Angola – Decisão de continuar / Angola, Those Who Decided to Remain

On February 4, 1961, armed militants attacked the prison and administration posts in Luanda, the capital of Angola; a brutal repression against black populations ensued; at the same time, the long strike of cotton workers in the east of the country was crushed, with napalm bombing. On 15 March, northern bakongos attacked properties and villages, killing hundreds of Portuguese and Angolan with machetes. The independence movements MPLA and UPA supported these actions. Salazar, Head of Government, granted the Defence portfolio and announced his decision to send troops to Angola and STAY in Africa.

Atrocious images and testimonies of the victims of “terrorist violence” are highlighted by grandiose and dramatic music and commentary. Then various facets of the response were developed: the operations of the army, the courage of the colonists who organized themselves into militias, the arrival in Luanda of troops from Lisbon, sequences punctuated with speeches by Salazar: “Our goal is to move forward quickly and forcefully, in order to demonstrate our capacity for decision, to defend Angola and the integrity of the nation.”