• Algeria The ruling parties once again dominate the Parliament

The former president of Algeria

Abdelaziz Bouteflika

died this Saturday at the age of 84, victim of a long illness, which since 2013 has kept him incapacitated, without the ability to speak and autonomously move, the presidency reported in a statement.

Born on March 2, 1937 in the Moroccan city of

Oudja

, Bouteflika joined the revolution against the French occupation very young and led the country between 1999 and 2019, the year in which he was forced to leave power because of the

massive popular demonstrations against him

and pressure from the Army.

The movement, known as

'Hirak'

, has been on the streets ever since to demand the definitive fall of the military regime that has run the country since independence in 1962 despite police repression.

Previously, he had been one of the most skilled politicians in the Arab world and the longest-serving head of Algerian diplomacy.

Son of

Ahmed Bouteflika and Mansouriah Ghezlaoui

, Bouteflika grew up in Morocco with his five brothers and from there he joined, at the age of 19, the so-called

Army of National Liberation (ALN)

, the armed and clandestine arm of the National Liberation Front. after military in a cell of the Moroccan party

Al Istiqal

, of Allal al Fassi.

Intelligent and sagacious, in 1958 he joined the circle of the independence leader and later second president of independent Algeria, Houari Boumediene.

As its personal secretary, he rose rapidly in the hierarchy of the FLN: in 1962, at just 25 years old, he was appointed Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism in the first independent Executive, led by

Ahmed Ben Bella

, and a member of the Constituent Assembly by the Tlemecen region, on the west coast of the country.

THE FACE OF INDEPENDENT ALGERIA

Three years later, his intervention was fundamental in the fight for power maintained by the president and his mentor, who carried out a coup and made Bouteflika the

face of the new Algeria

.

As Foreign Minister, he was present in all the crises experienced in the last decade of the seventies, in which Algeria was a very active member in the

Aligned Countries Movement

.

And in which he became one of the greatest defenders of the Palestinian cause, welcoming into his territory groups classified as terrorists and mediating international kidnappings.

In 1979,

General Chadli Bendjedid

, another of the heroes of the war of independence (1957-1962)

, was elected president

and Bouteflika began to lose power and influence until he was marginalized and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars from the allocated budget. to the various embassies.

Investigated, he went into exile for six years to return to the country in 1987 and join a group of national personalities who, after the

brutal repression of the protests in Algiers,

signed a manifesto in favor of democracy and political reforms.

Installed in the hard core of the state, he quietly went through the first years of the bloody civil war between the Army and radical Islamist groups, which

caused thousands of deaths and more than 300,000 disappeared,

and which made Algeria the most dangerous country in the world. the nineties.

CONTROVERTED ELECTIONS

In 1999, and at the height of the attacks on foreigners and massacres in different parts of the country, Bouteflika achieved the aspired presidency after the resignation of President

Liamine Zerual

thanks to the support of the FLN and the Security forces, despite presenting himself to election as independent.

After his overwhelming victory at the polls, he formalized the truce established by the

Islamic Salvation Army

and offered a process of dialogue and national reconciliation that brought the bloodshed to an end on June 6, 1999.

Known since then as the peacemaker, he won re-election three times, after amending the Constitution and between complaints of electoral fraud.

Including the victory in the 2014 elections, which he achieved despite suffering a stroke months before and not participating in the electoral campaign.

Since then, his public appearances have dwindled and he

never again addressed the nation out loud

, fueling suspicions about his true state of health and who was actually running the nation.

In February 2019, the announcement by the circle of power that he would run for a fifth consecutive term despite his obvious physical deterioration sparked protests in the street and revealed the pulse for the leadership of the country that was being fought within the Army .

In April of that same year, and with thousands of people on the streets every Friday, that same circle of power announced the

resignation of the

oldest

president

and the most skillful and influential politician in independent Algeria.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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