Henrique N'zita Tiago (14 July 1927 – 3 June 2016) was a commander of the

Armed Forces of Cabinda Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in ...

, a rebel guerrilla group that fights for the independence of Cabinda from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 3 June 2016. It was reported that Tiago was 88 years old when he died, and that he was buried in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Biography

He was born on July 14, 1927, at the mission of San Jose de Luali in the region of Dinge, or in Mboma Lubinda, Cabinda, into a modest family. In 1963, he co-founded the

Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ...

(FLEC), a political organization that fought, at the time, against Portuguese colonial rule. Because he was part of the FLEC, he was arrested in 1970 by the colonial

PIDE The International and State Defense Police (; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of the PIDE were the border, immigration and emigrati ...

. He served his sentence in the São Nicolau jail in Bentiaba. He was released in 1974, opened a FLEC office in Tchiowa, the capital of Cabinda; and a year later, he was appointed chairman of the FLEC. Upon learning that the Portuguese government was planning to include Cabinda as part of Angola, N'zita started an

armed conflict War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

against Angola's pro-independence armed groups. His intransigent position in negotiations on the status of Cabinda, opting solely for military means, caused FLEC to fragment into different factions. He went into exile to France. N'zita died in

on June 3, 2016. His funeral was on June 10. Upon his death, his son, Emmanuel N'zita, succeeded him as Commander of the

a few days later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiago, Henrique N'zita 1927 births 2016 deaths People from Cabinda Province Cabindan independence activists Angolan rebels Angolan revolutionaries Angolan warlords 20th-century Angolan people 21st-century Angolan politicians People from Portuguese Angola

Biography

See also

References