Iko Carreira

Angola state institutions Marxism–Leninism National liberation and anti-colonial movements Angola Angolan of Portuguese–Italian descent 1933–2000 ○ Natural causes

Founder of Angola's People's Armed Forces and its first Defence Minister

After the October 1976 plenum, Carreira officially declared that "for the MPLA, the only socialism that exists is the socialism of Marx, Engels and Lenin, scientific socialism."

First Defence Minister of independent Angola, founder and commander-in-chief of the People's Armed Forces (FAPLA), and the MPLA's military strategist second only to Agostinho Neto. After the October 1976 Central Committee plenum he officially declared that 'for the MPLA, the only socialism that exists is the socialism of Marx, Engels and Lenin, scientific socialism,' marking the party's adoption of Marxism-Leninism. He directed the suppression of the 1977 Nitista uprising and its military tribunals, but lost power after Neto's death in 1979 and spent his last years denouncing Angola's 'savage capitalism.'

Also known as: Henrique Alberto Quádrios Teles Carreira

Activities and affiliations

Career Timeline

Related historical events

From Portuguese Army Deserter to EPLA Commander, 1961-1975

In the 1950s Carreira left law studies at the University of Lisbon for a military career, serving in the Portuguese Air Force and later passed to the Portuguese Army. While serving as an auxiliary to the Portuguese military mission in Algiers he made contact with the Angolan anticolonial movement and joined the MPLA, and in 1961 he deserted the Portuguese forces in the "Flight of the 100," alongside Pedro Pires, later president of Cape Verde, and Joaquim Chissano, later president of Mozambique.

As a professional soldier he was one of the commanders entrusted with organizing the People's Army for the Liberation of Angola (EPLA) and commanded operations against Portuguese forces during the war of independence. His reputation as a strategist grew considerably after the "Iko Plan," a successful operation that took Lunda Norte and Malanje and let the EPLA control the so-called "Agostinho Neto Route" running from Luena and Lungué-Bungo to Malanje. From 1974 he was among those responsible for reorganizing the EPLA into the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA).

The anticolonial struggle was not only military. When vice-president Domingos Kileba retired with age in 1971, the MPLA leadership was reshaped around Lúcio Lara as vice-president and Carreira as secretary-general, and in 1974 and 1975 he took part in the negotiations with Portugal that produced the Alvor Agreements. On the eve of independence, on 12 November 1975, he became the first defence minister of the People's Republic of Angola.