Osvaldo Vieira
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1938
Osvaldo Vieira | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) A statue of Viera outside the airport in Bissau. | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Osvaldo Máximo Vieira 1938 |
| Died | 31 March 1974 (aged 35–36) |
| Resting place | Fortaleza de São José da Amura |
| Party | African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde |
Osvaldo Máximo Vieira (1938 – 31 March 1974) was a Bissau-Guinean revolutionary and prominent military commander during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. He was the cousin of João Bernardo Vieira, who would later serve two separate terms as president.[1]
Vieira was one of many early recruits from the so-called "revolutionary petty bourgeoisie", a group which Amílcar Cabral entrusted with instigating the war of independence.[2] His father worked at the Sociedade Comercial Ultramarina, while his grandfather had worked in the postal service, owned land, and was considered a "small intellectual".[3]
Before his revolutionary career, Vieira worked as a pharmacy assistant to Sofia Pomba Guerra, a white Portuguese feminist who was active in the burgeoning independence movements of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. In 1961, he, along with nine other young PAIGC fighters, trained at the Army Command College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Nanjing, China.[1]
The Osvaldo Vieira International Airport in Bissau is named in his honour.
