Lúcio Lara

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Lúcio Lara (born April 9, 1929 in Nova Lisboa , † February 27, 2016 in Luanda ) - also called Tchiweka in Angola , full name Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara - was an Angolan politician and one of the founders of the MPLA . The son of a Portuguese father and an Angolan mother, he studied in Lisbon and Coimbra . He later worked as a math, physics and chemistry teacher in Portugal and Guinea . In 1955 he married Ruth Pflüger, who belonged to a Jewish family who had fled to Portugal from Germany before the National Socialists. From the 1950s on, Lara campaigned for the independence of Angola, was a close confidante of Agostinho Neto and became Secretary General of the MPLA in 1961; he played a central role in the war of independence in Angola (1961-74) and during the decolonization conflict (1974/75). In the early 1960s, he built an educational program from his base near Brazzaville to prepare for Angola's independence. He is also considered the founder of the Angolan Pioneer Organization . In 1965 he met Che Guevara in Brazzaville, where he asked him for Cuban military instructors for the guerrilla fight, who arrived four months later. After the fall of the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal, he led the first MPLA delegation in Luanda on November 4, 1974, the arrival of which was celebrated by a large crowd.

On September 10, 1979, the day of the death of Agostinho Neto, Lara was the highest member of the Politburo and Vice President of the MPLA. With that he took over the functions of the President of the party and thus the President of the People's Republic of Angola . He convened the 2nd MPLA Congress on September 11, 1979 and campaigned for the election of José Eduardo dos Santos , which took place on September 20 of the same year. Lara declined all suggestions to choose him herself.

In the 1980s, Lara withdrew from politics for health reasons. His extensive private archive is gradually being published by his daughter Wanda and has become a central source for Angolan historiography from the 1950s to the 1970s.

literature

  • Lúcio Lara 80 anos. Imagens de um percurso . Centro de Documentação Tchiweka, Luanda 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lúcio Lara dies in Angola at the age of 86. Retrieved August 8, 2020 (American English).
  2. ↑ Lúcio Lara, nacionalista e co-fundador do MPLA club-k.net , March 5, 2016, accessed on November 14, 2019
  3. ↑ Lopo do Nascimento defende contagem da verdade histórica opais.co.ao , April 20, 2018, accessed on November 14, 2019
  4. ↑ Victoria Brittain: Lúcio Lara obituary theguardian.com , February 29, 2016, accessed November 15, 2019
  5. ↑ Lúcio Lara, nacionalista e co-fundador do MPLA club-k.net , March 5, 2016, accessed on November 17, 2019
  6. ↑ Angola: História política de Lúcio Lara lançada em fotobiografia ( Memento from June 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). Notícias do Serviço de Apontadores Portugueses. Agência Lusa. 2010
  7. ↑ O homem que marcou o destino de Angola . Emídio Fernando. Nova Gazeta. 2016
  8. ↑ Patrício Batsîkama. O testamento que validou José Eduardo dos Santos na presidência de Angola em 1979. Revista de História da África e de Estudos da Diáspora Africana. Sankofa: FCS / Universidade Agostinho Neto, 2014. Vol: 14

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Lara, Lúcio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES de Lara, Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto (full name); Tchiweka (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Angolan politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Nova Lisboa
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 2016
Place of death Luanda