Guinea-Bissau’s Honorary Consul in Porto, José Manuel Pavao, expressed regret that the late Guinean President Nino Vieira, who was assassinated 15 years ago this Saturday, still does not have a memorial to commemorate his life and history.
“In fact, he was an iconic figure in the modern history of Guinea-Bissau,” defended Dr. José Manuel Pavao in an interview with the Lusa agency, who shared with the former president, and deplored the instability in which Guinea finds itself. passes.
The instability that is recurring in Guinea-Bissau “does great harm to the country,” he said, adding: “We are talking about a small country. There are 28 different ethnic groups here, with different dialects, with different morphological characteristics. The meaning of identity is complex,” and The “reality” is that Guinea’s current president, Umaro Sissoko Embalo, “has an authoritarian regime that is very personal.”
About João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira Jose Manuel Pavao, who chaired the board of directors of the Maria Pia hospital in Porto, emphasized the friendship that began from the moment he provided medical care to the youngest daughter of the then Guinean leader.
“We had a very close relationship. I was his youngest daughter’s doctor. By a simple coincidence in the life of doctors – Dr. Mario Soares was then the President of Portugal – one night I was woken up by a colleague asking for help for a child who had a high fever, who came from Brussels with tonsillitis and who was the daughter of an important person,” he recalled.
“And there I went to the Santa Maria Pia hospital. It was the daughter of President “Nino” Vieira, who was suffering from severe and progressive malaria,” he added.
The doctor’s closeness to the then President of Guinea grew over time, and in May 1999, after an armed uprising led by Ansumane Mane against the regime of “Nino” Vieira, he took refuge in the Portuguese embassy in Bissau, from where he went into exile. in Portugal and they strengthen their friendship.
Appointed honorary consul of Guinea-Bissau in 2002 “at the insistence of the Guinean community living in northern Portugal,” José Manuel Pavao was in privileged company with “Nino” Vieira, who he said was “a privately moderate man.” , always thoughtful. He weighed his words a lot before saying anything. He was not a hasty man.”
On 7 April 2005, “Nino” Vieira returned to Bissau after six years in exile in Portugal and announced that he would run for the presidency in the 2005 presidential elections, which he won in the second round.
“I think he had a vision for democratic representation of the country. And that the country could integrate into the new friendly plan of countries and could be reconciled. Return was a strategy to regain control, power. This should have been clear. important role in the development and structure of the country,” he added.
Instability continues to surround Guinea-Bissau, and when “Nino” Vieira announces the dissolution of the government led by Prime Minister Carlos Gómez Júnior, citing the need to maintain stability, he appoints his ally Aristide Gomes as chief executive.
On November 23, 2008, an assassination attempt was made on President Vieira at his residence.
Some of his guards died, but “Nino” Vieira was unharmed and in an interview he accused General Tagme Na Waye of being responsible for the attempted coup and of threatening the stability, peace and democracy of the country.
On 1 and 2 March 2009, following the death on the first day of Tagme Na Vaye, then Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, “Nino” Vieira was shot dead on the second day by soldiers who surrounded his house and wanted to avenge the death of an officer who had been the victim of an attack.
“Nino” Vieira dies trying to escape the house and is stabbed repeatedly after being shot.
Jose Manuel Pavao admitted that he was “deeply sad” when he learned about what happened.
He has many stories about his relationship with “Nino” Vieira, such as when in 2005, unable to attend his friend’s presidential inauguration, the president-elect told him to send his eldest son.
José Manuel Pavao, who became a PSD deputy elected by the Bragança circle and co-founder of the National Association of Municipal Assemblies, argues that Guinea-Bissau should have honored the memory of “Nino” Vieira a long time ago.
The remains of the former president are buried in Fortaleza d’Amura in Bissau, where the headquarters of the Guinean armed forces are located.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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