For the vice-president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Luísa Damião, when dignifying "those who fought for the realization of the ideals and aspirations of the Angolan people", one is "giving lessons on how to build a country for the present and future generations".
The party leader, who was speaking at the opening of the methodological meeting of the department of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Fatherland of his party, said that the 64 years of "many fights and many victories of MPLA have indelible marks of the valorous former combatants.
"Who taught us to value and defend the main achievements of the Angolan people," said Luísa Damião.
"That is why we must always denounce those who intend to create instability and install chaos in our country, undermining peace, unity, national reconciliation and, above all, the march towards the hard-earned development," she urged.
A look at the issue of "assistance to former combatants, their social situation, the effectiveness of current social programs, and the state of payment of their pensions" should guide the meeting's reflections, she argued.
According to the "comrades" deputy, it is also fundamental a "strategic look to the quality of the dialogue, the strengthening and embodiment of the orientation of João Lourenço, president of MPLA, about the dialogue with a single interlocutor of former combatants associations.
"We are confident in the certainty of the MPLA's victory, aware of the challenges ahead. As in the past, we rely on the experience and inspiration of the resilience of the former combatants and veterans of the motherland," noted Luísa Damião.
The need for a "pension increase" for retirement, "incompatible with the current cost of living," is at the top of the former Angolan combatants' concerns, as their associations have publicly reported.
A group of former Angolan combatants has been threatening for months to hold demonstrations to "demand" the payment of retirement pensions and subsidies.
