Higino Carneiro, general, diplomat, businessman, former minister of Public Works, former governor of Luanda and former MPLA MP launched this Friday, about a year after "Memoirs: soldier of the homeland", his second book dedicated to "Great Battles and Decisive Military Operations in Angola".
In the presentation, the politician explained that what he describes in the book helps to explain the problems that occurred in Angola, and still persist, since it was only from 2002 that the MPLA and its government began to be able to look at issues related to the economy and social issues.
"The problems that Angola is going through are the result of all these confrontations that took place in our country", a period "dark critical, difficult, but also glorious" and that allowed to reach the peace that is currently lived and that we want to keep it that way", he said in interview with Agência Lusa.
At the launch of the book, in Luanda, he left his vision on controversial topics and presented UNITA, which for 30 years fought the MPLA government, with some remark, despite saying in an interview with Lusa that he has several friends in the ranks of the founded party by Jonas Savimbi.
"We always left (messages), deep down we got to know each other and we never stopped talking. I, personally, am friends with many of them, with whom we even fought at a certain point in our process. Some think better, they understood the essence of what happened, but it is also necessary to send messages to others who have abandoned these ideas and who can only disturb the triumphal march that we have achieved and that we want to last", he explained.
And he went on to say that "everything that happens, demonstrations, breaking cars, burning, always has someone's hand". "The information reaches us and we do not fail to send the message to them to abandon it: they want power, let's dialogue, let's carry out the political struggle, today is the moment", he stressed.
Higino Carneiro also spoke about the importance of memory: "If we don't write, we end up forgetting and Angolans in general, and especially the new generations, end up not realizing the problems we are experiencing".
A misunderstanding that led the general to get emotional and pull out his handkerchief to dry his tears, stating that "never has a political organization in the whole world done as much as the MPLA did". "It is in fact unpleasant to hear so many things that try to impute to us and we are not able to respond, to say what needs to be said", he lamented.
"A country cannot forget its history, a country without history is doomed to failure", insisted the general. "Many felt injured, but what I am telling you is what happened. Everything was destroyed, it is necessary to recover", he reinforced, stressing that "you need to have money" to do so.
Asked if he feels popular dissatisfaction as a form of ingratitude, Higino Carneiro said that there is a lack of communication: "We don't communicate, we don't transmit, or we talk very little. We need to talk more, to make the essence of our problems understood. If that's possible. , surely the claims will decrease and people will understand better".
He added that "it is the right of the population to demand that the government do more", but it takes time and money. "Money does not come from heaven, it comes from our work and our contributions", he insisted.
As for the millions of dollars embezzled from the treasury in the context of corruption cases, he skirted the issue, saying that the President has led this fight, embraced by the MPLA. "We embraced his entire program and now it's up to us to play our role and not leave the president alone in this fight," he declared.
A role that passes, as he told Lusa, by "raising people's awareness so that they behave differently and understand that Angola belongs to all of us".
The general who also had his own problems with justice, and was accused of crimes of embezzlement, nepotism, influence peddling, criminal association and money laundering, during the period in which he was governor of Luanda, ended up never being tried and the case was dismissed by order of the Supreme Court.
"I was not even heard, we only reached the adversarial period and they reached the conclusion (that there was no basis) and for that reason the process was archived", he told Lusa.
The event was attended by former combatants and heavyweights of the MPLA, from Mário Pinto de Andrade, Boavida Neto, Dino Matrosse, the Minister of the Interior, Eugénio Laborinho, the governor of Luanda, Manuel Homem, the vice-president of the MPLA, Luísa Damião and the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, as well as Irene Neto, widow of the first Angolan president, Antonio Agostinho Neto.
