Amílcar Cabral

Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (Portuguese: [ɐmilkaɾ kɐbɾal lɔpɨʃ], September 12, 1924 until January 20, 1973) was a Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde agronomist, writer and nationalist thinker and political leader. He was also one of the main anti-colonial African leaders. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde and the ensuing war of independence of Guinea Bissau. He was killed on January 20, 1973, eight months before the unilateral declaration of independence Guinea Bissau. Although not a Marxist, he was deeply influenced by Marxism, and became an inspiration for revolutionary socialists and national independence movements around the world.

Early years

He was born on September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, parents Cape Verde Juvenal Lopes da Costa Cabral Antònio and Iva Pinhel Évora. Cabral was educated at the Lyceum (IES) Gil Eanes in the city of Mindelo, Cape Verde, and later at the Higher Institute of Agronomy in Lisbon (the capital of Portugal, who was then the ruling colonial power on Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde). While a student of agronomy in Lisbon, founded student movements dedicated to oppose the ruler of Portugal and the promotion of the cause of liberation of the Portuguese colonies in Africa dictatorship.

He returned to Africa in the 1950s, and played a decisive role in promoting the cause of independence of the Portuguese colonies below. He was the founder (in 1956) of the PAIGC or African Party da Independencia da Guine e Cabo Verde (Portuguese for African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) and one of the founders of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) ( later in the same year), along with Agostinho Neto, whom he met in Portugal and other Angolan nationalists.

War for independence

From 1963 until his assassination in 1973, Cabral led the guerrilla movement PAIGE (in Portuguese Guinea) against the Portuguese government, which became one of the most successful wars of independence in the modern history of Africa. The aim of the conflict was to Portuguese independence for both Guinea and Cape Verde. During the conflict, as the movement captured the territory of the Portuguese, Cabral became the de facto leader of a large part of what became in Guinea Bissau.

In preparation for the war of independence, Cabral set up training camps in Ghana with the permission of Kwame Nkrumah. Cabral trained his lieutenants through various techniques, including simulated conversations to provide effective communication skills that help their efforts to mobilize heads of the tribes of Guinea to support the PAIGC.

Amilcar Cabral soon realized that the war effort could only be maintained if they could feed and teaches them to live off the land with the largest population of its troops. As an agronomist, he taught his troops to teach producers of local crops better agricultural techniques, so that they could increase productivity and be able to feed his own family and tribe, and soldiers enlisted in the military wing of PAIGC. When not fighting, soldiers PAIGC would cultivate and plow the fields with the local population.

Cabral and the PAIGC also established a bazaar trade and barter system moving across the country and consumer products made available to field lower than the owners of shops colonial prices. During the war, Cabral also established a station hospital and traveling triage to give medical care to wounded soldiers PAIGC and care quality of life of the larger population, relying on medical supplies obtained from the USSR and Sweden. The bazaars and triage stations were the first stationary until they were attacked frequent Portuguese regime forces.

In 1972, Cabral began to form a popular assembly in preparation for the Independence of Guinea Bissau, but disgruntled former rival PAIGC Inocêncio Kani, with the help of Portuguese agents operating within the PAIGC, shot and killed him. The plan of the Portuguese government, which eventually went wrong, was to suspend the aid of this former rival to arrest Amilcar Cabral and put in the custody of the Portuguese authorities. The murder took place on January 20, 1973 in Conakry, Guinea. His half-brother, Luis Cabral, became the leader of Guinea Bissau branch of the party and became the president of Guinea-Bissau.

Besides being a guerrilla leader, Cabral was highly regarded internationally as one of the most prominent African thinkers and Marxists of the 20th century and their intellectual contributions aimed at formulating a coherent cultural, philosophical and historical theoretical framework to justify and explain the independence movements. This is reflected in his various writings and public speeches.

Tributes

Amílcar Cabral is one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amilcar Cabral, who instilled in us a great confidence in the future and success of their struggle for liberation.

- Fidel Castro, 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba

Cabral is considered a "very significant theoretical and revolutionary Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara", whose influence resonated far beyond the African continent. Amilcar Cabral International Airport, the main international airport in Cape Verde Sal, is named in his honor. There is also a football competition, Amilcar Cabral Cup in zone 2, named as a tribute to him. In addition, the only private university in Guinea Bissau is named after him-Amilcar Cabral University and is in Bissau. Jorge Peixinho composed an elegy to Cabral in 1973.