Antonio Agostinho Neto was born in 1922, in the town of Kaxicane, located in the Icolo e Bengo region of  Angola. He studied Medicine in Coimbra, and then returned to his country where he was jailed in 1960 because of his opposition to Portuguese colonialism and military repression. After being imprisoned for two years in Cape Verde and Portugal, he escaped and fled to Morocco, where he led the Angolan MPLA anti-colonialism independent and Marxist movement.

The political circumstances of the region--with the 1974 Revolution and the end of Salazar´s dictatorship--facilitated Angola´s independence, initially creating a provisional tripartite government with the three independent forces that sought to obtain power: the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola), which was led by Neto and had the support of the Soviet party; the FNLA (National Liberation Front of Angola) led by Holden Roberto and backed by the United States (among others); and the UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) led by Jonas Savimbi and supported by South Africa.

Each guerrilla faction firmly took over one of the country´s regions, and the MPLA occupied the coastal area, Lobito and Luanda. Once the capital was under control, Neto proclaimed himself as the first president of a country that, up until that year, had been immersed in a civil war (1975-2002) that displayed the clash between the blocks of the Cold War. The brutality of the war and the crimes that were committed have been harsh marks in Angola´s history.

In 1979, four years after the war began, Neto became gravely ill and he was transferred to Moscow. He died there on September 10. José Eduardo dos Santos succeeded him as the nation´s president and general secretary of the MPLA.

Source: Wikipedia