A source close to the family confirmed to Lusa that Tchizé dos Santos hired the lawyer to "lock up Ana Paula dos Santos", wife of the former president, with whom he has three children.
The former first lady, who recently reconnected with José Eduardo dos Santos after a few years of separation, went on a collision course with her eldest children, namely Tchizé dos Santos, who has already publicly said that Ana Paula dos Santos "abandoned her husband " and has contributed to accelerating the father's death.
The family of the former president met this Wednesday with the medical team of the Teknon center, in Barcelona, where José Eduardo dos Santos is hospitalized to make decisions on the next steps, with the lawyer, Cármen Varela, now entering the game, who addressed the committee of experts, stating that the daughters Isabel and Tchizé dos Santos are the legal representatives of their father and do not allow the machines to be turned off.
In a recording that Lusa had access to, Cármen Varela also says that Ana Paula dos Santos is not the wife of José Eduardo dos Santos, since the marriage is not valid in Spain and they were in fact separated, and says that the daughters refuse to that the machines be turned off, as they understand that this procedure, and the induced coma, "may be caused by a possible crime".
"Who can decide here are the daughters, who we represent, and who don't want to turn off their father's machines", stresses the lawyer, stressing that she will ask for analyzes on "possible poisonings" and to investigate the 15 minutes that elapsed between the fall that José Eduardo dos Santos will have given the request for help to the police.
"We are talking about a former head of government of a corrupt government and a very sensitive issue", underlined Cármen Varela, adding that he will ask for judicial authorization so that they do not enter the room or the doctor, "which seems to be sent by the President de Angola, nor the one they say is his wife, which she is not", but only his eldest daughter (Isabel) and Tchizé dos Santos, who legally represent him.
José Eduardo dos Santos, 79, is the father of eight children with five wives and has been at the forefront of Angola's destiny for 38 years.
The former President has been in intensive care for a few days at the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona, Spain, in an induced coma.
The former president has had health problems for several years and has been accompanied in Barcelona since 2006.
Eduardo dos Santos ruled Angola between 1979 and 2017, having been one of the longest-serving Presidents in the world and was regularly accused by international organizations of corruption and nepotism.
In 2017, he resigned from re-candidate and the current President, João Lourenço, succeeded him in office, having also been elected by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has governed the country since independence from Portugal in 1975.
