Andrade, Mario Pinto de (1928–1990)

Angolan politician and poet, founder member in 1956 of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and its president 1960–62. He was succeeded as president by Agostinho Neto, but, despite clashes with Neto, remained general secretary until 1973. In 1974 he split from Neto and joined the ‘Activa Revolta’ opposition. Following Portugal's withdrawal from Angola in 1975 and the subsequent civil war, Andrade remained in exile in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Mozambique. He died in London after a long illness.

In 1954 he studied sociology at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and it was here that he became active in his opposition to Portuguese colonial rule.