DEATH TO COMMUNISTS DEATH TO MPLA
CONNECTION
I grew up under injustice and the absence of freedom.
Not mine. Somebody else's.
And my mother whispered in my ear,
"Son, you must always stand with those who suffer".
I unconditionally positioned myself on the side of the...
of the MPLA.
We had a popular army. People armed themselves.
You, me, anyone.
And at that time, in 1975, I was in that fight
when I met Kapuściński, Ricardo.
- [Artur] He loved that atmosphere.
Especially that of the suburbs and the musseques.
The biggest support for the MPLA
came from the neighborhoods and the musseques.
MPLA's activists were heavily armed in the neighborhoods,
and when we entered we felt at home,
totally safe.
YOU'RE DEAD, SOCIALIST REPORTER
Do you know when you're living on the edge
and your life is no longer worth a great deal?
It's much easier to make friends. We became friends.
A friendship that's only possible when you are totally hopeless.
- [Artur] Kapuściński suffered the reporter's insanity that takes you
to places which could be the last... But you go.
And he went.
The MPLA had the support of more than 90% of the Angolan people.
Each citizen turned a defender of his homeland.
Women, children,
old people, the sick... Everyone.
Those from FNLA and UNITA were professional assassins.
They murdered peasant towns of northern Angola
in cold blood.
When was the last time you were here?
Since '75. I never came back.
And what do you feel?
Maybe a little anguish.
- [Artur] What I saw, what I witnessed on this road was maybe
the most infernal image I've ever seen in my life.
Imagine several kilometers of road scattered with corpses.
About 40 or 50 km.
We got out of the car and ran to check if there was any child alive.
But they were all dead.
Mothers and children killed by the same shot.
I lost peace forever.
Right here on this road.
I was aware they were going to massacre us here,
it was almost like a death foretold.
Easy. Easy.
- [Artur] I was a journalist
and a fighter at the same time.
I had to...
shoot.
That's not worthy of a journalist, but I was a fighter too.
I'm aware I broke
my professional code.
And not only I broke it, but also torpedoed it.
Do you remember if you killed someone?
I hope not. Whoever it was.
Not even the cruelest assassin.
No. I hope not.
White man...
- [Luis] It was very weird he was there,
a lonely Polish reporter...
Why a Polish man?
He shook my hand vigorously.
He wasn't looking for friends.
He was looking for people with authority
who could take him to the key points of the war.
Come on, guys, you help us?
- [Luis] Carlota had such a charisma
that from the beginning was intimately tied
to the guarantee of victory.
She was a very arrogant guerrilla, very determined,
with her Kalashnikov...
She had her own project of a nation.
And she was very concerned about children,
about how children would be educated in Angola
in the foreseeable future.
- [Luis] Kapuściński asked me,
"Are you scared?"
And I said, "The further we go, the greater will be the danger".
And he smiled at me and said,
"When the shots start, fear disappears".
First, the vision. Then, the smell.
We saw corpses
of soldiers and guerrillas.
They were about to burst, they were all swollen.
Carlota said that could cause a plague,
that it was dangerous for the health of the children
who were playing nearby.
Kapuściński also helped
to spray the bodies with petrol.
Then Carlota,
with her machine gun and Commander Toni
fired to set them on fire.
- [Luis] Silence took over us
when the car started.
We were afraid of what could happen
because it was a battlefront.
There were thick dark clouds in the night sky.
- [Recording of Luis] The victories of the revolutionary war
come at a high price:
Camarada Carlota,
who we had just interviewed at the Balombo's front.
Less than 24 hours later, Carlota dropped dead.
- [Present-day Luis] Kapuściński said,
"We should have insisted until the end".
Feelings of guilt increased.
Kapuściński cried,
I had already cried at the hotel.
And I said to Kapuściński,
"Carlota has died, they're going to lose the war".
And Kapuściński replied, "Morally, I think so".
- [Luis] I still miss her.
- [Soldiers] The struggle continues!
Victory is certain!
- [Farusco] Joaquim António Lopes Farrusco.
I was born in Portugal.
The first image I have
is the one that changed my life.
I remember it as if it was today.
It was a small child,
with very ripped, very old, very dirty clothes.
He shouted, "Give me a coin! Give me bread!"
I got sad and I said to myself,
"Here they're in the same situation I was in my country".
That barefoot boy reminded me
of my adolescence.
I didn't come to defend anyone,
I probably came to oppress, right?
I was a commando, from the special forces.
I was 24.
It wasn't very difficult for me
to take a single side:
the side of the most disadvantaged.
It was very difficult to survive in that front.
A very broad front.
I had nothing except a handful of guerrillas
and the good will of MPLA's supporters, the people.
Kapuściński talked to me for a few hours.
And we talked about my son who, by life's paradoxes,
ended up being killed by UNI TA.
He was simply killed because I'm General Farrusco,
and they knew who General Farrusco was.
It was revenge.
Many parents lost their children.
I wasn't the only one.
I'm heading there, with the AK, fighting.
I think, "Well, here I have a few minutes left, let's..."
let's fight to death with those guys".
I'm already dead.
- [Farusco] The stream of blood was huge.
I heard, but I couldn't see.
And my subconscious told me,
"Careful, calm down, there's no problem, all will be fine".
There was a second voice inside me that gave me...
some life.
When the South Africans arrived, I got stuck there.
In the hospital.
It was an unequal fight.
The South African artillery, the South African armour,
the helicopters' machine guns...
And even so, they resisted fighting for four hours.
Nearly all of those who resisted there died.
It was a massacre. That was a massacre.
Kapuściński left Luanda to come and see what was happening.
To tell the world that South African forces
were invading the Angolan territory.
The world denied it.
I think this was his mission.
A mission that led him to me, to the south of Angola.
It was a rather distressing conversation
because that day, we knew we were going to lose.
We were living the last days of our lives.
Because they were going to get in shortly.
As soon as I told him to leave,
he replied, "No, I'll stay with you",
because I don't intend to yield on my place by an invading army.
This is my mission.
I'll stay with you and I'll send my last news...
That's what he said to me.
The CIA, yes, the CI A organized everything.
The CI A against Angola.
South African troops invaded Southern Angola, the central plateau.
They took Benguela, Lobito and continued.
We were besieged in Luanda.
Ricardo always said, "It's racism spread all around Africa".
I f these guys win, we're going to have an apartheid all over Africa".
That's what he thought.
The MPLA was alone, MPLA forces were alone.
Soviets abandoned us.
The Camarada President had to ask for help to Cuba.
And Camarada Fidel didn't hesitate, he didn't wait for Kremlin's orders.
We were certain that either
we won the battle of information or they would destroy us.
And the MPLA would never take power.
He, knowing that it was a large-scale operation,
had doubts about whether he should send the telex or not.
We were reporters and we gave our lives for our job.
Certainly, Ricardo became
a fighter of our cause, in his own way. Certainly.
SEND
- [Artur] Kapuściński and I went to the airport.
And when I saw those Cubans and those weapons arriving
I thought we still had some chance of winning.
- [Kissinger] If the Soviet Union and Cuban military forces
continue actions such as Angola,
we will without any questions resist.
- [Castro] Because they had everything planned
in order to take over Angola before November 11th.
We're not looking for oil, diamonds or any material interest.
We're fulfilling an elementary internationalist duty
when we're helping the people of Angola.
- [Announcer] The Central Committee of the MPLA
solemnly proclaims
before Africa and the whole world, the independence of Angola.
- [Artur] It was the happiest day of my life.
This Africa being born in Angola
was an Africa without neocolonialism,
the Africa of a complete and authentic liberation.
Kapuściński and I went to have a drink of Carta Blanca rum
to celebrate it. A small celebration.
We hugged.
We were very happy.
Victory is certain! Victory is certain!
In the wars against South Africans,
we lost many of our best children.
But justice was done. We had to be there.
We couldn't let them kill us without defending ourselves.
It was worth it. I'm an accomplished person.
I put a stone in the building of this nation called Angola.
We won the battle that led our country to independence.
But on the way, all my ideals were destroyed.
I'm the big loser. Where is the egalitarian society?
Where are my brothers without hunger?
And socialism?
And revolution?