#Angolas #expresident #Dos #Santos #dies #Spain
Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who ruled Angola with an iron fist for 38 years, died in a Barcelona hospital on Friday after suffering cardiac arrest, the government said.
It was with “great pain and dismay” that the Luanda government posted the confirmation of Dos Santos’ death at 11:10 am (1010 GMT) on Facebook. He was 79.
“(The Government) extends its deepest condolences to the grieving family,” the statement said, describing the former leader as a “statesman of great historical stature” who has led the country through very difficult times.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who is running for re-election in August, declared five days of national mourning from Saturday and set up a government commission to organize funerals.
A presidential decree ordered flags to be flown at half-mast and “all shows and political demonstrations” to be canceled.
But one of Dos Santos’ daughters called for an autopsy on the body over suspicion of foul play.
While the former president was in hospital earlier this week, Tchize Dos Santos filed a complaint with the Catalan regional police, claiming her father’s condition was the result of attempted murder.
According to the complaint, she believed her father’s wife, Ana Paula, and his personal physician were responsible for the deterioration in his health, one of her lawyers said.
Dos Santos resigned in September 2017 after 38 years at the helm of the Portuguese-speaking, oil-rich state of Angola.
He was hospitalized in Spain and placed in intensive care after suffering cardiac arrest on June 23.
Born in the slums of Luanda, he was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, using his country’s oil wealth to make one of his children a billionaire while leaving his people among the world’s poorest.
During his reign, he eschewed the cult of personality so often favored by dictators, employing instead secretive and authoritarian tactics learned during the Soviet era.
And as much as he controlled every aspect of Angolan life, he mismanaged his own transition from power so badly that it ended in temporary self-imposed exile, with a son in prison and a daughter facing international litigation.
– “Billions embezzled” –
When he resigned, dos Santos handed over to former Secretary of Defense Lourenco, who was handpicked to replace him.
But Lourenco quickly turned on his one-time patron and launched an anti-corruption campaign to recover the billions he suspected had been embezzled under dos Santos.
Dos Santos’ eldest daughter, Isabel, was once named Africa’s richest woman by Forbes with a fortune of $3 billion. She now faces a series of investigations into her multinational businesses.
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