Skip to content
Em Cada Esquina
Black-and-white photograph of a man with dark horn-rimmed glasses and a thin moustache, in a checked suit, a pale shirt and a striped tie, standing in front of a wall with a picture.

People

Agostinho Neto

1922–1979

Rob Mieremet / Anefo, CC0 1.0

António Agostinho Neto (Kilamba)

A medical student in Lisbon from 1948, he was active in the House of the Students of the Empire, the MUD Juvenil and the Centre for African Studies. Arrested several times by the PIDE in Lisbon, he was the first president of independent Angola.

Colonialismdoctor (Lisbon Faculty of Medicine)poetmember of the MUD Juvenilpolitical prisonerpresident of the MPLA and of Angola
Born
17 September 1922, Kaxicane (Ícolo e Bengo), Angola
Died
10 September 1979, Moscow
See on the map

Biography

He was born on 17 September 1922 in Kaxicane, Angola.1 He began studying medicine in Coimbra and in 1948 transferred to the Lisbon Faculty of Medicine, without giving up his activity at the House of the Students of the Empire.3 In Lisbon he was active in the MUD Juvenil and took part in setting up the Centre for African Studies, with Amílcar Cabral, Mário Pinto de Andrade, Marcelino dos Santos and Francisco José Tenreiro.1

The PIDE arrested him in Lisbon in 1950, while he was collecting signatures for the World Peace Conference, and again in 1951. In 1955 he was arrested once more and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Released in July 1957, he graduated in medicine in Lisbon on 27 October 1958.3 He was arrested again; in 1962 he was briefly held in Aljube Prison and was released in March.31 That year he left Portugal clandestinely, with his wife and children.1

He took over the leadership of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and was the first president of independent Angola. He died in 1979, in Moscow.13

Notes on the sources1
  • The dates of the arrests in Lisbon (1950, 1951 and 1955), of the release (July 1957) and of the time in the Aljube in 1962 come only from Wikipedia; the Aljube Museum says only that he was arrested several times and released in 1962.

Do you know more, or do you have a document? Tell us.

Sources5
  1. 1Agostinho Neto. Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade — consulted on 2 October 2026
  2. 2Movimento Anti-Colonialista (MAC). Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade (EGEAC) — consulted on 2 October 2026
  3. 3Agostinho Neto. Wikipédia — consulted on 2 October 2026
  4. 4Entrevista a António Tomás Medeiros (Colecção E-Books). Centro de Documentação 25 de Abril – Universidade de Coimbra — consulted on 2 October 2026
  5. 5António Agostinho Neto. Memória Comum – Memorial aos Presos e Perseguidos Políticos — consulted on 4 October 2026Primeira prisão a 23 de março de 1952, em Lisboa; de novo preso em fevereiro de 1955 e condenado a 18 meses; saiu em julho de 1957; preso em Luanda a 8 de junho de 1960, passou pelo Aljube e por Cabo Verde; fugiu de Portugal a 30 de junho de 1962.
Wikidata

Menu

Appearance