PAIGC celebrates 70 years with events in Lisbon and other places outside the country

A Casa do Alentejo, between Rossio and the Restauradores square, in Lisbon will be the central stage of the celebrations that must take place throughout the morning, September 19, in which the presence of historical leaders of PAIGC, academics, researchers, young people and representatives of “friend political forces” is awaited.

The presence of representatives in Portugal of the PAICV (African Independence Party of Cape Verde), Frelimo (Moviment of Liberation of Mozambique), MPLA (Popular Movement of Liberation of Angola) and PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) are expected.

The president of PAIGC, currently in Portugal, since he left prison, where he was placed on two occasions since November, following a military coup in Guinea-Bissau, should deliver the closing speech of the event.

“ With this mobilization, the PAIGC reaffirms its commitment of honour to keep alive historical memory, serving as a link among veterans of the liberation struggle, the new generations and the diaspora in building a society of justice, peace and progress”, reads a document sent to Lusa for the coordination of festivities.

The document also notes that the celebrations take place in a “particularly complex” and adverse political scenario in Guinea-Bissau marked by a climate of “strong institutional disturbance punctuated by “persecutions, arbitrary arrests without formal charge against leaders, including the party president, Domingos Simões Pereira”.

The celebrations, which should also take place in other countries, including Guinea-Bissau, although to a lesser extent, take place under the motto: "PAIGC 70 Years of Unity and Struggle, the nation recognizes, history confirms and the future demands!", notes the document sent to Lusa.

Cultural activities are planned during the celebrations at Casa do Alentejo.

The 70-year-old organizing committee regrets that the ephemeral should take place under the threat of the closure of the national headquarters and regional delegations of the PAIGC on orders of the High Military Command leading the coup d'état last November.

The High Military Command has given PAIGC and other political forces seven days to remove their headquarters for a distance of 500 metres from the facilities of the sovereign organs, hospitals, embassies, barracks and police stations.

The PAIGC's national headquarters are just a few metres from the Republic Palace in Bissau.

In addition to the threat of closure of the national headquarters, which the party contested with the allegation that the property constitutes private property that belongs to it, the organizing committee of the 70 years in Portugal denounces the prohibition of political and civic activities imposed by the military and exalts the “resilience” of Domingos Simões Pereira, “before the adversities”.

“ Despite these restrictions, the party leader, the engineer Domingos Simões Pereira, continues to assert itself as an indispensable political reference in the defense of democratic legality and in the continuity of the foundational project of Guinean and Cape Verdean nationality ", highlights the party document.

Founded on September 19, 1956 by “Pioneer and visionary figures” such as Amílcar Cabral, Aristides Pereira, Luís Cabral, Elisée Turpin, Fernando Fortes and Júlio Almeida, PAIGC “consolidated itself as one of the most important liberation movements of the twentieth century” and the conductor of one of the most successful anti-colonial struggles on the African continent, underlines the document of the celebrations of the party’s 70 years.

The Guinean military staged a coup d'état on November 26, 2025, the day before the publication of the results of legislative and presidential elections, removed from power the then elected president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and advanced with a new Constitution, which strengthens the powers of the head of state.

The opposition considered that this was a coup d'état staged to allow Sissoco Emballo to return to power through new presidential and legislative elections marked by the military on December 6.