Africa-Press – Angola. Representatives of associations of former combatants and veterans of the Fatherland in Huambo province reflected, this Wednesday, on the events in Baixa de Cassanje, which took place on 4 January 1961.
The event, promoted by the Office of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Fatherland in Huambo province, was attended by former MPLA, UNITA and FNLA guerrillas, who gathered to reflect on the Day of the Martyrs of Baixa de Cassanje, that is marked yesterday, in the struggle for National Liberation.
The 4th of January is the Day of the Martyrs of Baixa de Cassanje, a date of national celebration, which remembers the death, with aerial bombings by the Portuguese colonial army, to the thousands of peasants in the cotton fields of the extinct Cotonang Company.
On the occasion, the director of the Office of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Fatherland in Huambo province, Joaquim Gregório David, said that the reflection on the Martyrs of Baixa de Cassanje served to honor the memory of the thousands of Angolan peasants signed by the Portuguese colonial army and on the impact of the date on the struggle for National Liberation.
He referred that former combatants have been included in society, with socio-economic projects and technical-professional training, given the need for self-sustainability of this social segment.
The official informed that the institution currently controls a total of 3,795 people assisted, namely, 1,358 war disabled, 1,279 orphans, 589 former guerrillas, 408 widows, 81 combatants’ ancestors and 80 companions of war disabled people.
In addition to the homage paid to the peasants killed in Baixa de Cassanje, the meeting also served to open the commemorative days for the Day of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Fatherland, which is celebrated on the 15th of this month.
The days reserve, among other activities, lectures on the role of former combatants and veterans of the Fatherland in society, donations of essential goods and visits to public and private organizations.
On January 4, 1961, Portuguese settlers repressed around 20,000 Angolan peasants, in what went down in history as the Baixa de Cassanje Massacre, a territory located between the provinces of Malanje and Lunda Norte.
The events raised the awareness of freedom among Angolan patriots who, on February 4 of the same year, decided to launch an armed struggle against the Portuguese fascist regime, culminating in the proclamation of the country’s independence, on November 11, 1975.
The event is marked in the country as a date of national celebration, considered the Day of the Martyrs of the Colonial Repression.
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