Amilcar Cabral (1924–1973), an agronomist and Marxist nationalist, led the fight against Portuguese colonial rule in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. At the head of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (PAIGC), which he co-founded in 1956, Cabral launched a guerrilla war in 1963.
The independence movement was supported by Kwame Nkrumah and the U.S.S.R. In January 1973, Cabral was assassinated in Conakry, Guinea, by a former rival in the PAIGC at the instigation of the Portuguese authorities. Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde declared their independence in 1974, and Luis Cabral, Amilcar’s half-brother, became the first president of Guinea-Bissau.
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