The death of elderly women in the fields in that province has generated protests and indignation from political actors and civil society, and a protest march was recently held, led by the national police, who assured last Friday that the cases have now been clarified.
According to the spokesperson for the National Police Provincial Command in Cuanza Norte, Chief Inspector Edgar Salvador, with the arrest of the suspect on Tuesday, the case is now clear, stating that he confessed to having committed three crimes and to being involved in two more.
"He confessed to having committed three crimes, but the investigation revealed that he was also involved in the other two crimes, the last of which occurred on February 17 (...). And so we completed the clarification of the five homicide crimes that were yet to be clarified," he said in statements to Lusa.
Edgar Salvador also revealed that another suspect has been detained since last November for having murdered six elderly women in agricultural fields, stating that in total, since February 1, 2024, 11 elderly peasant women have been killed in the municipality of Cazengo, and not 16 as has been reported.
He explained that in the entire province, there have been a total of 21 homicides in recent times, with those involved having been arrested, but there were 11 homicides involving elderly peasant women. "There are only 11 [homicides] that have been linked to elderly women in the municipality of Cazengo, but people are trying to take advantage of other cases that also occurred in the woods," he explained.
Civil society and politicians took to the streets on February 16th in Cuanza Norte to protest against the rapes and murders of elderly peasant women, referring at the time to the 16th, a march stopped by the local police and which resulted in several arrests, including two UNITA deputies.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) condemned, at the time, the detention of deputies Francisco Falua and João Quipipa Dias, who it says were victims of police violence and illegal detention, while exercising fundamental rights protected by the Constitution, and said that there is a climate of "indignation, terror and fear" in Cuanza Norte.
On Friday, the police spokesperson in Cuanza Norte reaffirmed that the crimes had already been solved and the corporation was carrying out the so-called "Lavra operation" to prevent crimes of this nature from happening again.
"The public security situation [in the province] is calm. We are carrying out the mining operation, and there are no reasons for threats," Edgar Salvador also assured.
