I hear many Goans say that former president of Portugal Mario Soares. Should be thanked for creating provisions whereby Goans can get Portuguese passports and settle in Europe. Has Mario done us a big favor?
In reality Mario Soares may have done this with vested interests. Possibly knowing about the dwindling population of Portugal he may thought that Goans from Portugal’s former colony may fill the vacuum. But we should remember it was this same once Outlawed Portuguese socialist politician who as an External Affairs Minister cunningly, without knowledge of Goans who met the Marathi Indian External affairs minister Yeshwantrao Chavan first at New York on 24th September 1974 and later at NEW DELHI (Not Panjim) on December 31st the same year and signed the infamous Soares- Chavan pact giving GOA to India without consent of Goans. How could India which claims to respect for DEMOCRACY accept a treaty from a Portuguese Outlaw?
A former Democratically Elected President of Portugal Ramalho Eanes said that among all the Colonies of Portugal GOA was the one which deserved Independence the most. He further mentioned that the population of Macau were Chinese, while those of the African colonies were Africans with not much of a different identity. However according to him Goans were neither Portuguese nor Indian but were GOANS who deserved self-rule.
What I write below exposes the hypocrisy of Mario Soares.
The Portuguese empire in Africa consisted of the following entities
1) Sao Tome and Principe.
2) Cabo Verde
3) Portuguese East Africa.
4) Portuguese West Africa
5) Portuguese_Guinea
6) Portuguese Congo.
7) Portuguese fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá in Ouidah,
The Portuguese fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá in Ouidah was annexed by what is todays Benin in 1961 in what many say was almost a non-invasion wherein the population of the fortress was just 5. Following the Carnation revolution in Portugal Sao Tome and Cabo Verde became free nations. Portuguese Guinea became free as Guinea Bissau. Portuguese West Africa became the People’s Republic of Mozambique.
Portuguese Congo is unheard of by many as much much of the world does not know today that GOA was different from India. The Alvor Agreement, signed on January 15, 1975 between Portugal and Portuguese West Africa granted the territory independence from Portugal on November 11 and the new nation was called Angola. Portuguese Congo also known as Cabinda is separated from Angola by the Democratic republic of Congo (Then the republic of Zaire). An Oil rich land which had its own freedom movement independent of Angola (Like how there was no link between the Freedom Movement of India and Goa), Cabinda was seeking to be a Nation Independent of Angola. On Ranque Franque proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Cabinda in Kampala on 1 August 1975 at an OAU summit which was discussing Angola at that precise moment. Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko called for a referendum on the future of the Cabinda. Congolese Prime Minister Henri Lopes is reported to have said at the time that "Cabinda exists as a reality and is historically and geographically different from Angola."
Cabinda today is a territory of 7,284 square kilometers in west central Africa with a population of 264,584 in 2006 (estimate), divided between four municipalities of Belize (population: 17,693), Buco Zau (40,019), Cabinda (185,924) and Cacongo (20,948). Cabinda is Angolan exclave, which means that it is not connected to the rest of Angola by land. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Republic of the Congo to the north, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the east and south. The DR Congo territory along the north bank of the Congo River separates Cabinda from the Angolan mainland.
Cabinda and its people have been actively pushing for Independence from Angola which has been depleting its Oil resources. The Cabinda cause became known more to the world on 8th January 2010 when the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), a group promoting independence for the province of Cabinda, known as the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda - Military Position (FLEC-PM), claimed responsibility for an attack on the Togo National team travelling to Angola for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. Secretary General of the FLEC-PM Rodrigues Mingas, currently exiled in France, claimed the attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy.
Surprisingly the people of Cabinda seem to have found a new Savior who is taking up their cause. The Same Mario Soares who sold Goa to India Unconditionally is now speaking about the Independence for Cabinda.
I would humbly ask MARIO SOARES. Sir if you stand for an independent Cabinda why you did forget Goa in 1974. Do you know what is happening to Goa today? Did you ever think of the sacrifices Govendor General Vassalo Silva did to save Goa and protect the greatness of Portugal in the Orient? Have you tried to find out how the Goan sufferers from the Fanaticism and Lawless ness of India (Whose citizens you once admired in your letter in 2011).
My Goan Bretheren. Before it is too late I hope someone can remind Mario Soares about GOA and ask him why he supports only the cause of Cabinda and not the cause of well-being for GOA.
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