ANGOLA
an image of president josé eduardo dos santos over the streets of luanda oscar megía
ANGOLA
The empire strikes back
words by antonio peciccia
Bloody guerrilla warfare defined the Angola of 40 years ago. Thirteen years of struggle saw the country still unable to gain independence from the imperial power of Lisbon.
Today, the situation is ironically reversed. As the economic crisis worsens in Portugal, the country increasingly depends financially upon not only the‘ troika’ – the committee formed by the representatives of the EU, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund- but on Angolan money.
Despite identifying itself as communist, the economic situation in Angola can be called‘ crony capitalism’. In power since 1979, the President José Eduardo dos Santos holds most of the country’ s wealth, along with his family and close friends. The President also betrays an odd preference for buying into the economy of the country’ s former imperial enemy.
His daughter Isabel dos Santos, the richest woman in Africa according to Forbes magazine, is one of the main spenders. Among her many investments in Portugal, she enjoys a 20 per cent stake in the Portuguese Investments Bank and owns 28.8 per cent of ZON, Portugal’ s leading TV cable provider. The president’ s daughter is also the sole proprietor of the Portuguese weekly paper SOL.
Sonangol, the state-owned oil firm, is another tool for Angolan foreign investments. It owns 15.08 per cent of Millenium BCP, Portugal’ s biggest private bank, and recently has indirectly invested into GALP, the Portuguese oil producer and refiner.
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