Francisco Macias Nguema

Francisco Macías Nguema, whose birth name was Mez-m Ngueme, Africanized as Masié Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong (Nsegayong, Río Muni —current Mongomo—, January 1, 1924 – Malabo, September 29, 1979), was an Equatoguinean politician, elected the first post-colonial democratic president of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in 1968.

Shortly after assuming the presidency, on March 5, 1969, he had to face an attempted coup, which he managed to defuse. From then until 1972, he monopolized all the powers of the State, ending up imposing a dictatorial regime, by which he merged all the country's political parties into a single party led by him, which he called the Single National Workers Party (PUNT), proclaimed himself president for life and exercised intense repression against his political opponents.

He lacked a defined ideology, although he militated in a radical nationalism, formally declared himself a Marxist and publicly praised the figures of Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler, defining himself as a "Marxist-Hitlerian". moved away from the former Spanish metropolis and came closer to the Soviet bloc and France.

In 1979 he was overthrown by a coup led by his nephew and head of the prison system, Teodoro Obiang, and backed by Gabonese troops and Moroccan mercenaries, being tried in a public trial held at the Cine Marfil in Malabo, convicted to death and executed.

Biography

Early Years

He was born on January 1, 1924 into a poor peasant family. He was a member of the Fang ethnic group, and would become an important tribal leader. Born Mez-m Ngueme (other sources cite his birth name as Masié Me Nguema), Macías Nguema was the son of a famous witch doctor, a cannibal and possessor of evú, an evil substance much feared among the Fang. Francisco Macías's parents had three other sons and were important figures of the fang Esangui clan (also known as "gorillas") and were natives of the Oyem district, in Gabon. Product of the misdeeds of Macías' father, he and the rest of the Esangui clan were expelled by the other Gabonese Fang (who had been victims of the Esangui clan, whom they described as criminals) to Spanish Guinea, with the aim (according to the Fang themselves who expelled them) that they be rehabilitated by the Spanish colonists.

The Esangui clan settled in the Mongomo District, in whose jungles Spanish colonial influence was minimal at the time, and where Macías was born in the town of Nsegayong. His father established a temple from Bweti to Njobe, at whose initiation according to Fang oral tradition one of Macías' brothers was sacrificed by his father, being immolated. This was because the Bweti a Njobe practiced by the Fang demanded human bones to gain political power. The murder of his brother left a permanent psychological trauma on Macías. However, Macías (being the younger brother) he was constantly made to suffer by his brothers. He was, according to his relatives, a difficult, shy and withdrawn child who disliked relating to people, but who had ambitions for greatness. During his childhood and youth he was several times on the verge of from death due to tuberculosis, but he was treated adequately and always managed to save himself. However, all these experiences made him suffer from thanatophobia.

The Spanish Colonial Guard, however, did not take long to enter the jungle and begin to resort to violent methods to achieve the submission and civilization of the indigenous people, many of whom were enslaved and sent to work on cocoa and cocoa farms. coffee. These methods included torturing, maiming, and murdering Fang villagers. A prominent leader of these episodes was Julián Ayala. At the age of nine, Macías watched his father being fatally beaten by a local colonial administrator while trying to to use his title of tribal chief to negotiate better wages for his people. Macías was orphaned a week later, when his mother committed suicide, leaving him and 10 siblings to fend for themselves. After this Macías was rescued along with other young Fang (again with the aim of civilizing) and raised by wealthy Spaniards.

He was educated in a Catholic school (belonging to the missions), but in general his academic training was poor, with only primary education. Macías considered, in his own words, that his studies would not lead him to He changed his birth name to Francisco Macías during his school years after being baptized by Spanish Catholic missionaries, and learned the Spanish language (his mother tongue was Fang language). During his adolescence he worked as a servant for some wealthy Spanish settlers, being described as helpful and obedient, which earned him ridicule and mistreatment by other non-Christianized Fang. At that time Macías showed a inferiority complex (especially intellectual) towards the Spanish, and it is believed that for this reason he Spanishized his name. He also worked as a street vendor.

Colonial Administration Official

In 1938 he went to work for the colonial administration (despite having failed the civil service exam three times, being able to pass it on the fourth thanks to the favoritism of the colonial authorities). He obtained the auxiliary diploma administrative status, enjoyed by those officials who did not graduate from the Indigenous Superior School, where Macías had not managed to enter.

In 1944 he started working for the Bata Forest Service, and a year later he was assigned to the Río Benito Public Works Department. He later returned to Bata and worked as a catechist for the local Catholic clergy. At that time he met to what would be his first wife. He gained the appreciation of the clergy and thanks to this he was able to start working in the Public Works Service of Bata.

He also became the owner of a coffee-growing farm, and in 1947 he left the colonial administration to dedicate himself to these tasks. In 1950 he obtained emancipated status. In 1951 he rejoined the colonial administration, when he was appointed administrative delegate of the government in the Mongomo district. From that same year he also worked as a translator for the colonial administrator of Mongomo. In this position he was accused by the natives of being in the service of the whites, which which made him enmity. However, it has been pointed out that Macías's attitude of loyalty during his adolescence and youth towards the colonists was a coldly calculated maneuver to achieve his personal objectives:

During the time I was working with the Spaniards, they never hit me, I did not receive a single insult or punishment. I never offended the target while I loved him. When a white man sent me to clean his toilet, I did it without protest and then washed my hands... I knew how to fool the target, I knew I was inferior.

Statements of Macías.

In 1960, with the Spanish Gulf of Guinea Territories granted provincial status, he was appointed mayor of Mongomo by the Spanish colonial authorities, holding office until 1964. He was considered an opportunistic official. He was one of the founders of the Popular Idea of Equatorial Guinea (IPGE), a party that he left in 1963 due to ideological differences. He was an official loyal to the colonial administration, and never came into contact with the exiled Guinean nationalists. Regarding this, Macías would defend himself saying that he preferred to fight for independence from within the system, showing a false attitude of submission to deceive the enemy. Macías considered the direct fight fruitless and dangerous.

Once the Statute of Autonomy for Equatorial Guinea was approved in 1963, he was appointed vice-president of the autonomous government of Equatorial Guinea (chaired by Bonifacio Ondó Edú) in 1964, a position he would hold until his arrival at the presidency in 1968. Parallel to his He also served as vice president (minister) of Public Works and a deputy of the Legislative Assembly. During this time Macías was a member of the Movement of the National Union of Equatorial Guinea (MUNGE), although at a certain point he began to distance himself from the neocolonialism represented by this party and to advance towards nationalist positions, establishing relations with nationalist leaders such as Atanasio Ndongo. Despite this, he never resigned from his important positions in the autonomous government.

During his time as a colonial official, he was awarded the Order of Africa and the Medal of Civil Merit.

His rise as a prominent colonial official occurred because the Spanish considered him loyal and manipulable, due to his poor education and mental agility.

Macías returned to being in contact with his tribal roots in this period, once again being a prominent member of the Esangui clan. He was appointed by the Council of Fang Elders to direct the first steps of the ethnic group towards independence.

Nationalist representative and presidential candidate

He participated in the Constitutional Conference of Madrid from 1967-1968, preparatory to the 1968 Constitution, where he was characterized by his markedly nationalist and anti-colonialist interventions, presenting himself as someone who was not afraid of confronting the Spanish government. During the Conference he also He showed his admiration for Adolf Hitler by declaring that "Africa is free thanks to Hitler". After two sessions of the Constitutional Conference were held in Madrid, it became clear that independence would be granted to Equatorial Guinea, without extending the Statute of Autonomy. Macías (who participated in the conference as a member of the National Liberation Movement of Equatorial Guinea, MONALIGE, Atanasio Ndongo's party) was against the 1968 Constitution, denouncing it before the United Nations as a maneuver by Spain to maintain its influence on the former colony. He campaigned in favor of the No option for the Referendum on the Constitution of Equatorial Guinea in 1968. Before, he had even advocated not holding this referendum. After his opposition to the (ultimately approved) Constitution, he came into conflict with the MONALIGE leaders and eventually left the party.

For the process of independence of Equatorial Guinea, he was chosen by a group of Guinean cadres constituted in the so-called Joint Secretariat or Group of Twenty-three – a group established during the Constitutional Conference under the coordination of the anti-Franco lawyer Antonio García-Trevijano–, to lead a nationalist project outside the influence of the Spanish Regime, being proposed by this group as a candidate for the presidency of the future republic, without affiliation to any party. This electoral coalition (People's Idea of Equatorial Guinea) stood for the elections and made it reach the Presidency of the new Republic of Equatorial Guinea in October 1968, after a second round in which it competed with the other important candidate, Bonifacio Ondó Edú, who had been president of the previous autonomous government. By then, Macías no longer professed the Catholic religion, and was very critical of the Church.

Presidency

After assuming the presidency of the new State, he maintained a moderate policy and good relations with Spain. However, he was subjected to destabilization by Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, Vice President of the Spanish Government. Among other destabilizing maneuvers, the coffers of the only two banks in Guinea were emptied: Banco Exterior de España and Banco de Crédito, so the new government could not pay officials. The new State did not have its own currency or that of a national bank, and the Spanish peseta continued to be in circulation. In addition, the new State was going to use the biennial budgets approved by the Spanish State (the metropolis) for the two African provinces, according to the signed transition agreements.

But Spain refused to honor those agreements, Macías accusing Spain of creating an economic blockade and declaring that he would not abide by the "Spanish-imposed" 1968 Constitution. Macías also resented the Spanish government's failure to send the arms aid and the presidential plane that he had requested. At the beginning of 1969, Macías toured the entire country where he threatened the Spanish and encouraged his followers to fight against them. All this situation resulted in a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Equatorial Guinea, which ended in the evacuation of almost the entire Spanish population (around 7,500 people) by the Spanish government and the withdrawal of Civil Guard troops stationed in the country. the delivery of all the weapons that the settlers possessed was ordered, weapons that Macías would later provide to his Youth. The Spanish colonists also had to abandon all the goods they owned in the country.

Before the massive evacuation of the settlers, a harsh curfew was established, through which the Youth on the March with Macías (youth organization of the regime) went out to intimidate the Spanish settlers residing in Santa Isabel and Bata. The Guinean National Guard placed barriers and controls on the roads. In those days, both Guineans and Spaniards feared for their safety; did not go to work or other daily occupations. The streets became too dirty, and services declined. During this period, several African countries expressed their concern about the situation to the Spanish government. A few weeks after independence, Macías denounced an assassination attempt allegedly committed by Mariano Mba Micha, Mongomo Government Delegate.

After confronting an alleged coup attempt on March 5, 1969, led by Atanasio Ndongo, Macías (who blamed Spain for the coup attempt and described it as "imperialist and colonialist") declared the state of emergency, arrested approximately 200 people and established an iron dictatorship, in which he himself proclaimed himself President for Life in 1972, proclaiming a new Constitution the following year. Under his dictatorial rule, free elections were never held. In October 1973, despite holding the presidency for life, he called presidential elections where he was the only candidate, being officially elected with 99% of the votes. Those who voted against his candidacy were in his majority imprisoned. In parliamentary elections held shortly after, the PUNT obtained all the votes and seats in the Popular National Assembly. That same year a UN mission was expelled from the country. The presence of the Armed Forces in public life increased dramatically.

In 1970 he banned all political parties and instead established the Single National Workers Party (PUNT) as a single party. His decision to found a single party was due to the influence of both Franco and the eastern communist regimes The following year Macías personally assumed all the powers of the state and issued a decree-law that sanctioned any offense against him with the death penalty and established strong sanctions for those convicted of crimes of rebellion or for attempting to overthrow to the Government. According to a document published in the Spanish press at the end of 1976 and attributed to the extinct ANRD, the drafting of this decree was carried out by the anti-Franco lawyer Antonio García-Trevijano -decades later, Severo Moto, leader of the opposition to the Guinean dictatorship in exile in Spain, revealed that the ANRD document was "plagued with false and falsified data" and it was carried out "by order of the PSOE", in order to separate García-Trevijano from the Spanish political scene. That same year, 1971, several articles of the 1968 Constitution were repealed, and In March, another supposed coup attempt was aborted, which led to the dismissal of two ministers and the forced disappearance of several people. As his dictatorship claimed more victims and closed itself off abroad, he assumed, in addition to the presidency for life, the positions of Minister of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance. He also had himself appointed Major General of the army despite never having been in the military or having officer training.

He also had the dubious honor of being declared a "Steel Leader", "Master of Education, Science, Culture and Traditional Arts", "The Only Miracle of Equatorial Guinea", "Great Popular Revolutionary Leader of Guinea Equatorial", "Maximum Founder of the Guinean State", "Supreme Chief of the Guinean Revolution", "First Worker of the Working People of Equatorial Guinea", "Father of all revolutionary children", "Honourable and Great Comrade » and more titles born from his delusions of grandeur. In total, Macías was awarded more than 50 titles. He also claimed to have supernatural powers, frequently undergoing witchcraft sessions. His supposed powers were another way of terrorizing the population.

During his presidency, Equatorial Guinea will receive the unfortunate nickname of African Auschwitz, and will be noted for numerous political executions and mass murders. The former president of the autonomous government, Bonifacio Ondó Edú, three months after independence, was defamed, detained and assassinated in the Playa Negra Prison, while Macías was in Bata, the capital of the continental zone of Equatorial Guinea. The repression against supporters of Bonifacio Ondó began in December 1968. Other officials, including the vice-president of the coalition government, Edmundo Bossio, committed suicide while in custody. The International Commission of Jurists severely denounced the Macías government for having "completely mercilessly liquidated his political opponents". The Macías regime was also condemned by the World Council of Churches, by the United Nations, the Organization of Unity Africana, Amnesty International (which called on the OAU to put pressure on Macías) and the European Commission. Amnesty International declared that the Macías regime was among the "most brutal and unpredictable in the world". The Macías government always rejected all these international denunciations.

During this time, many of the politicians who had fought for the country's independence were assassinated. After eliminating the political opposition, his regime began to persecute the Catholic Church, perceived as another opposition, abolishing the freedom of worship. He also suppressed freedom of expression (taking control of the press and radio), the right of association, freedom of movement (requiring government authorization to travel through the country, in addition to the fact that the roads were full of checkpoints) and freedom of the press. Macías' repression even affected his supporters: 10 of the 12 ministers of his first cabinet, as well as two thirds of the deputies of the Assembly National elected in 1968, at least two dozen army officers and police officers and various public officials were assassinated. On Christmas Eve 1975 Macías ordered the execution of around 150 opponents of his regime. The soldiers shot them in the soccer stadium in Malabo, while the song "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin played on the amplifiers. This was supposedly one of Macías' favorite songs.

Macías harshly repressed the population, who was suspected of being a soldier against him. In his speeches, Macías frequently threatened his adversaries, and sometimes even insulted his own ministers. The paramilitary "Juventudes en Marcha con Macías" (founded in February 1969, formerly known as the "Popular Revolutionary Militia") and based on the Nazi Sturmabteilung) played an important role in the repressive apparatus during the Macías regime, standing out for their brutal coercive actions.

Macías especially repressed those who belonged to the Bubi ethnic group in Bioko, associated with relative wealth and education. The Fang ethnic group soon invaded Bioko Island, and the Bubi separatist movement was harshly repressed. The island was heavily militarized and the government encouraged physical harassment of its inhabitants. Macías also felt a significant hatred against the Annobonese (due to their affection for Spain), and in 1973 he prohibited the sending of aid to quell an epidemic of cholera on the Island of Pagalú, a product of which a hundred people died. The previous year the isolation of the island and the imprisonment of its population had been decreed for not having voted for Macías in the 1968 elections.. The Ndowé ethnic group was also repressed. The daily use of the Fang language was imposed (despite not being the official language), and all languages belonging to ethnic minorities were outlawed, in addition to the language being seriously penalized. Spanish. The 1973 Constitution established a unitary state, with which all minority ethnic groups were marginalized. The repression of minority ethnic groups and the consequent predominance of the Fang ethnic group made the Macías dictatorship a markedly tribalist regime.

The continuous and serious violations of human rights committed by the Macías regime led to the exile to neighboring countries (Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon) and Europe (Spain and France) of more than a third of the total population of the country (around 150,000 people). By 1973, 25% of the country's population had already gone into exile. As a result, the country suffered a brain drain from which it has not recovered, since the intellectuals and qualified professionals were the main target. Human rights researcher Robert af Klinteberg, in a 1978 study that examined the regime's repression in detail, called this a policy of "deliberate cultural regression." The researcher estimated in his study the number of exiles at least 101,000 people, 47% of a population estimated at just over 215,000 people by the World Bank. A TIME magazine report in 1979 suggested that the percentage The population seeking exile may have reached 70%, based on the total population estimate made by the World Bank that year. Macías called Guineans who left the country "those who flee without reason". In exile, various opposition groups were formed, such as the National Alliance for Democratic Restoration (ANRD). Macías always despised the exiled opposition and described them as "thieves". These opposition groups from time to time tried to overthrow Macías, but failed due to betrayals by those involved or by the governments of the countries in which they went into exile. Among the opposition in exile there was no coordination, but rather each one acted on their own.

The number of deaths under the Macías dictatorship depends on the sources consulted, but it has been established between 20,000 and 50,000 (the latter being the most agreed figure), or, in other words, between a 6 and 15% of an approximate population of about 350,000 people, this figure being proportionally greater than the number of victims of the Nazis in Europe. Some sources put the death toll at even 80,000 people. At the end of his dictatorship, 60% of Guineans had gone to jail or had a relative killed by the regime. On the other hand, the number of disappeared has been estimated at about 10,000, while around 40 000 people were sentenced to forced labor. Forced labor was decided by presidential decree and the number of exiles increased. Macías' victims included citizens of all ages, even children and babies, since the persecution of the The regime dragged down entire families. In prisons, the prisoners were brutally tortured. During the regime, between 50 and 60 people were murdered daily. Executions and public summary trials were frequently organized. There are cases of prisoners politicians who dug their own grave and got into it. By 1976, there were almost no opponents of Macías left in the country, but the repression continued. One could be a victim of dictatorial terror not only for political reasons, but also for jealousy, personal vendetta, envy, or amusement. One of the mildest punishments for a dissident was to be confined to his village. As the country's chief judge, Macías personally sentenced many people to death. they formed "Revolutionary Tribunals" made up of people from the PUNT and the Youth.

In 1976, some 25,000 Nigerian cocoa workers were evacuated from the country by the Nigerian government as a result of threats and physical attacks on these workers by Macías government forces, which had already begun in 1970 including the murder of almost a hundred Nigerians for labor demands. Macías ordered his Youth to attack the Nigerian embassy based in Malabo. Relations between the two countries had always been tense: already in 1969 the use of the airport had been prohibited from Santa Isabel to Red Cross planes in the context of the Biafran War. The 25,000 workers were the main base of the country's exports and the only ones competent to manage the cocoa plantations. The cocoa farms they were expropriated and passed to the state administration. However, this business ended up devastated due to little available labor, few financial resources, and little knowledge.

Forced labor was established to replace Nigerian labor, with the government forcing all Guineans over the age of 15 to work on state-owned cocoa plantations, in slave-like conditions with virtually no pay. 26,000 people were affected by these policies, known as revolutionary jobs. However, the new workers, having no experience at all, achieved mediocre production, dramatically declining. Thousands of people Residents in the Continental Region were detained and forcibly transferred to Bioko Island, where the cacao farms were located, without having any possibility of returning. Macías even forced certain government officials to work the cacao. For bad work and laziness they included beatings, rapes, rationalization of food, and executions. Almost the only remuneration the workers received was a monthly ration of rice, palm oil, and smoked fish, which was not enough to make up for food deficiencies.

There was also forced labor on food-growing farms, and those affected could not access the products that arose from their own efforts, since all of them were seized by the local authorities and transferred to the president's warehouses (they were called "State Factories"). As the cacao industry fell out of favor, the government was forced to turn to private farmers, but these rarely received their pay for the cacao delivered to the government. Many civil servants corrupt government officials sold cocoa on their own for personal gain, behind Macías' backs. overthrow of the dictator. If a "revolutionary worker" did not go to work one day at his respective collective farm (in case he was free, since the prisoners also worked on the farms), he was immediately arrested. Many of them they had to walk miles from their homes to get there.

That same year (1976), there was an attempted coup that unleashed a great repression.

The logging sector also ended up devastated, dramatically decreasing its level of production. Macías's docility caused the foreign companies in charge of logging to be unable to carry out their work properly.

The mining industry fell into disgrace due to the very inertia of the regime, which refused to exploit the mining resources, since according to Macías this would lead to the imperialists stealing the country's wealth. In any case,, in 1976 a state mining company was created, which did not bear fruit in large part due to the corruption of its director, Cándido Montoya, who deceived Macías for his personal enrichment.

The entire repressive apparatus of the Equatorial Guinean state (army, presidential guard and popular militias) were controlled in an absolute manner by the family and relatives of Francisco Macías and by other members of his clan, the so-called Esangui clan, from Mongomo. The same was true of the public administration. During the Macías regime, nepotism and clientelism predominated. Macías's nephews and brothers had considerable economic, social, and political power. Consequently, the Fang ethnic group acquired great can. In any case, the Fang were not free from falling under the repression of the regime. The civil servants and military that made up the public administration were generally poorly educated people. Moving up the administrative apparatus was dangerous rather than positive, since by accumulating too much power, an official could fall out of favor. This happened, for example, with Vice President Miguel Eyegue and his brother Ángel Masié, Minister of the Interior.

The ministries began to have a merely testimonial role, to the point that they had no budget and their headquarters were closed. Macías always insulted his ministers, and they could not complain. However, they retaliated by treating them in the same way shape his subordinates. Those closest to the dictator did not dare to reproach him for his madness, and those who did paid with death. Those ministers who fell into disgrace and were arrested witnessed the rape of their women in jail In contrast, there were personalities who manipulated and fed the disturbed mind of Macías for their personal benefit. Many officials committed crimes in the name of Macías that the dictator had never authorized. In fact, inside the prisons the authority of Macías did not exert much influence, since these were in some cases propitious spaces for simple settling of scores between people avid for power.

Among the many paranoid actions of President Macías, it is worth noting the prohibition of using the word intellectual in 1973 or the destruction of boats in 1978 (he prohibited fishing, causing the devastation of the fishing industry) to prevent the population from fleeing across the sea. The only way out of the country through the Continental Region was mined, and pits with spears were also installed at points near the borders with Gabon and Cameroon, with which people were skewered to death.

He "Africanized" his name as Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong in 1976, after demanding the same from the rest of the population. He also renamed the island of Fernando Poo Francisco Macías Island. he renamed bridges, streets, schools, ports, hospitals, and other major public works after himself. His aim was to be omnipresent in Guinean life, and he thought his name should be considered holy. Conditions became so disastrous (medications and food brought from Europe were even banned) that even his own wife fled the country. He developed an extreme cult of personality.

His anti-intellectualism policy was reflected in education: although several educational centers were built after Macías took office, between 1969 and 1976 some 75 teachers or education officials were executed, including three of his ministers. Hundreds of teachers were also laid off (including Spanish ones), which produced a lack of personnel and forced the closure of several schools. Even so, for a time the educational system was able to stay afloat thanks to the dispatch of Latin American teachers by the UNESCO in 1970. In any case, the country's educational system ended up transforming from 1976 into an ideological indoctrination device for the child population, officially renamed "Political, Popular and Revolutionary Education". The teacher who did not teach children "the political line and revolutionary slogans" would be immediately expelled and tried. Those students who did not memorize each and every one of the titles awarded to Macías, could not pass the course. Sometimes, the education minister or Macías himself attended the schools to indoctrinate the students. As a result of all this, a whole generation of illiterates was formed in Equatorial Guinea in those years. In April 1972 several teachers and students of the Enrique Nvó Okenve National College were assassinated after a portrait of Macías with his eyes gouged out and a noose around his neck appeared in the student union. The Bata Prison was popularly known as "La Universidad" due to the large number of professors imprisoned there, as was the case of Rafael Upiñalo (one of the most important opposition intellectual leaders). Textbooks dating from the colonial era were publicly burned, and the country's history was rewritten (many times falsified) according to the vision of the regime. Scholars who had gone to Spain to study were deprived of nationality Equatoguinean and many of them were murdered upon their return to the country. Many also remained in Spain but, given the abandonment of this country, they had to live in poor conditions, without contact with their families and with stateless status. This situation was discussed. in the Senate of Spain in 1978. The reason that Macías may have had for persecuting the intellectuals was the inferiority complex that they produced in him, given the poor academic training of the dictator. It could also be due to the fact that Macías related intellectuals with the failed coup d'état of 1969.

Education, science and technology were considered symbols of imperialism. Before the regime fully controlled the education system, the children of political dissidents were deprived of their right to education. In contrast, a privileged group of people unconditionally loyal to the regime had the opportunity to study in other socialist countries. The country's schools were free. Before the start of classes, every day the students had to recite praises to Macías. The same thing happened before the start of football matches.

All of the country's culture, including, for example, popular music ("Revolutionary Songs", full of praise for the dictator), should glorify the regime. Macías carefully supervised what was broadcast on the radio. The production Literature was banned, so many authors had to develop their careers in exile. This group of authors, known as the "Lost Generation", was led, among others, by Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo.

Statistics were also heavily repressed, and as a consequence, little economic data was generated on Equatorial Guinea during the 1970s. When the director of the Institute of Statistics published demographic data considered too low by Macías, he was mutilated for to "learn to count". On the other hand, there was a point where anyone who wore glasses (a symbol of intellectualism) was killed. In general, any professional, qualified or educated Guinean represented a danger. Towards the By the end of Macías's term, only two doctors and fewer than a dozen technical school graduates were in the country.

The so-called intellectuals represent the greatest problems facing Africa today. They are pollution of our climate with their foreign culture

Macias about the intellectuals.

Macías also considered the loggers (who had supported Bonifacio Ondó in the 1968 elections) as his enemies, and was convinced that they wanted to overthrow him. Macías publicly described them as murderers and thieves.

With the immense deterioration of the country, mass media such as television and newspapers (due to lack of paper or according to other sources due to a ban by Macías) stopped working. Even the radios were out of service for a long time time, and can then be repaired by foreign technicians. The few existing media (mostly radios) were controlled by the government, to the point that any news had to be reviewed and approved by Macías himself before being published. Macías closed all the opposition media. Before the disappearance of the newspapers, there was a single newspaper called Equatorial Guinea Unity. The electricity supply was cut every time Macías left the capital, and the dictator prohibited the use of lubricants in the Malabo power plant, ensuring that he could maintain the generation of electricity with his magical powers. Finally, electricity would completely disappear in Malabo from 1978. While Meanwhile, the dictator had powerful generators so that there was always light in the embassies and in all his palaces.

During the Macías Nguema regime, the country had neither a development plan nor an accounting system for public spending. After killing the governor of the Central Bank in 1976, Macías took everything that was left in the national treasury to his home in a rural town, hiding the money in suitcases under his bed and in a bathroom. Much of this national treasure (three billion ekweles) would be burned by Macías as revenge after the 1979 coup, when he had not yet been captured. He also moved all the country's medicine reserves to his house, all of which happened in Macías's hometown of Nsegayong.

Francisco Macías in an Ecuadorian peseta (1969)

During the Macías regime, no financial or economic laws were enacted and from 1973, no budget was drawn up (according to Macías, because the country did not have a printing press). In 1975, the Guinean peseta was exchanged for the ekwele, currency that quickly lost all its value. The banks (directed personally by Macías) lacked foreign currency, since export products decreased a lot. Macías decided by himself all the economic policy of the country (operations, foreign investments, etc). Offers came to the country from foreign oil extraction companies (by companies like Gulf or Mobil) and tourism development and the logging and mining industries. Macías always rejected them since according to him they came from imperialists who wanted to take over the country's wealth.

The economic crisis (triggered among other things by the nationalization of the economy and the eccentricities and mismanagement of Macías) decreased the value of exports, triggered the highest inflation in the African continent and produced a significant shortage of food and other basic products. Malnutrition and food deficiency predominated, and when Macías began to be questioned about this, he declared:

Let us stop talking about bread, milk, sugar, tomato, which are not typically African food

Western-European food (bread, tomato, sugar, milk...) would end up being prohibited. The few foods available had extremely high prices, since Macías obtained them at a very cheap price from his foreign partners or from the work of his people on the farms, then stored them and later intentionally resold them with enormously high prices (80 or 100 times more than the original) that the vast majority of the population could not afford. This he did, according to in his own words, to punish those who did not want to work. Macías decided when each of the foods was put up for sale, and the most essential ones took time to be. When they were already on sale, often their expiration date expiration had already arrived. The population, unable to afford a reasonable amount, only bought a tiny amount. As a consequence, theft, smuggling and the struggle for survival increased.

On the other hand, the crisis meant that only President Macías, the army and the police were able to receive a regular salary. People could go months without receiving any payment. Business activity practically ceased to exist (the men of businesses were similarly repressed), and the few existing companies were controlled by the state. In 1973 private commercial activities in the country were suppressed. Shops, market stalls and the post office closed. In In 1976, only one industry remained in the country. Trade and industry were replaced by barter. Macías declared that as long as he was in power, capitalism would never be present.

The workers did not have labor rights. Work was considered the first duty and obligation of every citizen (men and women), and all kinds of labor demands were considered something "counterrevolutionary, subversive, and typical of enemies." homeland", punishing himself with jail. In any case, during the Macías dictatorship unemployment was rife.

In addition, the government established a policy of forced expropriation of private and collective assets, including private cars, homes, money, and farms. The 1973 Constitution established state ownership of land and everything that was found within the national territory. Macías would appropriate many expropriated farms.

In general, during the Macías dictatorship, all government functions were abandoned except internal security.

Conflict with Gabon

In 1972, Gabonese troops infiltrated Equatorial Guinean territory, causing a conflict between the two countries. Gabon had decided to extend its territorial waters to 70 miles in order to include the islets closest to its coasts. In September, Equatoguinean soldiers opened fire on Gabonese fishermen active in the disputed area, to which Gabon responded by sending two boats with 40 soldiers to occupy Mbañe, Conga and Cocoteros. Gabonese authorities prohibited any foreign vessels from approaching these islands.

Both countries tried on various occasions to reach an agreement, but Gabon's continued breach of the agreement made good relations between the two parties difficult. On September 13, 1972, at a meeting held in the People's Republic of Congo (other sources cite that it was held in Kinsasa, Zaire) attended by Presidents Macías, Omar Bongo (of Gabon), Mobutu Sese Seko (of Zaire) and Marien Ngouabi (of the People's Republic of the Congo), together with the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity Nzo Ekangaki, formally reached an agreement between the disputing countries, signing a document.

Initially the United Nations Security Council also intervened in the resolution of the conflict.

In 1974 both countries faced a new territorial dispute in the area of Ebebiyín, which was also resolved peacefully when Equatorial Guinea ceded around 200 km² of territory to Gabon.

Overthrow and death

By 1979, the repression of Macías affected even those closest to him, including members of the Esangui clan.

On August 3, 1979, his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema organized, with the help of imprisoned former comrades-in-arms (Eulogio Oyó and others), a coup that overthrew Macías. After the military skirmishes that lasted a week, the dictator took refuge in the jungle, and there he was arrested a short time later.

His nephew, Teodoro Obiang, who would end up being the new dictator, subjected him to a summary trial using the Spanish Code of Military Justice, in which he was accused, among other things, of genocide, mass deportations and appropriations improper. He was sentenced to death on September 29, 1979 and shot immediately.

Today, Francisco Macías Nguema is considered one of the most kleptocratic, bloody and cruel leaders in the history of post-colonial Africa. He has been compared to Pol Pot for the violent, unpredictable, and anti-intellectual nature of both regimes.

Macías' propaganda

Macías Nguema's propaganda can be defined and divided into two phases: the first, before being elected president. And the second, after having been elected, a period during which his propaganda will be based more on actions than on graphics and leaflets.

Pre-election and electoral Macías (1968)

The figure of Macías before being elected president was unknown, until he gradually rose to prominence and became mayor of Mongomo. Fact that gave him more possibilities to later present his candidacy, for which it was necessary to have 2% of the electoral census. Macías, who later Africanized his name again, added Francisco's name to his in honor of Francisco Franco, one of the people he most admired at the time. After going through the brief autonomous period, during the campaign he showed himself to be a distinguished leader who knew how to transmit and address the people, compared to his rivals. Macías began his campaign to reach the presidency with these elements: first, the symbol The one he used for his campaign was that of the rooster —which announces the morning with its song— A new Guinea, which would earn him the nickname Papa Coq (in fact, the rooster would later become a characteristic symbol of his dictatorship). The slogan of his campaign was: «On the march with Macías; unity, peace and prosperity". He appealed for a unique conscience of Guineans, for which Macías cited Switzerland as an example to follow for Guinea. Once the elections were won, he would form a government with many of the members of the other factions, his motto changed to: "One man, one team, one program". It is not known if Macías represented a political ideology, or if in his head there was one that reigned. But it was clear that at first, he bet on democracy and the progress of his country.

Regarding financial support, according to Mansueto Nsí Owonoel, the anti-Franco lawyer and advisor to Macías Antonio García-Trevijano spent almost 50 million pesetas for the electoral campaign. However, García-Trevijano stated in this regard that "all the money contributed by me to the candidacy of Macías" they were 591,000 pesetas corresponding to printing invoices, and that he contributed this amount after Andrés Moisés Mba Ada and José Nsué asked him for financial help to counteract "the colonialist money that was already being used with broken hands in favor of Bonifacio Ondó and Atanasio N'Dongo [candidates of Francoism]". It is worth mentioning that, in those years, García-Trevijano financed various initiatives aimed at eroding the Franco regime, such as the conference in Madrid by the journalist and French politician Servan-Schreiber in 1968 or the financing of the Parisian publishing house Ruedo Ibérico in 1969.

For his campaign, in addition to the support of the Popular Idea of Equatorial Guinea (IPGE), he also enjoyed the support of dissidents from rival candidacies. Macías advocated respecting the cultural differences between the country's ethnic groups (continental and insular). within a united nation, good relations with Spain, a decent wage for workers and the promotion of trade unionism. In economic matters, Macías promised credits for small farmers, fishermen, merchants and modest industrialists, and a price protection policy for the country's raw materials, guaranteeing their safe placement in international markets. Macías spoke of nationalism, unity and he addressed the people in general, unlike his opponents, who addressed specific sectors of the population. He was the least pro-Spanish candidate and therefore his victory aroused distrust and concern on the part of Spain.

• Wikisource contains original works of or about Francisco Macías Nguema.

President Elect and President for Life

Even with the problems that Macías had with Spain, the altercations with the Civil Guard and the departure of a large part of the Spanish population from Guinea, what hurt Macías the most was the attempted coup that they plotted against him, along with who is supposed to be one of the members who formed a government with him. What is known as the reign of terror in Guinea begins. Macías subjects the country to harsh repression that translates into total censorship, reaching the point where, in the face of any threat, he made all the correspondence that circulated through Guinea go through him, which led to a at which point the letters did not arrive, as they were piling up on his table. The censorship continued with the isolation of the country; the airspace was closed, and the Spanish airline (Iberia) progressively reduced its flights to almost zero, although it never ceased to be active. There was a point at which no plane could land in the country without the prior authorization of Macías. In 1976, pilots of the airline were harassed and imprisoned after the accidental blackout of the runway lights when Macías' plane was about to land. The airline threatened a total strike, but was dissuaded by the Spanish embassy. Macías did not get off the planes until a red carpet was rolled out and everything was ready for him to be received with all honors.

Since 1970 it prohibited the entry of any journalist to the country, especially Spanish. This contributed to making the country much more hermetic. Many tourists were expelled from the country as soon as they got off the plane because on the flight they had read newspapers not approved by the government. According to Macías, foreign journalists gave a wrong image of the country. Independent journalism was also illegal in the interior of the country, although Macías kept abreast of what the Spanish press was saying, and did not hesitate to answer them every time an act of PUNT was organized, a party to which all Guineans had to join. Macías' speeches were recorded and distributed in cassette format.

La Juventud en Marcha con Macías, and always with Macías, was a paramilitary group made up of young people (adolescents included), who, given the stagnation of the economy, had to be occupied in some way to such sector of the citizenry. The Youth were founded after a ministerial council on February 22, 1969 in the context of the diplomatic crisis with Spain. A group of young people (of both sexes) without leaders, objectives and instruction. They were used to control the population, to carry out the military "exercises" at the appointed time, so that no one would exceed or question the authority of the leader, and to carry out all kinds of degrading actions such as torture, accusations, executions, rapes, robberies, humiliation and looting, acting with total impunity. They also took the responsibility of searching the houses of the population, with which private life practically ceased to exist. During these searches, any memory of the Spanish colonization was destroyed. In addition, they came to establish a trade in forced prostitution. During curfews, the Youth would go out in Land Rover jeeps and were often found in a state of intoxication. In their parades, the Youth would perform a combination of saluting They were forced to monitor and denounce their parents. A similar organization called the "People's Militia" was also established in 1972, another paramilitary body made up of civilian volunteers of the Fang ethnic group and advised by Russians and Cubans, which, like the Youth, enjoyed great power. It came to have around 2,000 members. Macías created these bodies since he distrusted the Armed Forces, closely linked to the colonial past that the dictator abhorred, and in many cases became more important. Given the predominance of tribalism, only the fang were part of these repressive organs.

One entered the PUNT at the age of 7, and only left when he died. Those were the rules. In addition to learning to recite the slogans during the celebration of the acts: Down with imperialism, Down with colonialism, Up with the revolution, Long live the leader, our comrade Francisco Macías Nguema among others. People were forced to denounce their loved ones and all their acquaintances in case they were "counterrevolutionaries", and their most radical followers even raped their mothers when they were caught doing wrongdoing. Those who protested the detention of their loved ones were likewise tortured or killed. Many women offered themselves sexually to the authorities in order to save their relatives. they were forced to marry members of the government. The collective complaint system gave rise to rivalries between officials for better positions or greater social significance, and to the balance of personal rivalries or family disputes. Macías established a network of complaints among the State bodies. The collective complaint system divided the people in general, and Macías defended himself by saying that the Guineans themselves were exterminating each other, disassociating themselves from everything that was happening in the country's prisons.

At first he lacked a defined ideology, but later he formally declared himself a Marxist-Leninist, combining this ideology with his admiration for Adolf Hitler, defining himself as a "Marxist-Hitlerian". His ideology was composed of many ideas from leaders such as Hitler (even declaring himself anti-Zionist), Mao, Idi Amin (who promised to support Equatorial Guinea), Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Franco (of whom he declared himself a follower and to whom he was referring constantly referred to as "my colleague" or "my namesake" although he later described his government as a "criminal regime" and himself as "criminal murderer and fascist"), Fidel Castro, Kim Il-sung and even Mahatma Gandhi. Macías also represented a Third World current and cultivated an image of a progressive leader on the Spanish left in opposition to Franco. There are disagreements about what the position on the political spectrum of Macias. The Spanish diplomat Fernando Morán López considered him an imitator of Francoism while the Swiss analyst Max Liniger-Goumaz defined him as "afro-fascist". On the contrary, the Macías regime has also been described as an implanted "red terror". by a "communist government". Several studies, however, also conclude that Macías was not a communist, or that he did not even have an ideology. Macías himself declared on one occasion: "I am not a capitalist, nor a socialist, nor a communist. They are all European theories and I am not European, I am African."

I consider Hitler as the savior of Africa. He made mistakes because he was human, but his purpose was to end colonialism throughout the world.

Macías sobre Adolf Hitler

Franco told me, "I will be behind you." The only one who loved Guinea is General Franco.

Macías sobre Francisco Franco

He exercised a strong cult of his personality. His cult of personality was mostly exercised directly and in presence, and he went so far as to include a dedication to Macías in the phone book. The detriment in education was produced by his intervention, because he almost completely suppressed the basic subjects. Going to school was the greatest form of indoctrination he had, where the children had to read and recite his "invariable decision" text where he expressed his hatred of Spain, imperialism, and glorified his person. His biography was also studied, and revolutionary doctrines were taught in the Fang language.

During that period of time, Macías had declared Spain his worst enemy. While in Spain he was thinking about the person who was going to replace Franco, that at that moment, the crown appeared, and Juan Carlos de Borbón appeared as a candidate by right. By then, Macías had proclaimed himself president for life, and in the face of criticism that came from Spain, he criticized the Spaniards and the credit they gave him who was going to be his future king. If Juan Carlos by "right" was going to proclaim himself king of Spain, why couldn't he proclaim himself president for life?

Macías did not have good words for the man who was going to be King of Spain (he described Juan Carlos I as a "puppet and fascist criminal, bastard son of the fascist criminal and murderer General Franco"), nor for the Spanish press. He insulted Spanish politicians such as Manuel Fraga, Luis Carrero Blanco, Gregorio López Bravo, Carlos Arias Navarro, and Fernando María Castiella (calling all of them a "murderous criminal gang"). Macías also publicly insulted Adolfo Suárez (whom he described as "stupid"), while, once the Spanish transition took place, he described the Spanish political parties as "opportunists and fascists" and the UCD government as "continuer of Francoism". He also dedicated harsh words to the former "criminal colonial governors-general" Like Francisco Núñez Rodríguez, he allowed criticism to affect him personally and took it very seriously. To such an extent that he sent the population to demonstrate every time they criticized him, and the situation in which he had the country. He reiterated how a country like Spain, subject to the United States, could criticize him and his actions, since Guinea was a "free country" that was not subject to the will of any other power (especially the Soviet Union) alleging that Spain allowed the United States to build military bases in several of its most important cities.

Macías was very critical of Spain, which he accused of having murdered millions of people. He also accused it of carrying out criminal activities and described the Spanish as murderers. He even intended to publish a book about all the deaths that occurred in Equatorial Guinea during the colonial era, resorting to the falsification of figures to exaggerate them. to Equatorial Guinea (which meant that the country could not be reported in any Spanish media). When the rule was lifted, Macías demanded that the Spanish diplomats be left alone and that they not publish & #34;insults" against him. It is said that, when a Foreign Affairs official communicated the measure to Macías, he exclaimed: "You are doing that because His Excellency is no longer living (referring to Francisco Franco), because if he lived they would not have dare to do it!". With this quote, it is shown that in the most tense moments in the relations between the two countries, Macías continued to respect the late Spanish dictator.

During the Macías dictatorship, the Spanish population residing in Equatorial Guinea was constantly attacked, and any Spaniard was expelled, fined, mistreated or imprisoned for no reason. They were also sentenced to forced labor, and Macías encouraged his Youths to attack the farms of the settlers. Several humiliations were recorded: brutal beatings, the obligation of the settlers to work in their underwear, the placement of ants that stung their bodies, and the rape of women by the Youths in March with Macías. The Spanish diplomats themselves were harassed by violent demonstrations. During the Macías dictatorship, some 300 Spaniards remained in Equatorial Guinea. The Guinean people, however, wanted relations to be restored.

In a speech addressed to Guinean women, Macías declared: "you have to teach your children to hate the Spanish." Macías carried out a xenophobic and racist policy against the white population residing in the country, and urged mobs to kill whites and rape their women:

Kill the target, rape the women, you have the right to spoil, death penalty to help the target! We are at war against Spanish imperialism! Wooders are our enemies!

Words of Macías transmitted by the state radio, February 27, 1969.

After the Spanish left, the harassment continued, this time against Portuguese immigrants residing in the country. This policy was transferred to the country's own native population once the white population had been expelled and exterminated in its entirety.

Despite his rivalry with the former colonizing power, Macías imitated the forms of domination of Spanish Francoism and justified his failure to respect the rights recognized by law arguing that this was not done in Spain either. He also maintained after independence many of the structures of the Franco colonial regime. The Francoist school subject Formation of the National Spirit was not abolished until 1975, when it was replaced by the Political Education of Equatorial Guinea. In addition, the women's section of the Single National Party of los Trabajadores was based on the Feminine Section of the Spanish Falange de las JONS. Many Guinean hymns were imitations of Francoist songs. Even before starting the persecution of the Church, Macías maintained the national-Catholic tradition of the clergy. He made the hand kiss like the old colonial governors and many administrative issues present during his government were the same as in colonial times. Likewise, Macías was in 1975 one of the heads of state who congratulated Franco on the day of the National Uprising.

Despite his anti-Spain policy, Macías did not break relations with this country, since the embassies of both parties were maintained in each country. In 1969, a cultural cooperation agreement was drawn up between both countries. In 1970, a Spanish delegation arrived in the country on the occasion of the second anniversary of independence. In May 1971 and March 1975, new technical cooperation agreements began between Spain and Equatorial Guinea. In 1977, relations with Spain were severed definitively after some excessively offensive statements by Macías about the Government and King Juan Carlos, but the aeronautical assistance and the teaching agreements were maintained, that is, that some Spanish teachers arrived in the country. The anti- Macías' Spain was the main source of his regime's anti-colonialist sentiment.

Within Europe, Macías was also close to France (a country that worked on electrification, public works and aviation). France hoped to bring Equatorial Guinea into its orbit (as it had done with its former colonies)., and it would be one of the few Western European countries that never broke relations with Equatorial Guinea. Macías respected France and thought that it should be the European country that had the best relations with Guinea. He also considered that France, along with the UK, it had done decent colonizing work in Africa, unlike Spain.

As it could not be less, he placed all the religious in the country under house arrest in 1973. In addition, he fined anyone who dared to visit a church. In addition, the person had to recite a few words at the time of punishment where it was made clear that "God does not exist, and that only Macías was the true God". In fact, in 1978 it was established "There is no another God than Macías Nguema" as the national motto. Macías' Minister of the Interior, Ángel Masié, declared: "you needed your baptismal certificate to enter heaven. Now the PUNT card is enough for you because there is no God but Macías, president of the Party." After the Church denounced the brutality of his regime, Macías decreed the closure of all churches in 1978 (which became in large stores of cocoa, coffee and Chinese products or in meeting rooms of the PUNT) and the expulsion of the majority of the religious, declaring State Atheism (although 95% of the population embraced the faith Catholic). Macías prohibited the use of the word "Jesus Christ" and during his dictatorship, he was to be referred to as "The Bastard Son Of A Cheap White Whore With A Stinking Pussy". bibles. Canonical marriages and funerals were also outlawed, in a campaign of "authenticity" African. Before all this, Macías had ordered his portrait to be hung in all churches and to establish professions of faith such as "God created Equatorial Guinea thanks to Macías, without Macías there is no Guinea" or "Never without Macías, all because of Macías, down with colonialism and all the ambitious.” Since before independence, Macías had already been in confrontation with the church, having already described it as "colonialist". This provoked the annoyance of the Bishop of Bata Rafael María Nze Abuy, who dismissed Macías' statements and indirectly described him as "pseudo-political". In 1970 the bishop was exiled. According to Macías, the Catholic religion was a political instrument to achieve the alienation of the people colonized, while the Church was for him a sect. He advocated a secular state from the beginning of his government, not allowing it to interfere in state affairs. It was common for Macías to organize mass executions during religious celebrations such as Christmas or Corpus Christi. The religious who did not accept the dictator's policies were tortured, assassinated and even crucified.

[The church] participated in murders, revealed secrets of the Penitence and recruited professional thugs and mercenaries to disrupt the peace reigning in Equatorial Guinea (...) They have addressed malicious prayers to God against independence and his Great Leader, whose triumph clearly meant a daunting defeat for the Catholic Church.

Macias over the church.

In March 1976, Macías Nguema signed a decree-law in which he ordered that "all Guinean children between the ages of 7 and 14 will receive compulsory military training" and "any parent or person who refuses to hand over your son will be imprisoned or shot." Previously, in 1971, Macías had already forced the entire population (men, women, and children) to carry out daily military training with a wooden rifle. free public works, such as cleaning the grass from the streets, in the style of other communist countries. This policy was known as working for the PUNT. The population was also obliged to attend the public acts of Macías, and in case of not doing so, the dissidents ran the risk of being punished. Many entertainment venues, like most bars, were closed.

The rooster was the symbol of the dictatorship of Macías, and included it in 1973 in the national emblems (band and shield). The rooster was also present in the PUNT emblem.

Macías established the rooster as a symbol of his dictatorship, and included it in 1973 in the national emblems (flag and shield), as well as in the emblem of PUNT.

Critical of his neighbors, especially Mobutu Sese Seko for being a puppet in the hands of Western powers, Macías worked very closely with the powers of the communist bloc (China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, East Germany and the Soviet Union) that due to the climate of the cold war, they were a relief when it came to cooperation and aid. Despite this, Equatorial Guinea was officially a Non-Aligned country since 1971, and relations with capitalist countries were maintained. In any case, shortly before his overthrow, during a PUNT congress, Macías tried unsuccessfully to formally convert Equatorial Guinea. in a socialist state.

The People's Republic of China sent 400 experts (doctors, engineers, and builders) to the country, and economic assistance (a loan of 50 million dollars), in addition to merchandise, which were forcibly unloaded from ports by the same population. China also built the only paved road that Macías bequeathed, a hydroelectric power station, a radio station, and two telecommunications buildings in Bata and Malabo. It also managed several experimental farms. Macías publicly wept for the death of Mao Zedong, and considered that the Chinese were the best foreigners residing in the country. At the UN and other international forums, Equatorial Guinea always supported the People's Republic of China, to the detriment of Taiwan (which in fact, at one point had tried to approach Macías). From the UN, Equatorial Guinea supported Resolution 2758 of the United Nations General Assembly, which admitted Maoist China as a member of the organization. Chinese diplomats enjoyed much social favoritism during the Macías regime, being protected by the dictator who also granted them many privileges and facilities.

The Soviet Union sent weapons material, a presidential plane, vehicles and military advisers, receiving in return fishing rights and rights to use the port of San Carlos de Luba. The USSR also bought all the cocoa production and controlled the airports of Malabo and Bata. The fishing monopoly for the Russians was one of the main reasons for the ban on fishing for the population.

An educational cooperation agreement was signed with Cuba at the end of 1971 and Cuban military advisers arrived in the country and put themselves at the service of the dictator as escorts for his presidential guard and trainers for the Youth on the March, in exchange for logging concessions.

North Korea began to send military instructors for the militias created by Macías, for the Presidential Guard of the dictator and for the National Guard. East Germany, for its part, bought coffee production.

In December 1976, the USSR paid five million to Equatorial Guinea for the rescue of eleven corpses after the accident of a Soviet plane that crashed on the Basilé peak. President Macías demanded this sum due to the damage caused. Charging large sums of money for the ransom of foreign citizens was a common practice during the Macías regime.

In another aspect, the children of some of those detained by the dictatorship were sent to Soviet schools.

In 1977 Macías toured East Asia, during which he visited Beijing, Pyongyang and Hanoi.

In the context of the Sino-Soviet break, the Macías regime was one of the few that simultaneously had the support of both the Soviets and the Chinese.

In the context of white segregationist governments, Macías also supported the black majority in present-day South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Macías Nguema, of pan-Africanist thought, personally knew various African presidents: Omar Bongo of Gabon, Marien Ngouabi of Congo Brazzaville, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, François Tombalbaye of Chad, Kenneth Kaunda of Malawi, Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, and Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic. In addition, he had close relations with others leaders, such as Sékou Touré, Mohamed Siad Barre, Muammar Gadhafi or Gamal Abdel Nasser (for whom Macías publicly mourned after his death). He referred to all of them as "my brother". Macías also supported the Reunification of Korea, the One China concept, Palestine in the context of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the independence of both the Portuguese colonies in Africa (in the context of the Portuguese Colonial War) and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (see War of the Western Sahara), which according to Macías was a victim of Spain's bad colonial policy. The same policy of which Guinea was a victim, according to Macías, because Spain had left the country in ruins during and at the end of the colonial period:

If Spain declares enemies to us, we declare enemies number one. Spain has not made airports in Guinea, we are in misery, has done nothing. Compatriotas, we've met a country of dogs.

Macias.

As a result of his alignment with the socialist powers, Macías received a notable influence from them (he added the revolutionary component to his speech and created the concept of the "Guinean revolution") and from the United States itself. broke relations with Equatorial Guinea in 1976 (relations had already been strained after a diplomatic incident in 1971, and Macías had accused the US of organizing a coup against him), closed trade relations with the West and ordered the burning of all books published in the West, as well as libraries dating from colonial times, in an imitation of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The uniform of the PUNT Militia and Youth (which originally consisted only of a shirt and tie) became similar to that of the Maoist Red Guards. It went so far as to prevent the trade of goods such as bread, simply by defining it as "goods coming from the imperialists" and an indoctrinating element. It also outlawed medicines from the West, arguing that they were not African, and requisitioned all typewriters. Western clothing, considered imperialist, was suppressed. Anti-Colonial Political Education, which praised the figure of Macías and repeatedly insulted Spain as a colonizing power. The text was mandatory in all centers. Official portraits of Macías were also displayed in all official centers.

Although he later cut relations with China due to his imperialist actions in the Angolan conflict (Macías also distrusted Eastern imperialism), the Soviet Union and Cuba later cut with him, because they realized that what was happening to Macías it was that his ego was consuming him, turning him into someone very unpredictable. Indeed, the exiled opposition denounced that the Macías dictatorship was only a personalist regime and that his adherence to the socialist bloc was only a facade. Both the socialist powers and Capitalists harshly criticized Macías for his lack of political definition, to the point that East Germany withdrew its embassy and China began demanding repayment of its loans.

Foreign diplomats based in the country were frequently harassed by the government. For example, government forces once invaded the residence of the French ambassador for a New Year's Eve party, and all Guineans were detained assistants. Macías wanted Guinean citizens to distance themselves completely from the diplomatic world, since the latter could bring them closer to subversion. This policy also included Chinese and North Korean diplomats, who had a good relationship with the government, but especially Spanish, Gabonese, Cameroonian and Nigerian diplomacy. For Macías, these countries were potential enemies.

Every time Macías met with another Head of State, he was obsessed with impressing and convincing.

The United States of America, despite its poor relations with the country, was indifferent to the Macías regime, but was willing to help the Guinean refugees who came to them. Macías sent a message to Gerald Ford after he became president, and also on one occasion to Richard Nixon on the occasion of July 4. The United States remained attentive, in any case, to the movements of the Soviet bloc in Equatorial Guinea, as evidenced by the cables of the CIA leaked by WikiLeaks.

It is not known what day Macías was born, but in his proclamation as a unique miracle, he decided that this would be January 1st. Before any other, and the first. It was an obligatory celebration, as was March 5 (anniversary of the failed coup attempt, baptized as Victory Day or, imitating Franco's Spain, as Day of the National Uprising) and on September 28 (the anniversary of Macías' triumph in the 1968 election). In the celebrations of March 5, plays were often organized that represented the failed coup attempt. Macías's birthday, there are publications prior to the beginning of his dictatorship that also certify his date of birth as January 1, 1924, so it is possible that this was not a propaganda invention.

Macías was presented as a leader with followers all over the world, and he was convinced that his speeches caused worldwide repercussions and that Spain was afraid of him. In a speech, he stated that he was willing to invade Spain. "national unity" in the fight against imperialism and "subversive" elements. He was convinced that Spain was conducting a systematic smear campaign against Equatorial Guinea to discredit the country in the West. The slightest hint of dissent was considered subversion: many people were imprisoned, for example, for criticizing the exaggerated amount of Chinese rice arriving in Equatorial Guinea, in theory insulting the efforts made by the president to reach that import agreement with Mao.

The Africanization of names that occurred in Guinea is confused with the phenomenon of negritude that, although it could perhaps be seen that way, was nothing more than a movement copied from Mobutu, a leader with whom he previously disagreed, but who he saw in he an example to follow after his break with the Western powers.

Macías forced the population to change their westernized names for those of their ancestors, as well as modify them to adapt them as in the case of his name. He also changed the place names of the national geography: (first the Castilian ones, and then the Africanized ones):

Fernando Poo – Bioko / San Carlos – Luba / San Fernando – Ela Nguema / Concepción – Riaba / Santa Isabel – Malabo / Punta Fernanda - Punta de la Unidad African. And as for the continental region, «Sevilla» became Niefang again, Valladolid, Bimbiles and Guadalupe, Mongomo.

In conclusion, we can observe that Macías was a rather restless leader, who forced himself to fulfill his designs at will. His youth, which were undoubtedly a body very similar to what was to be Mao's "red army." Just as he went on to refer to Guinea as a republic of workers (workers), free and revolutionary, suggests that he was greatly influenced by the regime and the figure of Mao. Macías constantly referred to Equatorial Guinea as a republic of "workers power". Even so, many also took advantage of Macías. Above all around him, the clan that under his name carried out revenge and purges for their interest. He kept the people in a constant state of tension by agitating with his speeches and proclamations, while his youth did the rest to quell any attempted uprising or protest.

First cabinet of Macías

The first cabinet of Macías consisted of:

• President: Francisco Macías Nguema
• Vice-President: Edmundo Bosio Dioko
• Defense: Francisco Macías Nguema
• Trade: Edmundo Bosio Dioko
• Foreign Affairs: Atanasio Ndongo Miyone
• Interior: Angel Masié Ntutumu
• Hacienda: Andrés Ebonde Ebonde
• Public Works: Jesus Alfonso Oyono Alogo
• Industries and Mines: Ricardo Erimola Chema
• Agriculture: Agustín Grange Molay
• Health: Pedro Ekong Andeme
• National Education: José Nsue Angüe
• Work: Román Borikó Toichoa
• Justice: Jesus Eworo

Macias names

• 1924-1972: Mez-m Ngueme/Francisco Macías Nguema
• 1972-1975: Francisco Macías Nguema Biyogo
• 1975-1976: Macías Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong
• 1976-1979: Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong

During the 1979 trials, the Court, the foreign press and public opinion once again referred to him as Francisco Macías.

Effects of Macías' mandate

During his tenure, the following can be pointed out:

• The obligation to call the president "Unique Miracle of Equatorial Guinea".
• The closure of foreign trade with the West
• The ban on wearing shoes, carrying at that time the "MOTOFUT".
• The ban of bread for being considered imperialist.
• Rename all entities, institutions and people from the Spanish colonization.
• The ban on the teaching of scientific and cultural subjects in schools; the collapse of the educational system, which in times of colonization was considered one of the best in Africa.
• The dismantling of the railroad.
• The compulsive issue of postal stamps between 1971 and 1979, for exclusively philatelic purposes.
• Disappearance of almost all media.
• The ban for fishing people on the island.
• The installation of a secret base of Soviet submarines in Luba (now dismantled).
• Finish almost entirely with cocoa cultivation, previously considered the best in the world. In addition, total wear and tear from other industries such as agriculture, coffee production, palm oil production, livestock and forestry (wood industry).
• Devastation of the economy (passing the country of having a per capita income of $1420, one of the highest in Africa in 1968 to a per capita income of $70 in 1975) and infrastructure — urban, electric, water supply, communication, roads, transport and health — due to looting, ignorance and neglect. Arriving in a crisis-based subsistence economy. Paralysis in all sectors, collapse of all public services.
• The lack of access of the majority of the population to drinking water; water rationing.
• The elimination of all teachers, doctors, technicians, engineers and all cadres formed by Guineans.
• The illegalization of private education in 1975, as it is considered subversive, leading to the closure of all Catholic schools. Since then, only the political doctrine of the regime was taught in schools.
• The ban on the practice of Catholic religion since June 1978, increasing the number of exiles.
• The re-emergence of several previously eradicated diseases and the worsening and collapse of the health system (previously considered as one of the best in Africa), the lack of medicines and the ruin of hospitals. The doctors were eliminated and their work performed by healers. Vaccines were banned, because they were associated with imperialism.
• The arrival of infant mortality at 60%.
• The arrival of life expectancy at the age of thirty.
• The disappearance of electricity in Malabo.
• The intentional fire or destruction of several villages as a form of extermination.
• The destruction of much of Spain's work to Equatorial Guinea.

It is important to point out that Macías' prohibitions on the population did not apply to him. For example, his clothing continued to be western and he used to receive medical treatment abroad, in hospitals that he would have considered imperialist in Equatorial Guinea. In 1979, after his overthrow and the raid on his palace, it was discovered that he ate bread, a food prohibited the population. He also consumed Spanish wine, ham, cheese and olives, since all Spanish products were prohibited to the population.

Personal life

Macías was related to five women during his lifetime. He was legally married for the first time to a woman from the province of Río Benito named Ada, with whom he lived in Mongomo, had several children and from whom he separated after discovering an infidelity with a Spanish teenager, supposedly leaving her in ruins.. Macías was drunk when he discovered his wife in bed with that teenager, named Conrado García Zurita, while the couple was asleep. The next day, the teenager woke up and seeing Macías in the room, he ran out. This infidelity was described by Macías as a "colonialist abuse" and had the intention (already as vice president of the autonomous government) of imprisoning and then expelling the adolescent and his family. He finally achieved his objectives. All this situation caused Macías to suffer from a sexual inferiority complex, and he even submitted to to psychiatric treatment in Spain and the United States. Rumors also began to circulate (particularly among the Fang community) that Macías was homosexual. This made him feel very offended.

His second wife was a woman named Clara Angué Osá, a Fang from Mikomeseng, whom he married in Mongomo in 1964 and had 3 children.

During his marriage to Clara, Macías took as his concubine a woman named Mónica Bindang Ayong, a blonde mulatto daughter of a Spanish settler. Macías left Clara in Mongomo and went to live with Mónica in Bata and Santa Isabel. Later he married Mónica and they had two children: Francisco Paco (born in 1970) and Mónica Moniquita (born in 1972), while Macías adopted two children. that Mónica had from previous relationships: Teonesto and Maribel. Mónica Bindang would come to hold the official position of first lady, and exerted an important influence on Macías. She accompanied her husband on several official trips. In March 1971, Mónica Bindang had her husband jail a passerby who greeted her casually, for "disrespectful" and for "addressing the president's wife in this way". In any case, Mónica Bindang received physical abuse from Macías.

Still married to Clara, Macías also had a relationship with a young mulatto woman of German origin named Frida Kroner, a nurse with whom he also had children. It is not clear if he previously annulled his marriage to Clara, if he went on to marry Kroner, or if he also kept her as a second concubine. However, it is known that Macías ordered the murder of her husband, Felipe Pedro Esono, director of Security. Like this, there are other documented cases of men murdered for being ex-partners or husbands of the women Macías coveted, especially from his third wife Mónica. All this was denied by Macías during his trial in 1979.

Another woman in Macías' life was Rita Flores Mernicón (widow of politician Abilio Balboa, former mayor of Santa Isabel) with whom he also had children. However, shortly after Macías was overthrown this woman denied any kind of sentimental relationship with him.

Almost all of Macías' women ended up leaving him, escaping from his dictatorship. When Mónica Bindang fled the country, Macías declared her a traitor to the country and forbade any Guinean woman to be baptized with the name of Mónica. He also ordered Damián Ondó, governor of the Central Bank of Guinea, to persecute her (without finally finding her), fearing that she would go to Switzerland and withdraw the money that Macías had kept there. Clara Angué Osá also abandoned Macías, returning to Guinea Equatorial shortly after the 1979 coup. Some sources cite that Mónica Bindang returned to Mongomo and reconciled with Macías.

Some of Macías's children, shortly before their father's overthrow in 1979, were sent to North Korea and educated under leader Kim Il-sung, a friend of Macías. Mónica Bindang also settled there with them.

Another of Macías' sons, with another of his wives, is Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema, former Minister of Education, former Secretary General of the PDGE and current rector of the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE).

Macías owned several luxurious presidential palaces (valued in millions of dollars), one of them located in his hometown of Nzeng Ayong. After the 1979 coup, it was raided and medicines of all kinds were discovered stored in a room and numerous wads of bills, as well as several portraits of Macías and two Mercedes-Benz cars parked in the courtyard. Macías was a fan to cars and even on one occasion bought several of them just to look at them. Macías's palaces were based on the Palace of Versailles. Macías was obsessed with construction and public works, as well as painting and cleaning these. He corrected the architects' plans and spent hours watching the work of the masons. He had the intention of resembling his native village of Nsegayong to Versailles in terms of infrastructure. Two luxury hotels were built in 1972 in Malabo and Bata, with the aim of housing diplomatic missions. Banks, buildings, educational centers and the international port of Bata were also built. All those public works cost millions of pesetas, and were never used. They had no real use for the Guinean people (and in addition, many times there was a lack of personnel in them), but Macías felt proud of all the works, believing that he was doing the country a real favor and that his initiatives represented the general interest of the population. 1979, Macías even announced the creation of an airline company.

In 1974, Macías ordered the construction of a wall to surround half of the residential part of the city of Malabo and take over this sector, to live separately from the rest of the population. For this, it was necessary to evict all the inhabitants of the area. In the popularly called forbidden city there was one of Macías's palaces, the cathedral and the Plaza de la Independencia, as well as the Prison Playa Negra. Barbed wire was added to the wall, which in turn was connected to a high-voltage cable. Macías built the wall for "security reasons", as a result of his thanatophobia. In addition, he was protected by armed troops and tanks. Shortly after the execution of Macías, the forbidden city was opened to the public and in 1981 the wall (popularly known as the wall of Shame) was torn down. The wall cost millions of dollars, as did other similar walls he built around his many palaces.

As part of his admiration for Hitler, Macías owned a copy of Mein Kampf which he never parted with. He read the book five times and went so far as to recite passages from it learned by heart. Macías took many elements from the Nazi regime and implemented them in his dictatorship.

Macías was a regular consumer of bhang and iboga, which could have been the cause of his mental imbalance. He used to consume these drugs in the early hours of the morning, while carrying out government activities. According to reliable reports, Macías practiced cannibalism and had a collection of human skulls, which he classified by sex, date, succulence, and degree of auditory pleasure. noise that they had made when they were broken by Macías with his cane. From time to time, a political prisoner was sent to the presidential palace and Macías himself was in charge of killing and tasting him. His habitual consumption of drugs caused him to be convinced that supposedly to be an all-powerful healer.

Regarding his diet, he only accepted to eat food imported from Spain and cooked by trusted people. He drank mineral water and never consumed alcoholic beverages.

He had the habit of having his enemies killed with machetes and feeding their remains to sharks.

By the end of his dictatorship, he had accumulated a fortune of 406,383,893 ekwele, equivalent to 13,540 million dollars.

Personality

Macías is widely considered to be mentally ill. Before independence, during the Constitutional Conference in 1967, a Spanish doctor confidentially diagnosed him as paranoid and schizoid. During one of his stays in Spain, he was also diagnosed as manic-depressive. In 1970, Macías was treated by the same Spanish doctor who had diagnosed him in 1967.

... of a blood character, it tries ostensibly to show a strong personality, although it often falls into snare that denotes lack of emotional balance. The remarkable deafness that suffers creates uncomfortable situations and makes it difficult to deal with it in personal interviews. It is distrusted by nature, receloso and lacks mental agility. He used to raise his voice to his own ministers and diplomats, some of whom he came to mistreat. (...) The president lives in the protagonist twenty-four hours of the day, and the distance that separates him from all his collaborators is abysmal. The references from the Councils of Ministers indicate that only the vice president of the government dares to disagree on technical issues. As a curious note, his public allusions to the desire that encourages him to imitate Franco, whose person usually respects in almost all the speeches and with whom he has said he wishes to interview, but at the level of colleagues or "homonimos".

He speaks alone and his collaborators often surprise him by gesticulating, speaking alone or rehearsing his speeches in front of the mirror.

He is an uncult man, but he has a primitive art for the word, the intuition of the verb, alternates the fang with the Spanish, but connects with the masses and achieves in them surprising effects.

Book Guinea Subject ReservedRafael Fernandez.

Rafael Mendizábal, Macías' technician during the first year of his presidential term, described him as "prudent and violent", "realistic and utopian simultaneously" and "energetic but doubtful". Macías suffered from exaltations of violence to which he then followed intervals of balance and lucidity, having an incongruously changeable and fickle personality. With paroxysmal tendencies, Macías went through phases of total silence or verbiage. A fearful, insecure person (according to the guards at his palace, he did not recognize his weaknesses and blamed others for his mistakes) and very suspicious, he was always thinking that someone would assassinate him or take away his power, and he came to count some twenty alleged coup attempts. According to Macías, some alleged coup attempts Coup plotters were even hatched inside prisons. Before leaving on official trips, Macías ordered the execution of several political prisoners to dissuade his opponents from conspiring against him. He was also obsessed with his security, and surrounded himself with a Praetorian Guard made up of 155 soldiers. Always worried about a possible overthrow, Macías stopped making public appearances in 1975 and retired to live first in Mongomo and then in his hometown of Nzangayong. Here he would spend hours sitting around a bonfire talking with relatives and village elders about state policy. In his hometown, Macías fished, hunted and farmed for subsistence, employing political prisoners who were sent to him. He refused to move to Malabo, unless an extremely urgent situation arose.

Despite being a born conductor of masses, on a personal level he was introverted and socially awkward. It has also been noted that he was quite moody. the president, then I am more than all of you together"), and at the same time, paradoxically, it has been pointed out that he suffered a marked inferiority complex. From this double complex (of inferiority with respect to Spain and of superiority before the rest Guineans) may have given rise to his ultranationalist political thought.

Macías has also been described as a very suspicious person. According to Adolfo Enrique Millan, a former colonial official and Macías's secretary during the early days of his government, the dictator had a rather childish mentality. Other people who were in His time around him is described as vain and fond of luxuries. All the furniture in his palace was imported, the faucet in his bathroom was gold and there was air conditioning. Macías demanded that women from nearby towns walk kilometers to his palace and they will wake him up with songs.

All of Macías' unbridled personality came to light after he became president: during his time as vice president of the Autonomous Government he was known as a healthy, simple man, without vices, not a womanizer and above all rational.

Macías used to, at the height of his madness, engage in monologues and even "dine" with already eliminated adversaries. He got to the point of making decisions based on the nightmares and night visions he had.

Some observers have postulated that Macías Nguema may have been a psychopath, a disorder potentially caused, in part, by the psychological trauma of his childhood, and that his behavior could have been affected by other possible mental illnesses and his periodic consumption of the plant psychoactive iboga (with effects similar to LSD) and large amounts of cannabis. According to some, he may have also suffered from schizophrenia. The latter was noticeable in his way of communicating, since many of his speeches were incoherent. During his school years, his teachers had already noticed his precarious mental state. The same thing happened during the 1968 electoral campaign, when his rivals (realizing Macías' precarious mental state) called him "crazy ", although on that occasion Macías defended himself by describing himself as a "loco for freedom".

From a biological point of view, Macías suffered from headaches and constant migraines, in addition to sexual impotence and gastric ailments. It was even said that he suffered a process of mental deterioration caused by syphilis. one of the Cuban doctors who attended him, at the time of his overthrow was in a terminal phase of this disease.

Macías was a hypochondriac and his personal doctors gave him blood and urine tests every day. As a result of his thanatophobia, he was obsessed with his health. On more than one occasion, he sanctioned members of his government for trying to have "contaminated" him, when, for example, they coughed near him. Macías often authorized his officials to take long vacations when they were somewhat sick, and to return when they were completely cured.. Macías warmed up to the slightest change in temperature and years after being cured of tuberculosis, he continued taking medicines to combat it. The medicines he ingested orally had to be opened in front of him, and the injections had to be prepared in his presence. He got to the point of completely canceling his trips abroad, because he considered that being outside the country anyone could kill him. His thanatophobia was the origin of many of the murders committed during his dictatorship, since he began to see enemies everywhere who they supposedly wanted to assassinate him. He even mistrusted his wives, and rarely slept in the same room with them. On his official visits, there was a huge security display.

He traveled twice to Spain to treat a brain tumor and other illnesses that were never disclosed.

His notable deafness also became a problem during his trial in 1979, as Macías did not hear some of the questions asked by the Court. During his last years, he was quite old.

Macías in popular culture

• Macías, general essay on power and glory (1985). Chilean theatre work written by Sergio Marras and starred at the actor Tennyson Ferrada in the role of Macías.
• The book The dogs of war by Frederick Forsyth (as well as his homonymous film) is partly based on the situation of Equatorial Guinea during the Macías regime.
• The novel Palm trees in the snow of Luz Gabás (as well as his homonymous film) narrates the colonial times of Equatorial Guinea and the first months after independence, during the Macías regime.
• Some episodes of the Spanish television series Tell me how it happened. on the events that occurred in Equatorial Guinea at the beginning of the Macías regime, including the independence of the country and the diplomatic crisis of 1969. Among these episodes are The Day of Race and Hundred.