"I didn't sign this letter, I didn't know and I didn't sign it. I agree that my father should not be buried now because it makes no sense. I agree that my father's body is buried in Angola when there are conditions and when the people who persecuted him until death are no longer Government", he underlined, referring to President João Lourenço.
"What I want to be clear is that I fought for my father's honor and dignity to the last consequences and that one of those struggles includes not accepting or asking for any amnesty, because my father didn't rob anyone and I don't have to serve as scapegoat for the robberies of other MPLA people, including João Lourenço, Ana Dias Lourenço and their machine and their friends, who now want to imply that they are going to grant an amnesty because the dos Santos family asked for it", he stressed.
The former president's daughter said that as an Angolan citizen "I would never sign such a document", she said, stressing that "it has nothing to do with this letter" and questioning its authenticity.
"None of my brothers informed me that they had written, signed or sent this letter, I doubt whether it is true because no one informed me of its existence. If they had I would have felt that they were betraying my father's memory and honor and demarcating it. me roundly", he declared to Lusa.
In a letter sent to Lusa by the advisory services of his daughter Isabel dos Santos, which includes the signature of "Tchizé" dos Santos, the eldest sons of the former president defend a general amnesty law and the "end of judicial and institutional proceedings against many Angolans".
In the letter, signed by other sons of Eduardo dos Santos – Isabel, José Filomeno "Zenu", Joess and José Eduardo Paulino "Coreon Dú" – they pledged to collaborate in holding a national funeral, but after the elections on 24 August and ask for a mausoleum to house the remains.
"The only thing I subscribe to is that the funeral of Jose Eduardo dos Santos should not take place in Angola while this government is in power. Take my name off it is the only thing I ask," Tchizé dos Santos told Lusa, regretting that the father was subject to "a situation of indigence and indignity" that included the cut of electricity and water in the house where he lived, in Barcelona, for lack of payment.
Tchizé dos Santos said that she had conversations with some of the brothers, but only about the funeral and that she would never negotiate with a government she accuses of persecution.
"I am a person for whom honor is above any money and I am worried about my father's funeral, now they will not take advantage of my father's death to exonerate a series of people who committed a series of crimes, including João Lourenço , because they have to pay. People who haven't committed crimes don't need amnesty, they go and prove they didn't steal", he stressed.
"If this amnesty law is because of the children of José Eduardo dos Santos, I am totally opposed to it being even proposed, because I am not part of the group of people who think this makes any sense", she reinforced.
For Tchizé dos Santos, the laws are to be followed: "We are all adults and we know what is written in the Angolan law and I think that this amnesty is a pretext that will exonerate Mr. João Lourenço of his crimes".
She also said that she is not in favor of ending legal proceedings, defending that people be heard in the countries where they are and where they have legal guarantees of exemption so that they can be heard.
"I am anxious for the Portuguese justice system to take all the evidence I sent from the origin of my funds for I don't know how long ago and file my cases", she said.
Tchizé dos Santos pointed to previous amnesties, such as the one approved in 2016 by José Eduardo dos Santos, before he left power to João Lourenço, as a necessity after 38 years of power, covering all political parties so that there was no hunt for witches.
"It was a pretext to release the 'revus' (young opponents of the regime of José Eduardo dos Santos) who were simply fighting for their democratic rights", she suggested.
As for the "grace period" provided for in the Capital Repatriation Law for Angolans with fortunes abroad to return the resources to the State, already approved by his successor, João Lourenço, he considers that it was "a trick to forgive their friends" .
"That was a money laundering law", she said, noting that she refused to vote in favor of this legislation, as a deputy, which earned her "persecutions, death threats and later the suspension of the mandate".
