In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Footsoldiers of Foreign Policy
Marxist philosophy alone seemed to offer an alternative to Portuguese
oppression; in addition to moral support, Marxism gave
them organizational skills to develop a revolutionary movement.
Capitalism, as espoused by the United States, firmly supported the
Portuguese. Catholicism supported the Portuguese. American Protestant
missionaries were at odds with the Portuguese, but in the end
taught passive submission. .
The modern Mbundu leaders became Marxists and organized a
nationalist political movement which they eventually called the
"Popular Movement," the MPLA. Their hostility to the Portuguese
spilled over into criticism of the archimperialists, the United States.
The premier MPLA leader, Agostinho Neto, was born September
17, 1922 and grew up in contact with Methodist missionaries in
Luanda. He was one of the few blacks to complete the Liceu Salvadore
Correia, the secondary school, in Luanda. In 1947, supported
by a Methodist scholarship, he went to study medicine at the University
of Lisbon and Coimbra. His po~ms , political views, and active
participation in opposition politics had him in and out of Portuguese
jails from 1952-1958. He received his medical doctorate in 1958 and
returned to practice medicine in Luanda. On June 8, 1960 he was
once again arrested, flogged in front of his family, and taken off to
jail. His intellectual ability, personal martyrdom, and prison credentials
ensured his status as leader of the Popular Movement.*
CIA briefing sheets, reflecting Portuguese and FNLA biases, implied
that Neto was a drunken, psychotic poet.
Two of Neto's poems follow:
*Ibid.
Western Civilization
Tin sheets nailed to poles
fixed in the earth
make a house.
Rags complete
the landscape.
The sun penetrating cracks
awakes each occupant.
Afterwards twelve hours of slaving work
break stone
cart stone