Cabral, Luiz de Almeida (1931- )

Guinean nationalist leader and politician, first president of the republic of Guinea-Bissau 1974-80. As a member of the African Party for the Independence of Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICG), he went into exile in 1960 and took part in the guerrilla struggle to win independence. Success made him the president of the new republic in 1974, but he was later overthrown in a coup. He was the brother of the nationalist leader Amilcar Cabral.

By 1972 in the revolutionary war the PAIGC claimed to have won over two-thirds of Portuguese Guinea, and in 1973 the ‘liberated areas’ were declared independent, a national people's assembly was set up, and Luiz Cabral appointed president of a state council. A coup in Portugal ended the fighting and the PAIGC negotiated independence with the new government in Lisbon.

Luiz Cabral was educated in Portuguese Guinea, and became a clerk and trade-union organizer before entering politics.