The 1980 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état was a bloodless

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

coup that took place in

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

on 14 November 1980, led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

General

João Bernardo Vieira João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira (; 27 April 1939 – 2 March 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician and military officer who served as President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999, except for a three-day period in May 1984, and from 2005 until ...

. It led to the deposition of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Luís Cabral Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral (11 April 1931 – 30 May 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military ''coup d'état'' led by João Bernardo Vieira deposed h ...

(half-brother of

anti-colonial Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolon ...

leader

Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist ...

), who held the office since 1973, while the country's

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

was still ongoing.

Aftermath

General Vieira announced the creation of the Revolutionary Council, which would exercise all executive and legislative powers in the country. Eventually, a power struggle developed between Vieira and

Victor Saúde Maria Victor Saúde Maria (27 April 1939 – 25 October 1999) was a Guinea-Bissau, Bissau-Guinean politician. He was the country's first Foreign Minister (1974–1982) and then went on to be Heads of Government of Guinea-Bissau, Prime Minister from 14 M ...

, Prime Minister and

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

of the Revolutionary Council, the only civilian member of the body, with the latter being forced into exile in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in March 1984. Two months later a new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

was promulgated, proclaiming Vieira as President and returning the country to civilian rule. Vieira himself was deposed in the 1998–99 Civil War and exiled to Portugal in June 1999, but returned to the country in 2005 and was again elected to the presidency, and held the office until his assassination by a group of soldiers on 2 March 2009.

Effects on relations with Cape Verde

The coup resulted in the abandonment of the proposed

unification Unification or unification theory may refer to: Computer science * Unification (computer science), the act of identifying two terms with a suitable substitution * Unification (graph theory), the computation of the most general graph that subs ...

of Guinea-Bissau with

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, a fellow

Lusophone The Portuguese-speaking world, also known as the Lusophone world () or the Lusophony (''Lusofonia''), comprises the countries and territories in which the Portuguese language is an official, administrative, cultural, or secondary language. This ...

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n country. Prior to the coup, the unification was written into the two countries' constitutions, and the

PAIGC The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from Portugal, the party turned to armed conflict in the 1960s and was o ...

party (the ruling sole legal party in both countries) viewed them as "sister republics" with "two bodies with only one heart", and the countries had nearly identical flags and shared a

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

. However, the elites in Cape Verde opposed unification, and eventually Vieira toppled the government of President Cabral (himself of the Cape Verdean origin) in Guinea-Bissau in a bloodless coup, which initial reports"Bloodless Coup in Guinea-Bissau". ''The Sunday People'' /nowiki>Monrovia, Liberia">Monrovia.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Monrovia">/nowiki>Monrovia, Liberia] 1980-11-16: 1/8. credited to racial strife between the Demographics of Guinea-Bissau, black population of Guinea-Bissau and the "foreign" mulatto (mestiço) population of Cape Verde, which Cabral embodied. The coup led to Cape Verde separating on 20 January 1981. The Cape Verdean branch of the PAIGC party broke away and formed the new PAICV party under the leadership of

Aristides Pereira Aristides Maria Pereira (; 17 November 1923 – 22 September 2011) was a Cape Verdean politician. He was the first President of Cape Verde, serving from 1975 to 1991. Biography Pereira was born in Fundo das Figueiras, on the island of Boa Vist ...

President of Cape Verde President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

and former Secretary-General of the PAIGC.''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 113. File:Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg,

Flag of Guinea-Bissau The national flag of Guinea-Bissau was adopted on 24 September 1973, the day the country proclaimed its independence from Portugal. Design Like the Flag of Cape Verde#History, former flag of Cape Verde, the flag is based on that of the Africa ...

. File:Flag of Cape Verde (1975–1992).svg,

Flag of Cape Verde The national flag of Cape Verde () was adopted on 22 September 1992, replacing the flag adopted during independence. Description The flag of Cape Verde has five unequal horizontal bands of blue, white, and red, with a circle of ten yellow five ...

, in use until 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état 1980 in Guinea-Bissau 1980s coups d'état and coup attempts Conflicts in 1980 Military coups in Guinea-Bissau November 1980 in Africa

Aftermath

Effects on relations with Cape Verde

See also

References