Editing Agostinho Neto

{{Short description|President of Angola from 1975 to 1979}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = President MPLA, heer Neto door Den Uyl ontvangen premier Den Uyl en A Neto (r), Bestanddeelnr 927-8518 (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Neto in 1975
| office1             = 1st [[President of Angola]]
| term_start1         = 11 November 1975
| term_end1           = 10 September 1979
| primeminister1      = [[Lopo do Nascimento]] (1975–1978)
| predecessor1        = Office established
| successor1          = [[José Eduardo dos Santos]]
| office2             = President of the [[MPLA|People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola]]
| term_start2         = 10 December 1956
| term_end2           = 10 September 1979
| predecessor2        = [[Ilídio Machado]]
| successor2          = [[José Eduardo dos Santos]]
| birth_name          = António Agostinho Neto
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1922|9|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Ícolo e Bengo]], [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1979|9|10|1922|9|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_cause         = [[Pancreatic cancer]]
| party               = [[MPLA]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Maria Eugénia Neto]]|1957}}<ref name="marriage">{{cite book|last=James|first=W. Martin|year=2004|title=Historical Dictionary of Angola|pages=110}}</ref>
| children            = Mário Jorge da Silva Neto<br>Irene Alexandra da Silva Neto<br>Leda da Silva Neto<br>[[Michelle Marinova|Mihaela Radkova Marinova]]<ref name="Público 29-10-2010">{{cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2010/10/29/mundo/noticia/mihaela-marinova-e-filha-de-agostinho-neto-1463442 |title=Mihaela Marinova é filha de Agostinho Neto|website=Público|date=29 October 2010}}</ref>
| alma_mater          = [[University of Lisbon]]
| allegiance          = [[file:Flag of Angola.svg|25px]] [[People's Republic of Angola]]
| serviceyears        = 1961&ndash;1979
| battles             = * [[Angolan War of Independence]]
* [[Angolan Civil War]]
| relations           = [[António Alberto Neto]] (nephew)<br>[[Ruth Neto]] (sister)<br>[[Deolinda Rodrigues]] (cousin)<br>[[Roberto Francisco de Almeida]] (cousin)
}}

'''António Agostinho Neto''' (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an [[Angola]]n [[Communism|communist]] politician and poet. He served as the first [[president of Angola]] from 1975 to 1979, having led the [[MPLA|Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola]] (MPLA) in the [[Angolan War of Independence|war for independence]] (1961–1974). Until his death, he led the MPLA in the [[Angolan Civil War|civil war]] (1975–2002). Known also for his literary activities, he is considered Angola's preeminent poet. His birthday is celebrated as [[Heroes' Day|National Heroes' Day]], a [[Public holidays in Angola|public holiday in Angola]].

==Early life==
Neto was born at [[Ícolo e Bengo]], in [[Bengo (province)|Bengo Province]], [[Portuguese West Africa|Angola]], in 1922. Neto attended high school in the capital city, [[Luanda]]; his parents were both school teachers and Methodists; his father, also called Agostinho Neto, was a [[Methodist]] pastor. After secondary school he worked in the colonial health services, before going on to university. The younger Neto left Angola for [[Portugal]], and studied medicine at the universities of [[University of Coimbra|Coimbra]] and [[University of Lisbon|Lisbon]]. He combined his academic life with covert political activity of a revolutionary sort; and [[PIDE]], the security police force of the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]] regime headed by Portuguese Prime Minister [[António de Oliveira Salazar|Salazar]], arrested him in 1951 for three months for his separatist activism. He was arrested again in 1952 for joining the Portuguese Movement for Democratic Youth Unity. He was arrested again in 1955 and held until 1957. He finished his studies, marrying a 23-year-old Portuguese woman who was born in [[Trás-os-Montes (region)|Trás-os-Montes]], [[Maria Eugénia da Silva]], the same day he graduated. He returned to Angola in 1959, was arrested again in 1960, and escaped to assume leadership of the armed struggle against colonial rule. When Angola gained independence in 1975 he became president and held the position until his death in 1979.<ref name="marriage"/><ref name="struggle">{{cite book|last=Tvedten|first=Inge|year=1997|title=Angola: Struggle for Peace and Reconstruction|url=https://archive.org/details/angolastrugglefo00tved|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/angolastrugglefo00tved/page/29 29–30]}}</ref>

==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>

==Literary career==
Agostinho Neto's poetic works were written chiefly between 1946 and 1960, largely in Portugal. He published three books of poetry during his lifetime. Several of his poems became national anthems.<ref>Abdala, Benjamin, Jr. "Agostinho Neto." In ''African Lusophone Writers.'' Detroit: Gale, 2012, pp. 120–125. (Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 367).</ref> Poems included collections like ''Sacred Hope'', which was published in 1974 (Titled Dry Eyes in the Portuguese Version). He was also the first member voted into the Anglo Writers Union and The Center for African Studies in Lisbon. He was later awarded the Lotus Prize presented by the Conference of Afro-Asian Writers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/agostinho-neto|title=Agostinho Neto|date=2019-05-18|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en|access-date=2019-05-19}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Agostinho Neto.jpg|left|thumb|Neto in 1978]]
Agostinho Neto died on Monday, 10 September 1979 in [[Moscow]] after travelling to the [[Soviet Union]] to undergo surgery for cancer and hepatitis. He was a week shy of his 57th birthday at the time of his death. Neto had a long battle with [[pancreatic cancer]], as well as chronic [[hepatitis]] that ultimately took his life. Neto had been to the Soviet Union multiple times for treatment because of the high level of medical professionals there. Few people knew about his failing health because he and his colleagues thought it was better to hide this information, as to not show weakness.<ref>Thomas Johnson, "Agostinho Neto, 56, Angola's Leader, Dies in Moscow After Surgery". ''The New York Times'', 12 September 1979.</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Memorial Antonio Agostinho Neto (19882325368).jpg|thumb|right|The Neto mausoleum and memorial in [[Luanda]]]]The [[Soviet Union]] awarded Neto the [[Lenin Peace Prize]] for 1975–76.

The public university of Luanda, the [[Agostinho Neto University]], is named after him. A poem by [[Chinua Achebe]] entitled "Agostinho Neto" was written in his honour.<ref name="achebe">
{{cite web
  | last = Achebe
  | first = Chinua
  | title = Agostinho Neto 
  | url = http://www.bu.edu/agni/poetry/print/2002/56-achebe.html
  | access-date = 14 May 2008
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121015002758/http://www.bu.edu/agni/poetry/print/2002/56-achebe.html
  | archive-date = 15 October 2012
  | url-status = dead
  }}
</ref> An [[Agostinho Neto Airport|airport]] in [[Santo Antão, Cape Verde]], is named after him, due to the beloved work he performed there as a doctor. For the same reason, the main hospital of Cape Verde in the capital [[Platô|Praia]] is named "Hospital Agostinho Neto" (HAN). There is also a [[Morna (music)|morna]] dedicated to him. A street in [[New Belgrade]] in [[Serbia]] is named after him, the Dr Agostina Neta street.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dr+Agostina+Neta,+Beograd,+Serbia/@44.8010696,20.4042575,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x475a6f8576743d73:0x1ab34d7a142e7da8|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps|access-date=2017-07-11}}</ref>
[[File:António Agostinho Neto.jpg|thumb|A bust of Neto]]

A street in Ghana (Agostinho Neto Road), which can be found in Airport City in the capital, is named after him.

On the 17-19th of July 1973 was held The Congress The  July Plenum in Sofia organised by the Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov, and also attended by Dr.Neto who at the time stayed in Hotel Rila.  During that period he had a brief relationship with Bulgarian woman with whom he had met earlier in the same year on the 17th of February  and they had  a daughter [[Michelle Marinova|Mihaela]]. A [[DNA test]] performed in 2013 concluded with 95% confidence that she is Neto's daughter.<ref>''Público'' (Maia, Portugal), 29 October 2010. [http://www.publico.pt/mundo/noticia/mihaela-marinova-e-filha-de-agostinho-neto-1463442 "36 anos de uma história agitada: Mihaela Marinova é filha de Agostinho Neto"]. Retrieved 15 October 2015.</ref>

==Foreign honours==
* {{flagu|Cape Verde}}
** [[File:Amílcar Cabral Order - 1st Class (Cabo Verde).png|70px]] Order of Amílcar Cabral, First Class<ref>{{cite web|title=2016 Condecorações, Fundação Dr. António Agostinho Neto|url= https://www.archeofactu.pt/frontoffice/default.aspx?ctrl=experiencia_det&id=432&cid=5|website=Archeofactu|access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref>
* {{flagu|Cuba}}
**[[File:Order of Playa Girón (ribbon bar).png|70px]] Recipient of the [[Order of Playa Girón]]
* {{flagu|Guinea}}
** [[File:National Order of Merit - Grand Cross (Guinea).png|70px]] Grand Cross of the [[National Order of Merit (Guinea)|National Order of Merit]]
* {{flagu|Namibia}}
** [[File:Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis BAR.png|70px]] Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis<ref name="jornaldeangola.ao">{{cite web|title=Agostinho Neto condecorado na Namíbia|url=https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=177184|website=Jornal de Angola|date=23 March 2010|access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref>
* {{flagu|Poland}}
** [[File:POL Order Zaslugi RP kl1 BAR.svg|70px]] [[Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland]], First Class<ref name="jornaldeangola.ao"/>
* {{flagu|South Africa}}
** [[File:Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo (ribbon bar).gif|70px]] Supreme Commander of the [[Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo]]<ref>{{cite web|title=2004 National Orders awards|url=http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/nationalorders2004.htm|website=southafrica.info|publisher=Brand SA|access-date=8 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204092331/http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/nationalorders2004.htm|archive-date=4 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
**[[File:Leninpeace.jpg|70px]] [[Lenin Peace Prize]]
* {{flagu|Yugoslavia}}
** [[File:Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star Rib.png|70px]] [[Order of the Yugoslav Star]]<ref>{{cite web|title=2016 Condecorações, Fundação Dr. António Agostinho Neto|url= https://www.archeofactu.pt/frontoffice/default.aspx?ctrl=experiencia_det&id=432&cid=5|website=Archeofactu|access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref>
* {{flagu|Zimbabwe}}
** Recipient of the [[Royal Order of Munhumutapa]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/N/Neto-A1go.asp Encyclopedia]

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Position created}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of Angola]]|years=1975–1979}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Lúcio Lara]] <small>(Acting)</Small>}}
{{s-end}}

{{AngolanPresidents}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neto, Agostinho}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Angolan politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century presidents in Africa]]
[[Category:Angolan communists]]
[[Category:Angolan escapees]]
[[Category:Angolan expatriates in Portugal]]
[[Category:Angolan independence activists]]
[[Category:Angolan revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Angolan writers]]
[[Category:Communism in Angola]]
[[Category:Escapees from Portuguese detention]]
[[Category:MPLA politicians]]
[[Category:People from Bengo Province]]
[[Category:Portuguese-language writers]]
[[Category:Presidents of Angola]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:University of Coimbra alumni]]
[[Category:University of Lisbon alumni]]