Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking as coordinator of the Commission for the Implementation of the Reconciliation Plan in Memory of the Victims of the Political Conflicts (Civicop), invited to participate in the homage, besides its members, all the Angolans and with their presence manifest "their support to forgiveness and reconciliation and the appeal to the dialogue in the political conflicts".
According to the governor, the act will also serve as a kick-off in the granting of death certificates to the families, with 67 requests so far, of which 43 death certificates have been issued, of those who lost their lives, on this date known in the country's history as an alleged coup attempt, on May 27, 1977.
"We are going to start the delivery of the certificates, many that have already been requested and that are with the respective commission, and we will thus start the movement for the attribution of deaths," said the minister.
The minister took the opportunity to thank the 27 of May Foundation for having established a "partnership with Civicop in the organization" of the pilgrimage next May 27", the first governmental act of homage to the victims after 44 years of the event.
Francisco Queiroz admitted that there are people who don't see themselves in the ceremony, "because they think that the path was different, perhaps the path of revenge, of blame, of accountability.
"There is still work we have to do for all of us to move in the same direction and that is what we have to continue to do and that is our commitment," he said.
On Wednesday, the President, João Lourenço will address a message to the nation regarding the date.
For Thursday, the program in allusion to the date, that will count with the presence of survivors and orphans, foresees two moments, the first in the cemetery of Santa Ana, and the second in the Square of Independence, where the statue of Agostinho Neto is, with deposition of a wreath in both spaces, speeches and the delivery of two death certificates to the orphans of the victims.
However, the Platform 27 of May, that integrates other organizations relative to the event, already if demarcated of this act, considering it a "theatral staging" of the Government to "forget the past", having equally announced its desvinculação of the Civicop.
On May 27, 1977, an alleged coup attempt, in an operation apparently led by Nito Alves - then former Minister of Interior since independence (November 11, 1975) until October 1976 - was violently repressed by the Agostinho Neto regime.
Six days earlier, on May 21, the MPLA had expelled Nito Alves from the party, which led the former minister and several supporters to invade the Luanda prison to free other sympathizers, taking control of the national radio station at the same time, becoming known as "fractionists".
The troops loyal to Agostinho Neto, with support from Cuban military, eventually established order and arrested the insurgents, followed, then what was known as "purge", with the elimination of factions, having been killed about 30,000 people, mostly without any connection to Nito Alves, as stated by Amnesty International in several reports.
In April 2019, the President ordered the creation of a commission (the Civicop), to draw up a general plan to honor the victims of the political conflicts that occurred in Angola between November 11, 1975 and April 4, 2002 (end of the civil war).
