Africa-Press – Angola. A 2024 U.S. State Department report accuses Angola of arbitrary killings, illegal detentions, and press censorship. But activist Florindo Chivucute says the situation has worsened since then.
The U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Human Rights Practices Report has been released. One of the countries with a negative rating is Angola.
According to the document, “the most significant human rights cases included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrests or detentions; severe restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, or censorship.”
The preamble to the US administration’s human rights report also points to the “prohibition of independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association” and highlights the persistent problem of child marriage.
It was about this US State Department report that DW Africa spoke with Florindo Chivucute, director-general of the “Friends of Angola” association, a human and civil rights association founded in the United States, where Chivucute lived and worked as a student and university professor for several years.
DW Africa: How do you assess the report’s content?
Florindo Chivucute (FC): I think this report simply reflects reality. As highlighted in its executive summary, in the 2024 Human Rights Practices Report, the State Department addresses significant human rights issues, including arbitrary or unlawful killings, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, restrictions on strikes, and restrictions on freedom of expression and the press.
DW Africa: So, what’s in this report, released by the US government, does it reflect reality, from your perspective?
FC: Unfortunately, I must say it’s true. What this report reflects is only the reality we live in. But it’s important to remember that this is the 2024 report. However, a lot has happened since then. We’re already more than halfway through 2025, and the situation has worsened significantly.
DW Africa: Florindo Chivucute lived in the United States for many years, but I believe he returned to Angola several years ago. Have you ever personally encountered human rights violations?
FC: I’ve been in Luanda for almost five years now. I came hoping that when President João Lourenço came to power and announced reforms, including in the area of human rights, that this would actually happen. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen since then has been nothing but disrespect for these rights. We hoped that these types of murders and arbitrary arrests would cease.
I myself was the victim of one of these arbitrary arrests last year, simply for parking my car where I shouldn’t have. I was brutalized, taken to the police station, and tortured. I spent the night outside, surrounded by mosquitoes, handcuffed to a chair, without food or water, for 24 hours.
I give this example only to demonstrate what I’ve experienced myself. It’s not just reports we write and research we conduct; I’ve also experienced this kind of brutality at the hands of the police.
DW Africa: There are critical voices in Angola who say the United States has no right to interfere in the country’s internal affairs. What is your response to these critics?
FC: I’ll just say that human rights are universal and that both the United States and the United Nations, or a country like Portugal, if they wish, have the right to mention these types of situations. Especially since Angola, from time to time, also comments on situations occurring in other countries.
I think the European Union should also follow these types of pronouncements, because, as I have said before and will repeat, human rights are universal.
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