covering the period from 1958 to 1976, with biographical sketches of the major figures. Also an associated sources/bibliography file.
Cape Verdean Chronology 1460-present (R. Almeida)
Cabral: The Man and the Struggle. (R. Almeida)
Resistance Movements - from the of Angola (Offical Web Site of the Republic of Angola)
Havana's Policy in Africa, 1959-76: - New Evidence from Cuban Archives - Piero Gleijeses (from the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)
Commentary by Dr. Mustafah Dhada
Operation Carlota - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

AfricaNews Online/Guinea Bissau - Coverage of the recent warfare and negotiations.

Rom“o Varela's Cabral Page
Extensive written and visual archival documentation on the Portuguese colonial wars, and on Amilcar Cabral and the PAIGC, from several Portuguese sites.
- AmÌlcar Cabral - from the Fundaçáo Mário Soares. Extensive collection of information, writings about Cabral, photographs of Cabral as a student and in Guinea Bissau during the war, photographs of the fighters.
- Colonial - memÛrias de guerra - from CEIS20 - Center of Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century/ U. Coimbra.
- Selected Profiles from the University of Coimbra's archives on the Portuguese transition to democracy - Centro de DocumentaÁ“o 25 de Abril.
Bibliography - Portguguese speaking African Countries (Páginas de Lisboa)
Bibliography - Cape Verde (Rough Guide)
Bibliography - Guinea-Bissau (Rough Guide)

Cape Verde Home Page