On November 22, 1970, an alliance of Portuguese guerrillas and Guinean dissidents landed in Conakry to try to overthrow the Guinean regime, neutralize the rebellion of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Cape Verde-Cape Verde-Bissau of Guinea and free the Portuguese prisoners it had captured. Guinean memory baptized this episode “Portuguese Aggression”. The Portuguese in charge of the operation christened her Mir Vert, “Mar Verde”. RFI’s Portuguese-speaking service returned to the Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau ruins for this story. He presents, in a series of three episodes, new testimonies of the facts. Part 1: Where we discover that Lisbon’s support for the Guinean rebels had not been obtained previously.
It has only been a short time since the Portuguese archives began to reveal their secrets Mar Verdi. It took the patient work of military historian Jose Matos. And a book:The Attack in Conakry: história de um golpe falhado“, [Attaque à Conakry: histoire d’un coup avorté]published by Editions Kaos borders. The author describes the process, which according to him, was completely unique. ” This is the only time in the long history of war, He explains to RFI, That Portugal tried to invade a neighboring country. In this particular case, the capital of a neighboring country… The primary objective was to promote a coup d’état and attempt to replace the regime of the Republic of Guinea led by Sékou Toure. This process is also legendary in Portugal because it is not repeated anywhere else. No such operation has been carried out in Angola or Mozambique.”.
