Angolan doctor and revolutionary killed in the 1977 Nitista purge
After the events of 27 May 1977 she fled with her partner, was captured three weeks later, convicted at a secret trial and died in custody; sources give differing dates for the killing.
Born in Angola, she was a doctor and revolutionary. She joined the Portuguese Communist Party and led its Communist Students' League (UEC) alongside Zita Seabra, and at the time of the 1974 Carnation Revolution she was in Moscow attending a Komsomol congress as the UEC's delegate. Returning to Angola in 1975, she joined the pro-Soviet orthodox wing around Nito Alves and José Van-Dúnem. Arrested after the events of 27 May 1977, she was convicted at a secret trial and died in custody; sources give conflicting dates for her death.
Also known as: Sita Maria Dias Valles
Activities and affiliations
-
–1977
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)
Political and party leadership -
Portuguese Communist Party (PCP)Main
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1974.04Attended a Komsomol congress in Moscow as UEC delegate
- 1975Returned to Angola; joined the pro-Soviet orthodox MPLA wing
- 1976–1977Ran the Committee of Revolutionary Intellectuals under the Department of Mass Organization (DOM) at Nito Alves's direction
- 1976–1977Supervisor-general of MPLA youth and mass organizations in Luanda
- 1977Arrested, secretly tried, died in custody
Related historical events
Return to Angola and organizing within the MPLA
Returning to Luanda in July 1975, Valles was asked by Nito Alves to organize work among educators and intellectuals. The Committee of Action of Revolutionary Intellectuals she helped activate organized teachers and intellectuals, as well as secondary-school and university students, and belonged to the MPLA's Department of Mass Organization (DOM). The MPLA's popular base was growing, while its organization and leadership were divided; Valles applied organizing experience gained in the Portuguese Communist Party to this work. After independence, she continued her medical studies and worked in an MPLA activist group in Luanda. One account says the MPLA expelled her in early 1976 because of her past activity in the Portuguese Communist Party. That year she joined a team of medical students sent to Huambo to assist Cuban medical personnel. Her colleague José Reis later recalled that she helped keep the hospital functioning so that patients, including former UNITA prisoners, could receive care.