Like all the peoples in the world, we want to live and work in peace, we want to build the progress of our people. Like all the peoples of the world, we have the right to rebel against foreign domination. Like all the peoples in the world, we have today a legal basis for rebellion, to claim our rights, we have the United Nations Charter. And if the United Nations Charter is not enough, if the United Nations itself is not enough, our peoples are enough with the daily sacrifices they make to expel Portuguese colonialism from the soil of our country forever.

Our direct enemy

Who is this enemy who dominates us, who obstinately dominates us, in contempt of all laws, legality and international ethics of our times? This enemy is not the Portuguese people, not even Portugal itself: for us, fighters for the freedom of the Portuguese colonies, this enemy is Portuguese colonialism represented by the colonial fascist government of Portugal. But obviously a government is also to some extent the result of the historical, geographical and economic conditions of the country that it governs. Portugal is an economically backward country, a country where about 50 per cent of the population is illiterate, a country which in all the statistical tables of Europe always appears in the bottom place. This is not the fault of the Portuguese people, who at a certain moment in history were able to show their valour, their courage, their capability, and who even today possess capable sons, just sons, sons who also want to regain freedom and happiness for their people.

Portugal is a country in no position at all to dominate any other country. Portugal came to us proclaiming that it came in the service of God and in the service of civilisation. Today we answer it with weapons in hands: whatever God is with the Portuguese colonialists, whatever civilisation the Portuguese colonialists represent, we are going to destroy them because we shall destroy any kind of foreign domination over us.

I shall not go into detail about the characteristics of Portuguese colonialism The main characteristic of present-day Portuguese colonialism is a very simple fact: Portuguese colonialism or, if you prefer, the Portuguese economic infrastructure, cannot afford the luxury of practising neo-colonialism.