Luanda - The nationalists of the “Processo 50” case, celebrated last Friday, in Luanda, 65 years of existence with the laying of wreaths of flowers on the sarcophagus of the founder of the Nation, Agostinho Neto, and the former President of the Republic, José Eduardo dos Santos.
Agostinho Neto was the 1st President of free and independent Angola, while José Eduardo dos Santos is another unavoidable figure in the “Processo 50” case that guaranteed territorial integrity.
Speaking to the press, nationalist Diogo Ventura recalled that his generation experienced the horrors of colonialism and, because of this, when the opportunity to fight came they were not afraid to join the independence currents to end colonialism and give independence to the country.
"After 65 years in which our elders were the first to be arrested, we are reminding them today to say that there is no present without a past, we are here to pass down to the new generations that the country is ours and we have to continue fighting for him and his development", he said.
Amadeu Amorim, another member of the “Processo 50” case, characterized the continuation of a struggle for which "we give our lives to create new lives".
He regretted, however, the fact that the Government gave more emphasis to the military issues, "forgetting that before this phase others gave their own lives to fight colonialism".
On the other hand, the politician André Mendes de Carvalho, son of the nationalist Agostinho Mendes de Carvalho, said that it was on a day like today (March 29, 1959) that the Portuguese political police (PIDE), responsible for the repression of all forms of opposition to the Portuguese political regime, invaded his father's house to arrest him.
He noted that, from then on, the odyssey of his children began, who depended on him to support the family.
According to the politician, it was precisely from that date that this more organized political movement began that led to (February 4, 1961, March 15, 1961) and the national liberation struggle that followed.
"It was a very significant epic that our history must record and that our young people must in no way forget." He said.
The "Process of 50" was called a set of three political cases that began on March 29, 1959 with the arrest of several Angolan nationalists, ending on August 24 of the same year with the last detection.
This name is due to the fact that Joaquim Pinto de Andrade (senior leader of the MPLA) sent his brother who lived abroad, Mário Pinto de Andrade, a leaflet denouncing the arrest of 50 nationalists.
The information of the arrests of the 50 nationalists alerted several people linked to the independence movement to the need to act, avoiding their capture and laying the foundations for the beginning of the Armed forces on February 4, 1961, when a group of Angolan patriots took assaulting the prisons where the nationalists were held. DC/VIC/CF/DOJ
