Kaúlza de Arriaga

Kaúlza Oliveira de Arriaga ( born January 18, 1915 in Porto, † 3 February 2004 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese general, writer and politician, who fought from 1970 to 1973 in the Portuguese overseas territory of Mozambique as commander in chief of the Portuguese forces against the FRELIMO guerrilla.

Life

Prior to use in Mozambique Arriaga had held various management positions such as Secretary of State for Aviation and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority. He was promoted to General and sent to Mozambique 1969 1968. In 1970 he was commander in chief and led the operation Gordian knot which, with the help of 10,000 members of the armed forces FRELIMO should be driven out of the northern provinces. At the same time he pursued a policy of settlement for the concentration of the population in aldeamentos, strategic villages in order to control them better. These measures were accompanied by the apparently copied from the U.S. from the Vietnam War hearts and minds program, which included the construction of hospitals and improving the quality of domestic livestock.

Arriaga developed, unusual for Portuguese commanders, a kind of cult of personality, and led his troops in a kind of political instruction a. He here received the nickname Pink Panther; apparently after the famous movie character (Pink Panther series ). Similar to the U.S. in Vietnam, also Arriaga tried a Africanization of the war through the expansion of African auxiliary troops in Mozambique. Despite some successes Arriaga had setbacks, because the strategic conditions changed to the detriment of Portugal. If the FRELIMO supported until 1970 only from the Warsaw Pact on Tanzania, they now also received help from the People's Republic of China on Zambia.

Once in July 1973 information was leaked about a massacre by Portuguese troops in Wirimayu, Arriaga was forced to return to Portugal. As Ultra Conservative, he was now a strong opponent of General António de Spinola and its political and military reform intentions and took his leave. After the Carnation Revolution Arriaga was arrested to prevent a conservative coup September 1974 to June 1976. He died in Lisbon in 2004.