1983 Guinea-Bissau coup attempt

Guinea-Bissau had declared independence from Portugal in 1973 following a long insurgency which was recognized by Portugal in 1974. A coup would overthrow the first president of Guinea-Bissau, Luís Cabral, in favor of FARP General João Bernardo Vieira due to Cabral being a mestiço with black Guineans having grown increasingly disgruntled with perceived mestiço economic and political control.^[1] Unlike Cabral, Vieira was a military man first and foremost, who abolished the State Council and Council of Ministers and replaced both of them with the "Revolutionary Council", over which he presided. Of its 9 members, 7 were black FARP members.^[2] This made Vieira increasingly reliant on the army, doing everything in his power to appease it.^[2][3] Since there were only a handful of posts to go around, some experienced soldiers were able to receive promotions, however, most of the FARP officer staff were left disgruntled as their careers stagnated.^[2][3] In 1982 an ethnically Balanta officer Paulo Correia attempted to stage a coup seeking better conditions for his ethnic group.^[2]

A food shortage would rock Guinea-Bissau in 1983 and by June Vieira had no choice but to reduce the rice ration for FARP soldiers.^[2][3] Anger quickly mounted within FARP, with a clique of young officers threatening Vieira with a coup if he was unable to improve the situation.^[4][5][2][3] In an attempt to appease the plotters he promised them new uniforms and political privileges, such as first call on rice, and priority over the rest of the population for oil and butter.^[2][3] Meanwhile, Vieira also had military barriers installed across Bissau and invited a Soviet warship to dock in the city, keeping it stationed there for twice as long as it was authorized in case intervention against a coup attempt was needed.^[2][3] Commander Joao de Silva emerged as a leader for the young officers, and was removed from his post.^[2][3]