"I hope you have read [Donald] Trump's speech yesterday [Monday] or have heard it. It's complicated, it must have left a lot of people with a stomach ache", said Adalberto Costa Júnior, when answering journalists present at the press conference about the state of Angola's economy.
According to the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, "is nullifying all the decisions of the previous [President], he is selling an America of dreams, he is closing off American interests".
"Look at Trump's speech: us, us, us, us and us. That's why we Angolans must know how to unite and defend the national interest. No African leader was invited, there were representatives of the monopolies who were there at the ceremony, these are reflections that I share here", he highlighted.
Adalberto Costa Júnior said he believes in Angola, "an extremely rich country, with an exceptional diversity that increases its wealth".
"We have to work, roll up our sleeves and tear down the partisan walls that often deceive us and separate us from ourselves," he stressed.
Regarding the Lobito Corridor, the UNITA leader said he hoped that the monopolies would not destroy the railway infrastructure that connects Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) and the dreams of the Angolans.
"Because this is the perspective, the monopolies. And everything else, be careful also with the dialectic that is brought here by the Americans. We are simply being a transit point for rare minerals taken from the DRCongo to America. So, let's work together, united and defend our interests and fight the monopolies and have a Benguela Railway – which is the name it has [in reference to the now called Lobito Corridor] – at the service of the Angolans," he said.
In December 2024, former US President Joe Biden visited Angola and the Lobito Corridor in Benguela province, on the country's southern coast, an infrastructure that he considered to be building a better future so that people have more benefits and opportunities, insisting that "Africa is the future".
Joe Biden highlighted the time savings achieved in terms of cheaper and less polluting transport, announcing new funding of 600 million dollars, bringing total US investment in the Lobito Corridor to 4 billion dollars.