Editing Agostinho Neto (section)

==Political career==
In December 1956, the [[Angolan Communist Party]] (PCA) merged with the [[Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola]] (PLUAA) to form the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola with [[Viriato da Cruz]], the President of the PCA, as Secretary General and Neto as president.<ref name="struggle"/><ref name="commparty">{{cite book|year=1977|title=Africa Year Book and Who's who|pages=238–239}}</ref>

The Portuguese authorities in Angola arrested Neto on 8 June 1960. His patients and supporters marched for his release from Bengo to Catete, but were stopped when Portuguese soldiers shot at them, killing 30 and wounding 200 in what became known as the [[Massacre of Ícolo e Bengo]].<ref name="commparty"/> At first Portugal's government exiled Neto to [[Cape Verde]]. Then, once more, he was sent to jail in Lisbon. After international protests were made to Salazar's administration urging Neto's release, Neto was freed from prison and put under [[house arrest]]. From this he escaped, going first to [[Morocco]] and then to [[Congo-Léopoldville]].<ref name="marriage"/>

In 1962, Neto visited [[Washington, D.C.]], and asked the [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy administration]] for aid in his war against Portugal. The U.S. government turned him down, because it had oil interests in colonial Angola, choosing instead to support [[Holden Roberto]]'s comparatively anti-Communist [[National Liberation Front of Angola]] (FNLA).<ref name="cia">{{cite book|last=Walker|first=John Frederick|year=2004|title=A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola|pages=146–148}}</ref>

Neto met [[Che Guevara]] in 1965 and began receiving support from [[Cuba]].<ref name="che">{{cite book|last=Abbott|first=Peter|author2=Manuel Ribeiro Rodrigues|year=1988|title=Modern African Wars: Angola and Mocambique, 1961–74|pages=10}}</ref> He visited Havana many times, and he and [[Fidel Castro]] shared similar ideological views.<ref>{{cite book |title=Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa |last=Chazan |first=Naomi |author2=Robert Mortimer|author3=John Ravenhill|author4=Donald Rothchild |year=1992 |publisher=[[Lynne Rienner Publishers]] Inc. |location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=1-55587-283-2 |pages=392 }}</ref>
[[File:Agostinho Neto , president Angolese bevrijdingsbeweging MPLA, in Nederland Neto, Bestanddeelnr 927-8479.jpg|left|thumb|200x200px|Neto and [[Sietse Bosgra]] in [[Netherlands]], 1975]]
[[File:Zvanični jugoslovensko-angolski razgovori u Beloj vili na Brionima.jpg|left|thumb|225x225px|Official Yugoslav-Angolan talks with [[Josip Broz Tito|Marshal Tito]] in the White Villa, Brijuni Islands, during Neto's visit to [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|SFRY]] in 1977]]
In February 1973 Neto and MPLA visited [[Romania]] to meet with President [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] on a four day official trip between the 12-16th of February, to discuss political matters in Africa.<ref>[https://www.tchiweka.org/fotografia/1004011002 Delegação do MPLA, chefiada por Agostinho Neto, na Roménia]. Arquivo Lúcio Lara/ATD. February 1973.</ref> On the 17th of February Neto visited [[Bulgaria]]<ref name="Público 29-10-2010"/> along with [[Lúcio Lara|Lucio Lara]], [[Ruth Neto]] and other party officials where he would also seek support from the Bulgarian authorities, as well meeting with some of the MPLA students in Bulgaria  amongst them was also [[Dino Matrosse]] - who later would become the MPLA General Secretary. The MPLA delegation will then continue with their official trip to [[Yugoslavia]] on the 18-22nd of February to meet with President [[Josip Broz Tito]].<ref>[https://www.tchiweka.org/fotografia/1004010001 Delegação do MPLA,chefiada por Agostinho Neto, na Jugoslávia]. Arquivo Lúcio Lara/ATD. February 1973.</ref>  Agostinho Neto spends most of his time in 1973 in Europe, where he visits Oslo, in Norway, and on the 2nd of July he is in Geneva. The same year on the 15-16th of July 1973 Tito and Ceausescu meet in Yugoslavia to discuss the situation in Angola,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/16/archives/tito-and-ceausescu-confer.html Tito and Ceausescu Confer]. The New York Times. 16 July 1973.</ref> whilst the leader of MPLA attended the 17-19th of July 1973 for the [[Bulgarian Communist Party]] Plenum Committee,<ref>[https://politburo.archives.bg/bg/2013-04-24-11-09-24/1970-1979/3249--------17-18--19--1973---iii Стенографски протокол от пленум на ЦК от 17, 18 и 19 юли 1973 г. (том III)]. Politiburo Archives.</ref> joined by his sister [[Ruth Neto]] and [[Dino Matrosse]], who was studying engineering in Bulgaria.<ref>[https://www.tchiweka.org/fotografia/1014003009 Estudantes bolseiros na Bulgária]. Arquivo Lúcio Lara/ATD. 1972.</ref>   

Following the [[Carnation Revolution]] in Portugal during April 1974 (which deposed Salazar's successor [[Marcelo Caetano]]), three political factions vied for Angolan power. One of the three was the MPLA, to which Neto belonged. On 11 November 1975, Angola achieved full independence from the Portuguese, and Neto became the nation's ruler after the MPLA seized [[Luanda]] at the expense of the other anti-colonial movements. He established a one-party state and his government developed close links with the [[Soviet Union]] and other nations in the [[Eastern Bloc]] and other [[Communist state]]s, particularly [[Cuba in Angola|Cuba]], which aided the MPLA considerably in its war with the FNLA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ([[UNITA]]) and [[Apartheid South Africa|South Africa]]. Neto made the MPLA declare [[Marxism-Leninism]] its official doctrine. As a consequence, he violently repressed a movement later called [[Fractionism]] which in 1977 attempted a coup d'état inspired by the Organização dos Comunistas de Angola. In December 1977 at their first congress, they changed their name to MPLA-PT (MPLA Partido do Trabalho) officially adopting the Marxist-Leninist ideology, requested by Nito Alves.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1977/12/07/internacional/250297210_850215.html|title=El MPLA angoleño se transforma en partido para superar problemas, políticos|newspaper=El País|date=6 December 1977|last1=Guardiola|first1=Nicole}}</ref> Tens of thousands of followers (or alleged followers) of [[Nito Alves]] were executed in the aftermath of the attempted coup, over a period that lasted up to two years, although Agostinho Neto only ratified the death sentence of Nito Alves. After corresponding with several relatives of the disappeared, Neto decided to dissolve the [[Directorate of Information and Security of Angola|Directorate of Information and Security]] for the "excesses" they had committed.<ref>bambaramdipadida.blogspot.com/2017/06/sita-valles-foi-fuzilada-pelo-mpla.html</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=October 2021}}

According to his sons, President Neto never assigned business or privileges to them, suggesting that despite a controversial presidency he never forgot his humble origins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Família de Agostinho Neto indignada com associação a processos de corrupção|url=https://www.club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=42111:familia-de-agostinho-neto-indignada-com-associacao-a-processos-de-corrupcao&amp;catid=11:foco-do-dia&amp;lang=pt&amp;Itemid=1072|date=4 September 2020|access-date=2021-07-21|website=CLUB-K ANGOLA – Notícias Imparciais de Angola|language=pt-pt}}</ref>