Francisco Mendes, ''
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
'' Chico Té (February 7, 1939 – July 7, 1978), was a
Bissau-Guinean
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...
politician. He was the country's first
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
and held that position from September 24, 1973, until his fatal car accident under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1978.
Early career
Mendes was born in Enxude, Guinea-Bissau. In the early 1960s, the
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from ...
(PAIGC) launched an armed struggle against
Portuguese imperialism which would last more than a decade. Mendes was one of the few Guinea-Bissau students in secondary education when he abandoned school to join the PAIGC. He rose through the ranks in the 1960s, becoming a
political commissar of the
Bafatá area in 1962. In the years 1963–1964 he held the same function on the Northern Front. He entered the
Political Bureau
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
in 1964 and he became a member of PAIGC's Council of War in 1965. In 1967 he was appointed delegate of the Council for the Northern Front.
[https://escolatchicote.wixsite.com/tchicote/fransisco-mendes-tchico-te, Chico Té]
Prime minister
After negotiations between
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
and PAIGC in early 1974, Portugal granted independence to
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
despite PAIGC having declared unilateral independence nearly a year prior. The PAIGC-led government was headed by
Luís Cabral
Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral (11 April 1931 – 30 May 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military '' coup d'état'' led by João Bernardo Vieira deposed h ...
, half-brother of the PAIGC co-founder
Amílcar Cabral whose assassination in
Conakry on January 20, 1973, remains a mystery. Francisco Mendes was elected the country's first Prime Minister as ''Comissário Principal'' and in this role in the newly
UN-member, Francisco Mendes was responsible for a series of socialism-inspired development programs, and a four-year drive toward national reconciliation. Mendes' signature graced the first four banknotes (10, 50, 100 and 500 peso) issued in 1976 in Guinea-Bissau.
Although the causes behind his death on July 7, 1978, are still disputed, it is mostly accepted that PAIGC was involved in it. A widely accepted theory – though unverifiable as of 2006 – is that dissent among PAIGC leadership may have led to his assassination.
Honours
As an African nationalist and a national figure in the struggle for independence, Francisco Mendes has been honoured both in Guinea-Bissau and
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
. In addition to his face being featured on 500
Pesos Guineense (second (1983) and third (1990) issues),
many schools and streets bearing his name can be seen throughout Guinea-Bissau, and
Francisco Mendes International Airport in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.[Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor (; wo, Siggcoor ; ar, زيغينكور) is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000 (2007 estimate). I ...]
, Senegal and left two sons and two daughters behind.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Francisco
1939 births
1978 deaths
Prime Ministers of Guinea-Bissau
Assassinated Bissau-Guinean politicians
People murdered in Guinea-Bissau
Assassinated heads of government
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde politicians
Bissau-Guinean lawyers
20th-century lawyers
Socialist rulers