Batepá massacre

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The Batepá massacre ( Portuguese Massacre de Batepá , Bate-Pá ) was a massacre of hundreds of native Creoles on February 3, 1953 in São Tomé . The so-called " Forros " were massacred in Batepá by members of the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners. The Forros had heard a rumor that the government was planning to force them into labor services, which they protested. In turn, the governor blamed communists for the unrest and ordered the military to levy suspects. He had the slogan passed out for civilians to protect themselves. The actions quickly escalated to a bloodbath in which hundreds of the Forros were killed. Communist conspiracies could never be proven.

background

Carlos Gorgulho became governor in 1945. At the time, São Tomé was one of the largest cocoa bean producers in the world. Large plantations, so-called “ roças ”, took up most of the country's agricultural area. The roças worked like quasi-feudal systems and usually brought their serviçais (contract laborers, day laborers) from the African continent and Cape Verde . The Forros had always refused to do the heavy agricultural labor on the plantations because they viewed it as slave labor. However, Gorgulho's policy, which was based on the modernization efforts of the Portuguese Estado Novo dictatorship, required that São Tomé's dependence on foreign workers be broken. In addition, Gorgulho made it easier for the serviçais to return home. At the same time, he improved the working conditions on the roças , which he hoped to make work more attractive. At the same time, he introduced measures that affected the living conditions of the Forros. The sale of palm wine and home-made gin was banned and taxes were raised from 30 to 90 escudos ; Gorgulho hoped these measures would result in Forros taking up wage labor in the plantations.

In addition, Gorgulho lacked workers to carry out his public duties and construction projects. The colonial administration abused police operations to kidnap people and assign them to forced labor to carry out this work.

crisis

In 1952 the labor force became particularly scarce. The colonial administration suggested moving 15,000 workers from Cape Verde to São Tomé. In January 1953, rumors spread that the government would confiscate the Forros land to give to the newly arrived workers from Cape Verde and force the Forros to work as wage laborers. On February 2, 1953, handwritten leaflets surfaced in São Tomé, threatening death against those who would employ the Forros as wage laborers. The government responded with an official statement:

“The government has been informed that individuals who are hostile to current politics, known as communists, are spreading tendentious rumors that the Creoles have to hire themselves out as wage laborers on the Roças, like the Serviçais. The government says that no Creole should believe these rumors but report such individuals to the police. This guarantees the government, which also has the task of protecting the Creoles, as it has always shown, that it will never agree to such contracts. "

Protest demonstrations rallied on February 3, and police killed one of the protesters, Manuel da Conceição Soares. His death sparked a major protest the next day in the small town of Batepá near Trindade .

The massacres

Gorgulho informed the colonists and the administration that a communist rebellion was emerging and issued a call for all white colonists to arm themselves so that they could protect themselves and their wives. Militias were hastily formed and some Cape Verdeans responded to the call to arms. The colonists also mobilized Angolan and Mozambican workers. In a few days the militias and the colonial government killed hundreds of Forros. 28 people alone were suffocated in a cell of the local Corpo de Polícia Indígena –Polizei (CPI, Indigenous Police Corps); twenty people were burned alive on a plantation. The authorities used electric torture in the prisons, and many prisoners died from torture, beatings, and forced labor. The authorities threw many bodies into the sea. Gorgulho is quoted as saying: “Throw this shit into the sea to avoid troubles!” (Throw this shit into the sea to avoid troubles).

Effects

On March 4, members of the Portuguese Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE) arrived in São Tomé and led an investigation into the alleged communist conspiracy. They quickly realized that there had been none and in April ordered Manuel Sarmento Rodrigues , Minister of the Portuguese Ministry for Overseas Territories ( Ministério do Ultramar ), Gorgulho to return to Lisbon . He was promoted to the rank of general and honored for his actions by the Army Minister, General Abranches Pinto . Seven Forros were tried and they were convicted of killing two police officers. However, the massacre also marked the emergence of the independence movement in the Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe. The date is celebrated every year on February 3rd as a public holiday ( Dia de Mártires da Liberdade ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alberto da Boa Morte Francisco: Excorcising Devils from the Throne: Sao Tome and Principe . Algora Publishing, New York, NY 2011, ISBN 978-0-87586-846-2 , p. 25.
  2. ↑ Alexander Keese: Early Limits of Local Decolonization in São Tomé and Príncipe: From Colonial Abuses to Postcolonial Disappointment, 1945-1976. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 2011, vol. 44, 3: 389.
  3. ↑ Seibert 2005: 66-67.
  4. ↑ Seibert 2005: 66-67.
  5. ↑ Seibert 2005: 70.
  6. ↑ Seibert 2005: 71-72
  7. ↑ Stewart Lloyd-Jones: The Last Empire: Thirty Years of Portuguese Decolonization . Intellect, 2003, pp. 38-39.
  8. ↑ The government has been informed that individuals who are hostile towards the present policy, known as communists, are spreading tendentious rumors to the effect that the creoles are to be obliged to contract themselves for the work on the roças like serviçais. The government declares that no creole should give credit to these rumors, but should report such individuals to the police. Thus, the government which has the obligation to protect the creoles, as it has always demonstrated, guarantees them that it will never agree to authorize such contracts. Seibert 2005: 72.
  9. ↑ Seibert 2005: 72.
  10. ↑ Seibert 2005: 73-74.
  11. ^ A b Dominique Gallet: São Tomé et Principe: Les îles du milieu du monde . KARTHALA Editions, January 1, 2008, ISBN 9782811100254 , pp. 61-63.
  12. ↑ Seibert 2005: 73-74.
  13. ↑ Seibert 2005: 78.
  14. ↑ Seibert 2005: 81-825.
  15. ↑ Seibert 2005: 81-825.
  16. ↑ São Tomé e Príncipe recorda mais at 3 Fevereiro, o 65º aniversário do Massacre de 1953 .

literature

  • Gerhard Seibert: Comrades, Clients and Cousins: Colonialism, Socialism and Democratization in Sao Tome and Principe . Brill, Boston 2005.

Web links

Coordinates: 0 ° 18 ′ 4 ″  N , 6 ° 39 ′ 36 ″  E