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The Hidden History of Equatorial Guinea

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The Hidden History of Equatorial Guinea THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA: REASONS BEHIND THE SILENCE OF THE SPANISH PRESS AROUND MACÍAS NGUEMA’S REGIME (1968-1979) Alejandra Mahiques Nunez July 2013 Alejandra Mahiques Macías Nguema in the Spanish Press 1968-1979 CASE STUDY: THE SILENCE OF THE SPANISH PRESS AROUND MACÍAS NGUEMA’S REGIME IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA (1968-1979) Master Thesis Supervisors: Dr.Ineke van Kessel Prof.Dr.Robert Ross Research Master African Studies Leiden University -2- Alejandra Mahiques Macías Nguema in the Spanish Press 1968-1979 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Research Question & Problem Statement...................................................................................................... 6 Main findings on the reasons behind the silence ........................................................................................... 8 Operationalisation and methodology ............................................................................................................ 9 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................................ 11 FIRST PART Chapter 1. Historical Overview 1968-1975 ............................................................................................ 16 1.1. Santa Cruz Palace: a long journey’s destination .................................................................................... 16 1.2. The first diplomatic crisis ....................................................................................................................... 19 1.3. A communist country rich in minerals ................................................................................................... 20 1.4. An absolutist king in a reign of terror .................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2. Analysis: Equatorial Guinea in the Spanish press ................................................................. 25 2.1. A subversive and imperialist foreign press ............................................................................................ 25 2.2. A dispersed Guinean diaspora ............................................................................................................... 39 2.3. Censorship over censorship: new press ban declared .......................................................................... 33 2.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter 3. Reasons behind the press ban ............................................................................................. 37 3.1.Guinea, the Spanish fief we ought to preserve ...................................................................................... 37 3.2. Mouths shut: we have to protect our people ....................................................................................... 43 3.3. Spain could have done it better ............................................................................................................ 48 3.4.Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 51 SECOND PART Chapter 4. Historical Overview 1976-1979 ............................................................................................ 52 4.1. Macías’ last years ................................................................................................................................... 52 -3- Alejandra Mahiques Macías Nguema in the Spanish Press 1968-1979 4.2. Silenced and hidden poverty ................................................................................................................. 53 4.3. The democratic transition: the most relevant period in Spain’s recent history ................................... 54 4.4. Obiang’s coup d’état: the awaited moment .......................................................................................... 55 Chapter 5. Activism against Macías: Equatorial Guinea reappears on scene ........................................... 57 5.1. Journalistic literature on Equatorial Guinea: the boom ........................................................................ 57 5.2. The ANRD and the three main reports on Macias’ repression .............................................................. 61 5.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 65 Chapter 6. Analysis: News on Macías after the lifting of the press ban ................................................... 66 6.1. The new free press ................................................................................................................................ 66 6.2. The Spanish press in the last years of Macías ....................................................................................... 73 6.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 80 Final Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 83 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 85 List of Informants ................................................................................................................................. 91 Annexes ............................................................................................................................................... 93 -4- Alejandra Mahiques Macías Nguema in the Spanish Press 1968-1979 Introduction On the 12th of October 1968, Equatorial Guinea gained its independence from Spain. In the elections held months earlier in the colony, the only ones celebrated in a Spanish territory under Franco´s regime, the Guinean population elected Francisco Macías Nguema as president. He was the only candidate not trained by the Spanish government. However, the international pressure together with the enthusiasm shown by the Guineans towards this new charismatic leader forced the Spanish delegation to legitimize him. In the following months, Spanish media informed regularly about the situation of the expatriate community and the political events with a hard criticism towards the new Government. On the opposite side, Guinean media became a propaganda tool of the new State, broadcasting about the only political party allowed, the PUNT (Partido Único Nacional de Trabajadores) and its propagandistic proclamations against the historical domination of the Spaniards. Few years later Macías declared himself President for Life censuring any exaltation of colonial times and restricting all type of social and political relationship with Spain. Among these symbols of the colony was the practice of Catholicism, seen with suspicion and prosecuted. On the 14th of February 1972, Franco´s government declared classified material any information related to the former colony. During those years of silence, Equatorial Guinea suffered under a cruel dictatorship with constant violations of human rights unknown both inside and outside the country. No foreign journalist was allowed to enter the country and the only information published on Equatorial Guinea came from Spanish sources, they themselves banned by their own Government. Newspapers like The Times barely informed about the Sub-Saharan country (less than a hundred articles in a decade), and when they did so, it was through their correspondent in Madrid1. Macías Nguema´s obsession to control, manipulate and censor all articles published in his country blocked the access to the sources of information. International journalists only knew about the country´s situation through the diaspora, and as the Guinean journalist and writer Donato Ndongo declared to me, “the information we could get from Guinea was very scarce and often arrived too late”2. During these years, in 1973, all priests and missionaries, Catholics or Protestants, were arrested and their movements restricted. Arguing that priests supported the revolts against him, Macías expelled almost all of them. Once in Spain, they hardly talked to media. In an interview to ABC in July 1978, the last remaining Claretian missionaries expelled by Macías´s government declared that “Macías goal is to destroy everything” and told the journalist that they did not want to get into too much detail in order to protect the last Spanish Claretian priest who still lived in the country3. While the silence reigned outside, inside its borders, René Pélissier described the situation as “Cambodia minus ideology”4. Up to half of the population was killed or went into exile5. Out of the 1 http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/searchByKeyword.arc?dateSearchType=range 91 articles found on Equatorial Guinea between 01/01/1969 and 12/12/1979. 2 Interview to Donato Ndongo held in Murcia, on the 27th of July, 2011. 3 Blanco y Negro (12/07/1978). “Los misioneros españoles expulsados de Guinea. El fin de Macías: destruirlo todo”. p.27. 4 Sundiata, I.K., (1988).“The roots of African despotism: the question of political
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