Carmen Pereira

Carmen Pereira (* 1936 or 1937 in Bissau , Portuguese Guinea ; † June 4, 2016 ibid) was a Guinea-Bissau resistance fighter and a politician for the PAIGC . After Guinea-Bissau gained independence, Pereira took on various political offices, including that of Parliamentary Speaker of the National People's Assembly . In this role, she was the only female head of state of Guinea-Bissau for two days in 1984 .

Life

youth

Carmen Pereira was born in 1936 (or 1937) as the daughter of a privileged, so-called assimilated ( assimilados / civilizados ) family in Bissau. Her father was one of the few African lawyers in what was then the Portuguese colonial empire.

Engagement in the underground

In 1962, Pereira and her husband Umaru Djallo joined the PAIGC resistance and independence movement that fought against the Portuguese colonial power. After her husband had already fled from the Portuguese secret police PIDE, Pereira also fled first to Ziguinchor (Senegal) and later to Conakry (Guinea-Conakry), where the PAIGC had set up its headquarters. There she left her two children in the Escola Piloto, founded by the PAIGC . As one of the few female resistance fighters who completed secondary school, the PAIGC sent her to the Soviet Union for a ten-month “political internship”. In 1965 there was another stay in the Soviet Union, among others together with Francisca Pereira and Titina Silá , where they were trained as nurses. PAIGC leader Cabral himself is said to have promoted and promoted the engagement of women.

Upon her return, the PAIGC sent Pereira to the southern front, where she was responsible for establishing health care. For 18 months she was the political director ( Comissária Política ) of the southern front and worked closely with the military director, João Bernardo Vieira . In 1971, Pereira became a member of the 24-member Combat Executive Committee ( Comité Executivo da Luta ), she was the only woman on the body. One of their tasks was to be responsible for the development of the liberated areas.

In the course of the independence movement, the population in the liberated areas elected Pereira as their MP. The MPs in turn elected her as deputy speaker of the National People's Assembly ( Assembleia Nacional Popular ), which met on September 24, 1973 and unilaterally proclaimed independence from Portugal.

After independence

In the period after Guinea-Bissau's declaration of independence, Pereira played an important role within the political system of the PAIGC - both party and government. Among other things, she was Deputy Speaker of the National People's Assembly from 1973 to 1984, then from 1984 to 1989 President of Parliament. In addition, from 1975 to 1981 she chaired the women's committee ( Comissão feminina ) for Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. From 1981 to 1983 she was also Minister for Health and Social Affairs.

In her office as President of Parliament, she was formally head of state for two days from May 14, 1984, when João Bernardo Vieira, who came to power in a coup in 1980, introduced a new constitution and officially took over the presidency on May 16, 1984. She was also a member of the State Council from 1989 to 1994.

Until recently she was an active member of the Central Committee and the Politburo of her party.

Carmen Pereira died on June 4, 2016 at the age of 79 in her home in Bissau.

Web links

Brief history of the PAIGC with a picture of Carmen Pereira ( Memento from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Biography at Africa Database , November 26, 2002 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) also source (English)
Video interview with Carmen Pereira on the Portuguese-language website of Deutsche Welle

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ana Dias Cordeiro: Amílcar Cabral queria ter as mulheres ao seu lado na luta. Semper. In: Público. January 20, 2013, accessed May 3, 2019 (Portuguese).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Pereira, Carmen (1936–) . In: Peter Karibe Mendy, Richard A. Lobban, Jr. (Eds.): Historical dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau . 4th edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8027-6 , pp. 333 .
^ João Ruela Ribeiro: Morreu Carmen Pereira, combatente pela independência da Guiné-Bissau. In: Público. June 5, 2016, accessed May 3, 2019 (Portuguese).

personal data
SURNAME	Pereira, Carmen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Guinea-Bissau resistance fighter and politician (PAIGC), head of state of Guinea-Bissau
DATE OF BIRTH	1936 or 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bissau , Portuguese Guinea
DATE OF DEATH	4th June 2016
Place of death	Bissau , Guinea-Bissau

[:1-1] Ana Dias Cordeiro: Amílcar Cabral queria ter as mulheres ao seu lado na luta. Semper. In: Público. January 20, 2013, accessed May 3, 2019 (Portuguese).

[:0-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Pereira, Carmen (1936–) . In: Peter Karibe Mendy, Richard A. Lobban, Jr. (Eds.): Historical dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau . 4th edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8027-6 , pp. 333 .

[3] João Ruela Ribeiro: Morreu Carmen Pereira, combatente pela independência da Guiné-Bissau. In: Público. June 5, 2016, accessed May 3, 2019 (Portuguese).