Luísa Inglês, Arminda Faria, Isabel Peliganga, are some of the names highlighted by Ruth Mendes in the struggle for independence, to which she also joins "the sisters of Bolongongo, Kiaji, Dembos, Piri, a group of ladies, practically anonymous" from North region.
"In fact, I highlight here, due to the role they played, the very treatment they played in São Nicolau", where they did "the worst jobs", said the ex-military man Ruth Mendes, stressing the relevant role of women in the struggle for the independence of Angola, whose 45th anniversary is celebrated on Wednesday.
Today a member of the National Assembly, on the parliamentary bench of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), one of the three movements that participated in the struggle for Portuguese colonial liberation, Ruth Mendes, was a young military woman of 20 years old when on November 11, 1975 , the country's independence was proclaimed.
At that time, she was already in Luanda, after being arrested by PIDE, aged 17, in 1973, and deported, in January 1974, to the São Nicolau concentration camp, said Ruth Mendes, who today holds the patent of brigadier, in the reform.
"On the 11th of November I was in Luanda, I insisted on being at Praça da Independência, to watch the flag being raised and the proclamation of independence", said Ruth Mendes, expressing that the moment "was of great anxiety".
"I was in the military and in the days leading up to the 11th, we were very apprehensive, because of the battles that were being fought there in Kifangondo", on the outskirts of Luanda, he stressed.
The sign that independence was close to being achieved, underlined Ruth Mendes, is the fact that, together with Isabel Peliganga, who is also a deputy today, she was the first women in all overseas Portugal to be arrested in urban centers and sent to the São Nicolau Concentration Camp.
"Until then, they had never sent women (from the urban center) to the concentration camp. Yes, they arrested the women, they were imprisoned for a while, then they were released, but in our case they sent us to the São Nicolau concentration camp. ", he said.
According to Ruth Mendes, the elders who saw them land, among 155 men, said: "Independence is close, because if PIDE is already arresting women and sending them to concentration camps, it is because our independence is close" .
"And in fact the 25th of April happened and after that it was a step towards our independence", he highlighted.
To talk about the contribution of women to the independence of Angola, Ruth Mendes starts with the clandestine struggle, from where her participation also started.
According to the deputy, several women participated, under the cover of a cultural group, which was connected to the underground: the "Santa Cecília", which highlights the names of Albina Assis, Teresa Cohen, Irene Cohen and Eugénia Mangueira.
"There is a person (already deceased) who caught my attention in this process of clandestine fighting, is Mrs. Arminda Faria, who was the wife of Brás da Silva. I highlight this name, because I am arrested by PIDE, when I was 17, and at that time a person who was always there trying to visit me - because unfortunately she was unable to visit me - was Arminda Faria ", he recalled.
Despite not being able to see her, Ruth Mendes said that she always felt her presence there, "even though she was trapped, locked up".
"Because she was on a weekly basis and I received a message from PIDE individuals: Look, your friend, also a terrorist, Arminda Faria, was there, so I felt her presence," he said.
At the level of the people who participated in the guerrilla, Ruth Mendes cited names from her party, such as Luísa Inglês, the first person who received her group when she arrived at the MPLA and who mobilized them to join OMA, the party's female organ.
"He gave us some information about OMA's work in the areas released from the MPLA and in the areas where the MPLA was. It is the first face that we saw, I want to highlight comrade Luísa Inglês", she stressed, adding that a large group of women participated in the guerrilla struggle, supporting the transport of material and whenever there were some attacks.
Women were always present, never to the east of the whole process, said Ruth Mendes, recalling that women were members of military units.
"That's how I belong, me and more colleagues, Zuela, the late Pipocas, Dulce Costa, an endless list, we were part of the artillery squad, there were colleagues of ours who were part of infantry companies, and I know that this is a process that came from behind, "he said.
Loading material, framed in military units and actions, or being teachers and educators, in the liberated areas, in the same way as men, women have always been present in the struggle, guaranteed the deputy.
Asked how she sees Angola, 45 years after independence, Ruth Mendes said she always defends that "there is no greater gain than independence".
"The fact that we are independent is a huge gain, because only those who have not lived under a repressive regime, under a colonial regime, under a dictatorial regime, can say, as I hear there: I don't even know why we had independence , why do we fight, no! ", he noted.
However, the deputy confesses that the independent Angola that dreamed "is still under construction", pointing out several factors that prevented the materialization of this desire.
"Over the years, we have had some problems, my dream of an independent country is not yet achieved, but we also have to take into account what happened during those 45 years, we had wars between us, brothers, first was that process of independence, that we almost had to get out of the Portuguese system, then the flight of the cadres, then we also had other problems in between, the war between brothers, which lasted almost 30 years ", he enumerated.
Ruth Mendes did not put aside the problem of corruption, a phenomenon that the Government has struggled to minimize recently.
"Because I sometimes say that we, here in Luanda, did not have a war to justify that we didn’t have to have water, that we have light, that we had to have the problems we have, so I have to confess that my dream of an independent country, where everyone has everything, where there is social justice, is still being built, we have not yet reached the peak ", he concluded.
