Sita Valles

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Sita Maria Dias Valles (born August 23, 1951 in Cabinda , Portuguese West Africa , † probably August 1, 1977 in Luanda , Angola ) was a Portuguese or Angolan communist and leader of the Portuguese communist student association. In the course of the revolt of "27. May ”against the ruling MPLA in May 1977, Valles was arrested, tortured and then murdered.

Life

youth

Sita Valles was born on August 23, 1951 in the Cabinda exclave as the daughter of Edgar Francisco da Purificação Valles and Maria Lúcia Dias Valles. She grew up in the colonial capital of Luanda in a wealthy Goi family. Her parents had been transferred from Portuguese India to Luanda as colonial officials .

Education and political engagement

After completing her school education, she began studying medicine at the University of Luanda , where she first came into contact with political groups, especially Maoists . She later moved to the University of Lisbon , where she joined the active underground communist scene in 1971, including the União dos Estudantes Comunistas . She soon rose to one of the most prominent leadership figures there (alongside Zita Seabra ).

During the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974 , Valles was at a Komsomol congress in Moscow. Because of what had happened, she decided to return to her home country Angola to attend the upcoming independence of the Portuguese colony in the summer of 1975 and to be politically active. As soon as she arrived in Angola, she joined the dominant Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) , which describes itself as communist . From the beginning it was considered to belong to the orthoxodic, pro-Soviet wing of the MPLA, led by Nito Alves , Minister of the Interior and President Agostinho Neto , and José Van Dunem , General of the Angolan Armed Forces . The latter married Valles in 1977 and had a son with him whom they named Ernesto in honor of Che Guevera .

Failed coup in May 1977

The Orthodox wing - also known as "Fraccionismo" or "Nitistas" after Nito Alves - opposed the MPLA's Angolan President Agostinho Neto shortly after independence. They demanded a much stronger bond with the Soviet Union, the stationing of not only Cuban but also Soviet troops in the country, as well as greater centralization. Valles stood behind these positions and represented them publicly.

In 1976, the MPLA Central Committee suspended Alves and Van Dunem for six months on charges of establishing a "second MPLA". However, Alves remained Minister of the Interior under Agostinho Neto. In the course of a commission of inquiry that was set up, Valles was later expelled from the MPLA because she was accused of spying for the KGB.

The group around Alves then began in the spring of 1977 with plans to overthrow President Neto. The storming of the presidential palace, the main prison and several radio stations on May 27, 1977 failed, despite the support of the Angolan army, mainly because of the support of the Cuban soldiers of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias stationed in Luanda . Alves' group was arrested, including Valles. She was accused of being one of the main figures behind the coup.

The information about Valles after her imprisonment is very vague, inaccurate and sometimes contradicting. Allegedly, only a few weeks later, on August 1, 1977, she was first raped by the security forces of the Angolan State Security DISA ( Direcção de Informação e Segurança de Angola ), then shot and thrown into a pit. Her husband, José Van Dunem, and the leader of the group Nito Alves were also executed. Up to 20,000 internal MPLA opposition members are said to have been killed in the course of purges over the next two years.

The Portuguese communists officially distanced themselves from Sita Valles and accused Nito Alves of having instrumentalized her. Valles parents never officially found out about their daughter's death and kept her searched for several years.

reception

The circumstances surrounding the coup or revolt of the “27. May ”( Vinte e Sete de Maio ), as it is called in Angola and Portugal, as largely unclear.

Leonor Figueiredo , journalist and writer, took a detailed look at the biography and career of Sita Valles. She published her research in the book "Sita Valles: Revolucionária, Comunista até à Morte" ( German  "Sita Valles: Revolutionärin, Kommunistin bis zum Tod" ), which was published in 2010 by Alêtheia Editores. Figueiredo emphasizes above all how short but very intense Valles short life was and describes her several times as a "heroine" ( Heroína ). She also emphasizes in her work how unknown the MPLA's purges from 1977 to 1979 were, especially abroad.

José Manuel Fernandes, columnist for the Portuguese newspaper Público , contradicted Figueiredo and criticized that it is still not clear what part and responsibility Valles had in the brutal violence of May 27, 1977 and the aftermath.

Figueiredo's work was published in December 2018 in an English translation under the title Sita Valles: A Revolutionary until Death by Goa 1556, translated by David Addison Smith.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Pamela D'Mello: The Goan-origin woman who fought for Angola's freedom and was killed by its first government. In: Scroll.in. December 13, 2018, accessed December 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Sita Vales, protagonista do “27 de Maio” - In memorium. In: Club K. May 20, 2012, accessed December 13, 2018 (Portuguese).
  3. ↑ José Manuel Fernandes: Para além da morte trágica de Sita Valles. In: Público. September 10, 2010, accessed December 14, 2018 (Portuguese).

bibliography

  • Leonor Figueiredo: Sita Valles: Revolucionária, Comunista até à Morte (1951-1977) , Alêtheia Editores, Lisbon, August 2010; ISBN 9789896222949

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Valles, Sita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valles, Sita Maria Dias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese-Angolan communist
DATE OF BIRTH 23rd August 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Cabinda , Portuguese West Africa
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: August 1, 1977
Place of death Luanda , Angola