1929–2016
○ Died in Luanda in
Ideologue of Angolan liberation, MPLA founding member
In the 27 May 1977 Fractionism conflict, the Nitista faction's Thirteen Theses in my Defence accused Lara of being a 'social democrat' and leading the MPLA's alleged turn right. Responsibility for the ensuing mass purge is attributed to Lara and Iko Carreira under Neto's authority.
Full name Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara, known by the war name Tchiweka; an Angolan revolutionary and physicist-mathematician, and a founding member and leader of the MPLA. He joined the Angolan Communist Party in 1955 and signed the MPLA's founding manifesto of December 1956, becoming its main ideologue and the figure credited with its Marxist-Leninist orientation. He was secretary of organisation and cadres from 1962 and secretary-general in 1964-65, promulgated the constitution and swore in Agostinho Neto as first president in November 1975, served as acting president of Angola from 10 to 20 September 1979 after Neto's death, and left public life in 2003 for health reasons. Historians and witnesses attribute responsibility for the mass purge that followed the 27 May 1977 Fractionism conflict to Lara and Iko Carreira under Neto's authority.
Also known as: Tchiweka · Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara
Activities and affiliations
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1957–1985
Political and party leadership
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1957–1985
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1949–1958Studied mathematics at the University of Lisbon, graduating in 1952, then entered the University of Coimbra in 1954 for physical chemistry, abandoning the course in 1958.
- 1955–1956Joined the Angolan Communist Party, active alongside the Portuguese Communist Party, and was a founding signatory of the December 1956 MPLA manifesto.
- 1959Fled PIDE political police pursuit from Lisbon, passing through West and East Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Morocco, and arranged the MPLA's first international office in Conakry.
- 1962–1965Elected secretary of organisation and cadres and Central Committee member at the first national conference in December 1962; secretary-general in 1964-65 and effective number two of the party from 1964.
- 1974–1975Led the first MPLA delegation into Luanda on 8 November 1974; promulgated the Constitution on 10 November 1975 and swore in Agostinho Neto as the country's first president.
- 1975–2003Was a member of the Angolan parliament from independence until 2003, resigning his legislative mandate in November 2003 for health reasons; the Ministry of Defence retired him as an army general in 2004, though he refused to use the rank.
- 1977–1985Re-elected to the MPLA Central Committee on 10 December 1977 as the second-ranking Political Bureau member after Neto and party vice-president, responsible for organisation and ideology; in 1985 José Eduardo dos Santos removed him from the Political Bureau, leaving him on the Central Committee.
- 1979Acting president of Angola from 10 to 20 September 1979 after Neto's death; convened the 2nd MPLA Congress on 11 September and worked for the election of José Eduardo dos Santos on 20 September.
Related historical events
The 27 May 1977 events and responsibility for the purge
After the demonstrations in support of Interior Minister Nito Alves and the attempted coup of 27 May 1977 were put down, a large-scale purge followed across Angola. Vidal, in a peer-reviewed study, records a "massive bloody purge" in which innumerable people died, particularly young activists, intellectuals and cadres. He places the purge, which ran from June 1977 to mid-1979, among the "purge of Fractionism": it was ordered by Agostinho Neto; the arresting, jailing, torturing and killing were carried out by lower-level cadres; but it is generally accepted that the operation was directed by Lúcio Lara together with Defence Minister Iko Carreira, DISA head Ludy Kissassunda and his deputy Onambwe.
The scale of the deaths is disputed. DW África reports an indeterminate number that may have exceeded 40,000, and the historian Dalila Cabrita Mateus, co-author of Purga em Angola, named Neto, Lara, Iko Carreira, Ludy and Onambwé as the maximum responsible figures. General Silva Mateus, president of the 27 May foundation, and the survivor Francisco Pascoal testified in the same direction, Pascoal calling Lara and Iko Carreira "our main executioners". On the other side, the Nitistas' Thirteen Theses in my Defence accused Lara of being a "social democrat", a "Maoist" and the person leading the MPLA's turn right, and Nitista propaganda portrayed the Political Bureau as "dominated by anti-Soviets, Maoists and Social Democrats, led by Lúcio Lara, Carlos Dilolwa and Iko Carreira". Lara is thus documented as a figure inside the chain of command rather than a victim of the purge, and assessments of his degree of responsibility and of his ideological line remain divided.