From: George M. Houser American Committee on Af~ica 164 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10016 May 21, 1975 For limited circulation. Quotation & reprinting by permission only. (Part I) A REPORT ON GUINEA-BISSAU, CAPE VERDE & ANGOLA On February 24th Ray Gould and I left New York together for a one day stop in Dakar, nine days in Guinea-Bissau, one week in the Cape Verde Islands. Then I traveled alone for 10 days in Angola. The trip also included about 2 days in Lisbon. This was a particularly fascinating trip for me of the many which I have taken to Africa over the last 21 years. During the long years of the liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial• ism, I was one of many who was prohibited from visiting the Por­ tuguese colonies. I had never been to Cape Verde. On my first trip to Africa in 1954 I had spent two weeks in Angola. I spent another two weeks in northern Angola in liberated areas in Jan­ uary 1962. I had has a brief visit into the southern liberated zone of Guinea-Bissau in Jun3 1973. Therefore to be able to go into these former Portuguese areas of Africa through the "front door" was an exciting experience. I will try to swnrnarize our experiences and observations as briefly as possible. G,T:t:NEA-BISSAU Those who knew Arnilcar Cabral and have had contact with other leaders of the PAIGC have a special hope for Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands. The principles enunciated by Cabral has been realized to an unusual degree in the some two-thirds of Guinea­ Bissau which the PAIGC controlled during the struggle. The ques­ tion that remains is: Will the PAIGC be able to put into practice a people-centered democracy for which they had so long striven? Will they avoid establishing another elitist society changing a set of foreign rulers for a~;. other set who, although indigenous, will claim special privileges for themselves? Although our nine day visit to the country only four or five months after the PAIGC government was really in a~ thority hardly would be the basis for an in-depth analysis, never:theless our reaction to our experiences was definitely affirmativeo (2) A few brief examples might set the tone. Ray and I went on a trip from Bissau to the island of Boloma, the capital of one of eight regions of the country. It was only a 15 or 20 minute flight in a six-seater.plane. As we were about to embark on our return trip to Bissau at the small airstrip at Bolama we noted that there were more people wanting to get on the plane than it could accom­ modate. There were to be no more planes that day. Quite a dis­ cussion in Creole was taking pl ace among those gathered at the air­ port, including the Gover11or uf the region, which we could not understand of course. TWo of those who wanted to fly to Bissau were leaders of the PAIGC ~ But also waiting for a flight was a peasant woman with a sick baby in her arms. We can only guess what the discussion \'Jas all about. What we do know is that when we got on the plane the t wo party workers stayed behind and the woman with the sick baby fle~ ; to Bissau. subsequently we learned that the the party leaders l oft on a boat later that night for the six hour trip across the water to the capital city. The Governor of the Bolv.ma region is Francesca Pereira. Con­ sidering the totally subservient role which women had during the Portuguese colonial era, it is part of the revolution to do away with all forms of discrimination including that b~sed on sex. When we visited Bafata the capital of one of the regions in the east of the country, Chico Ba, the Governor, showed us a place situated on a promontory which had a beautiful view of the Geba River where there had previously been a private club for the Por­ tuguese c·ivilians and troops. This was not now being used. Chico Ba told us "this will be made into a recreation club for all the people of Bafata." The General Atmosphere of our Trip The PAIGC were our hosts. This was rather essential because there is very little Englic: h spokeno Therefore it was necessary to have someone with us who could interpret. We were asked at the outset what we wanted to s ee and wher e we wanted to go. Practic­ ally everyone of our re qu c~ts was r ealized with no restriction. We wandered around Biss au during all times of the day or night en our own with no sense what~ oe ver of insecurity. Bissau is the largest city of t h e country with a population that ~.: - ranges somewhere between 50,000 a~d 100,000. This is quite a spread in estimate, but there h a s bP zn no organized census taken recently and it is felt that the l c·.n; e:;7 estimate would be quite incorrect now. For a country which has just liberated itself after an 11 year military struggle, t~ ~ atmosphere was remarkably relaxed. We felt no tension o ~ hostility, nor did we see more than a few military personnel or civilian 9 0liceo At one time there were as many as 3000 Portuguese living i n the country.. The newly appointed Portuguese Ambassador t o Guinea -Bissau, with whom we spent an hour or more, said that there we re only a bout 200 Portuguese in the coun­ try now but some were begi1;ning to return .. Everything we saw about the good relationship between the Portuguese settlers and the people of Guinea-Biss au and with t h e PA IGC leadership would reinforce a basic tenet of the PAIGC tha t their struggle was against Portuguese colonialismr no·t aga inst the Portuguese people~ A PAIGC memorandum during the struggle had said, 'Y.Ye make a distinction between Portu­ guese colonialism ~ nd Po~tu gu ese s e ttlers just as we distinguish between a vehicle and its whe e"'s ~" Ray and I might have easily been taken for PortuguGse& obvi ously we were white foreigners. We were looked at with sorr.a curicsity as we wandered around Bissau and other towns of the cou ntry, b ut t he attitude was always friendly, never hostile. We took three side trips from Bissau. One was to Bafata in the east; a second was to Bolama, the capital of the region of the Bijagors Islands; and a third was to Bissora and other towns and villages in the nort ~ rn area of the country., The trips to Bafata and Bissora were by road. We spent an hour or more with Luis Cabral1 the President, Joao Bernardo Vieira {Nino), the President of the National Assembly; Fidelis Al mada the Commissioner of Justice; Jose Araujo, Commissione r without portfolio in the government and many other leaders of the party and the government. Others we saw were leaders in the field of heal t~ , education, agriculture, trade, com­ merce, etc. Historic Leaders and Sites Amilca:: Cabral is t he vener ated lGader of the struggle, At the entrance to the Pr0sid ential Palace above the large doors there is a painting of Cabral " 'l'he ma.i.n avenue through Bissau which used to be called the "Avenue o f Republic " has been renamed "Avenue Arnilcar Cabral". There wer ~ s t i l l posters in many store windows and on public places comrr.e:norat.ing the assassination of Cabral on January 20, 1.973 , The •tJo rdjng on ~. he~e posters -was'7 something like "Eternal Glory to l>,mi J.car C2.bral , H. ilitant #1 of the PAIGC. Founder of the Nation .. " Cabral's na:n.e COIEcs nat ura lly i nto many conversations though he is gone ., The I-llarty l.t~ ad s:- ~s S ·3.Y "we know what Amilcar' s ideas were. They are in ma ny ~<J r 5. ~ ings a n d speeches. We have no Arnilcar now, but collec t ively we are abl e to carry out his ideas. We miss him, but ¥1e do Hot ma ke a r 0ligi on ou t o f it ~ " (4) We spent many hours at the Pidjiguiti Dock, the scene of the massacre of August 3, 1959 which changed the course of the struggle in Guinea-Bissau. On ·that day the workers peacefully demonstrated against shamefully low wageso Some 50 dock workers were shot down and killed and many more were wounded. We talked with some of the dock workers who h ~d been there on that day and gave us a vivid discription of what had happened, We learned of the courageous action of a man ?Y the name of ocante, who had helped to rescue many of the. workers caught in a crossfire and after whom one of the principle boats of the government is now named. We spent an hour or so with Fernando Fortes, now the under­ commissioner -for telecommunications.. He is one of the most impor­ tant figures in the history of the struggle and of the growth of - -- - .. the PAIGC for he was one of the six original founders. He took us to the home where the clandestine meeting had been held Se~ ber 19, 195-6 when the PAIGC was formed& and _also where it was de- - cided41_ after the Pidj iguiti strike, that if the PAIGC was to survive .