Interior The former president of Angola dies in Barcelona and the family urges to preserve the body due to suspicion of homicide
The Barcelona Guard Court has ordered the autopsy of the body of former Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos who died yesterday in Barcelona after spending several weeks in an induced coma after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest.
The daughter of the former Angolan president, Tchizé dos Santos, denounced that the death of her father could be a homicide, as the Mossos d'Esquadra had been investigating for several days.
In addition, the family denounces the pressure of the Government of Angola to take the body and bury it in their country.
They assure that several of them have traveled to Barcelona together with the Attorney General to speed up the procedures, repatriate the body and celebrate a state funeral.
The daughter of dos Santos, represented by the offices Carmen Varela Family Lawyers and Molins Criminal Defense, indicated that her father's wish was to be buried in Barcelona, since he had lived in the city since 2019 due to illness.
The family's lawyers point out that dos Santos had been admitted to the Teknon clinic in Barcelona since June 24 after suffering "respiratory arrest" that left him in an induced coma, completely sedated and connected to medical devices.
For the family "there are a series of indications that the death of dos Santos occurred in suspicious conditions" and that is why his daughter filed a complaint with the Mossos that is processed in the Investigating Court 11 of Barcelona.
Given these indications, the court ordered the autopsy of the former president and therefore his body cannot be transferred to Angola until the result is known.
The family believes that there is a plot to end the life of Dos Santos and point to an alleged link with the Angolan government.
Suspicion of your environment
The briefs presented to the court recall that Dos Santos was elected president in Angola, as well as head of the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) in 1979 and that after 38 years he voluntarily left power in 2017, leaving the presidency of the country in his "then, trusted friend Joao Lourenço".
However, the family denounces that the current president "declared 'war' on the circle of dos Santos" and opened a multitude of criminal proceedings for corruption against the sons of the former president.
"Since then, the family has been suffering strong political persecution ideologically led by the new government of Angola and President Lourenço" and for this reason dos Santos "chose to go into voluntary exile in Spain in 2019, specifically in the city of Barcelona," indicate the lawyers.
In addition, they point out that in the national elections scheduled for August 24, Lourenço "intends to appear and simulate a rapprochement and unity with the former president of Angola. Specifically, he wants to transfer the body to Angola and give him a funeral with all the honors." , thus giving the image of unity desired by the party that currently governs the country".
The family reiterates that "because of the political persecution of which he was a victim together with his entire family" dos Santos "expressed his wish to be buried privately in Spain and, in any case, his refusal to be buried in Angola with a state funeral that could favor the current government".
Both the complainant and some of her siblings cannot return to Angola as the Angolan authorities have denied them the right to renew their passports.
Suspecting that someone wanted to kill his father, Tchizé denounced his father's second wife Ana Paula C., whom he married in 1991 in Angola and separated when he left the presidency in 2017, although the family considers that he did not is valid in Spain.
Three children were born from that marriage and dos Santos has another five from various previous romantic relationships.
"Prior to 2017, dos Santos and Ana Paula had not had a relationship for years, the latter leaving the presidential palace before dos Santos left the presidency. However, for protocol reasons, Ana Paula continued to appear next to de dos Santos at public events (for example, during Lourenço's inauguration). From then on, the breakup of the couple was public and Ana Paula had other sentimental partners," the family notes.
They indicate that the former president resided in Barcelona permanently cared for by medical and nursing staff in addition to other people who were in charge of cleaning and cooking.
His children visited him periodically, spending long periods with him because they were "afraid that people related to the Angolan regime could harm him."
Dos Santos' daughter denounces that his ex-wife did not visit him in Barcelona since the separation, nor did she attend when he underwent emergency surgery in Dubai.
She also says that his father prohibited her from entering his residence in Angola during Christmas 2021.
They accuse his doctor and his ex-wife
In addition to going against the ex-wife, the complaint also accuses an Angolan doctor, Dr. Alfonso, who lived near Dos Santos' home financed by the Angolan government.
The former president was also treated by cardiologists from the Teknon clinic.
"The denounced doctor Alfonso was apparently dos Santos' trusted doctor. However, it has become known that he is a senior official in the Angolan army, and that he is paid by the current government of Angola, just as the Angolan minister himself has affirmed before the international media at the entrance of the Teknon hospital," according to the family.
"After more than two years residing in Barcelona, on September 14, 2021, dos Santos returned to his country of origin, Angola. During his stay in Angola, the health of dos Santos, for inexplicable reasons and in a totally unprecedented and Surprisingly, he worsened considerably, becoming a completely incapacitated old man unable to fend for himself, requiring a wheelchair to move around and requiring permanent assistance. Consequently, dos Santos had to return to Barcelona in March 2022 to continue with strict medical treatment and to be able to have the necessary care, taking with him his 'trusted' Angolan doctor, the denounced doctor Alfonso," the complainants point out.
They also point out that "the specific medical information has been deliberately limited by those denounced to the sons of dos Santos" and that the former president, 79 years old, weighed 45 kilos and after a general check-up "the cause of death could not be determined. such an alarming deterioration of health" ruling out an oncological process.
Upon his return to Barcelona, dos Santos began to improve with treatment.
In April 2022, Ana Paula, after five years, visited dos Santos and settled in her house in the Catalan city.
The daughter denounces that her presence "was coercively imposed" and that since her arrival her father's health "seriously worsened, so that his physical abilities, but also cognitive and volitional, were increasingly affected, until he ended up in intensive care from the Teknon hospital.
The family denounces that Ana Paula's relationship with Lourenço is "uncontroversial" since in Angolan political circles her presence "is interpreted above all as a way of limiting the possible political and media damage to the current president derived from the death of dos Santos in electoral period. The deterioration of dos Santos' health is popularly linked to a government campaign."
In this regard, they point out that Lourenço "has been making public statements regarding the state of health of dos Santos, despite the fact that he is neither part of the family nor is he authorized by the family to give this type of information. In them, Lourenço alluded Ana Paula as the wife of dos Santos despite their long separation. Without a doubt, in an attempt to legitimize her for what could happen after her death".
That is why they consider that there is "an accumulation of indications that the death of dos Santos was favored by Ana Paula, Dr. Alfonso and other figures close to the Angolan government."
"In March 2022 dos Santos returned from Angola in a state of extreme health. It is inexplicable that his personal doctor who should have accompanied him did not protect the situation, apparently Dr. Alfonso happened to be with his family in Portugal despite the fact that he had an obligation to attend dos Santos on a daily basis. The official diagnosis of Dr. Alfonso was anorexia nervosa, a diagnosis that the doctors in Barcelona have ruled out", they indicate and add that since the arrival of Ana Paula at the end of April 2022, visits from the children of dos Santos and their access to medical data, as well as the muscular and respiratory physiotherapy treatment that dos Santos was undergoing.
The family denounces that Ana Paula and Dr. Alfonso canceled visits with "the Spanish medical team on May 4 and 12, at the most delicate moment of dos Santos's health, and that since then "the leaks to the Angolan and Portuguese press about the state of health of dos Santos have been constant due to leaks from Dr. Alfonso, as those responsible for communications have pointed out.
This constitutes a crime of disclosure of secrets.
Last days
In May, dos Santos was in a very weak state of health, he could not even eat on his own, so the family believes that he could not sign a statement authorizing the doctor to report his treatment, so the family believes that he can there is a crime of false documentation.
In addition, they regret that the former president did not receive care, suffered from breathing crises, was not fed according to medical protocols and despite his extremely thin state: "he came to spend 16 hours without eating."
The family assures that on June 23, 2022 "dos Santos suffered a respiratory arrest, allegedly while he was in the bathroom alone, while one of his caregivers was waiting for him outside the bathroom. Ana Paula was at home. The respiratory arrest led to a cardiac arrest. The cardiac arrest has resulted in the brain death of dos Santos. This outcome is an indication that the respiratory arrest was much longer than what has been reported to the Spanish medical services."
He also points out that the service personnel had been having trouble breathing for days and was not taken to the hospital.
After falling into a coma, the daughter of the deceased former president assures that the accused "has shown her clear interest in running as the legitimate wife of dos Santos for the purpose of making the decision to disconnect him from the life support that keeps him alive, and transfer his body to Angola, despite not having any rights in Spain because she has been de facto separated for five years and the marriage has not been registered in Spain".
Her lawyers indicate that this situation goes "against the opinion of the complaining daughter and her brothers."
The lawyers indicate that the Angolan minister Téte António has traveled to Barcelona to ensure that the body of dos Santos is transferred to Angola after his death.
Tchizé filed a complaint this week with the Mossos as well as a lawsuit requesting support measures, both personal and economic, regarding his father, which is being processed in the Court of First Instance 59 of Barcelona.
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