SAMORA MOISES MACHEL - MOZAMBIQUE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06762101
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-01461
• Publication Date: August 6, 1975

Approved for Release: 2019/07/30 C06762101
Samora Moises MACHEL
(Phonetic: mahSHELL)
President
Addressed as:
Mx. President
President of the
Front for the Liberation
of Mozambique (FRELIMO)
since May 1970, Samora
Machel became the first
President of the People's
Republic of Mozambique
on 25 June 1975. The
newly independent state
will be a one-party state,
and Machel will retain his party position. In
his inaugural speech Machel pledged to create the
"first truly Marxist state in Africa" and declared
Mozambique's natural allies to be the socialist
countries.
MOZAMBIQUE
Machel joined FRELIMO in 1963, engaged in
guerrilla operations against the Portuguese and by
1966 had become FRELIMO's minister of defense. He
was named commander in chief of FRELIMO's guerrilla
forces in 1968. In February 1969 FRELIMO president
Eduardo Mondlane was assassinated, and for the next
15 months Machel served as the party's de facto
leader. In May 1970 the FRELIMO Central Committee
elected him president.
The son of a farmer, Machel was born in Octo-
ber 1933 in Gaza District. Forced to interrupt his
secondary school studies to earn a living, he went
to Lourengo Marques, where he became a male nurse
in a hospital. In 1961 Machel met Mondlane and
found in the latter's ideas and plans an outlet for
his nationalist sentiments. In 1963 he went to
Tanzania to join FRELIMO. He then received 6 months
of guerrilla training in Algeria before returning
to Tanzania to set up the first FRELIMO training camp.
The first armed struggle against the Portuguese was
launched in September 1964.
Machel has traveled widely for FRELIMO. He
is a widower. He speaks Portuguese and some French.
6 August 1975
Approved for Release: 2019/07/30 C06762101