Ilídio Tomé Alves Machado (17 Decemberm, 1914 – August 28, 1983) was an Angolan politician, militant, and Telegraph employee who co-founded the
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in 1956 and served as its first president until his arrest in 1959.
[Edmundo Melo Rocha, Francisco Soares, Moisés Silva Fernandes ''Angola: Viriato da Cruz : o homem e o mito'' Porto Amboim (Angola) 2008 Page 130 "Ilídio Machado, nascido em Novo Redondo, actual Sumbe, em 17 de Dezembro de 1914, funcionário dos correios, foi certamente um dos ..."]
Early life
Machado was born in
Novo Redondo on 17 December 1914 to Domingos José Alves Machado and Balbina Domingos as a member of the
Kimbundu
Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.
Its speakers are concentrated in the n ...
tribe with some
Brazilian descent.
[ Segal, Ronald. ''African Profiles'', 1970. Page 65.] Before entering politics, he was a Post Telegraph and Communications employee.
Activism
Machado was a high-ranking member of the
Angolan Communist Party
Angolan Communist Party (in Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Partido Comunista Angolano'') was an underground political party in Portuguese Angola (during the Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo regime), founded in October 1955, under influence ...
, and helped co-found the MPLA with
Viriato da Cruz
Viriato Clemente da Cruz (25 March 1928 – 13 June 1973) was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important An ...
,
Mário Pinto de Andrade, and
Lúcio Lara
Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara (9 April 1929 – 27 February 2016), also known by the pseudonym Tchiweka, was an Angolan revolutionary, physicist-mathematician, politician, anti-colonial ideologist and one of the founding members (and pres ...
on 10 December 1956
where he served as its first president until his arrest for "subversive activities against the
Portuguese Government
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
" in 1959, where he was succeeded by
Mário Pinto de Andrade in an acting capacity until 1956 and then by
Agostinho Neto
António Agostinho Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan Communism, communist politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of ...
.
[George, Edward. ''The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale'', 2005. Page 286.]
Machado was arrested in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
on 27 May 1959 and was tried in the Territorial Military Court of Angola where he was found guilty in 1961 and sentenced to 4 years in prison. Machado was released on parole in 1965.
Death
Machado passed away on August 28, 1983.
Legacy
Machado was honored by the MPLA in 2018 for his role in securing Angolan independence and was officially recognized as the party's first president.
However, his designation as the first President of the MPLA is disputed, as some scholars view his role in the creation of the party as trivial.
References
External links
Mention of Ilídio Machado's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Ilidio
1914 births
1983 deaths
People from Sumbe
Angolan communists
MPLA politicians