Angola: Former President José Eduardo dos Santos dies in Spain

José Eduardo dos Santos, former Angolan president, here in 2014. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

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José Eduardo dos Santos reigned over Angola for 37 years before finally ending his long political career in 2018 at the age of 76.

He died in the Barcelona clinic where he had been hospitalized since a cardiac arrest on June 23, 2022, the government announced on its Facebook page.

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The former Angolan dignitary had been ill for many years, but in recent months his health had deteriorated considerably.

In June, a Portuguese daily said it " 

 ".

He finally died in Barcelona this Friday, July 8, 2022.

“ 

 ” of Mr. dos Santos, says a short message published by the government on social networks, specifying that the death occurred at the end of the morning.

“Zedu” as he was called, had started from nothing.

Son of a Mason, José Eduardo dos Santos grew up in the "barrio" of Sanbizanga, a slum in the capital Luanda.

Militant against the Portuguese colonists, he joined the MPLA at the age of only 19, before joining the armed struggle.

At independence in 1975, "Zedu" already sat on the central committee of the MPLA.

Then joined the government, became Prime Minister and finally President in 1979, on the death of Agostinho Neto.

A fine strategist, "Zedu" will retain, without ever being elected, the reins of power for almost four decades.

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• Angola

• Jose Eduardo dos Santos