After 43 years making him the world’s longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang, At the age of 80, he remains in command in Equatorial Guinea. The leader declared himself the winner with 94.9% of the votes in an election that the tolerant opposition branded as fraudulent in the country he rules with an iron fist. So, seven more years and he clears the family legacy, presumably in favor of his son. theodorine-, Obiang will be able to continue to manage and operate as a private farm a country about the size of Galicia, whose population does not reach one and a half million people, although they wash, most of them are very poor Oil.
Due to its size and low international political weight, Former Spanish colony until 1968, It is one of the forgotten countries of the world. It barely surpasses what’s around the corner Gulf of Guineademocracy on paper presidential republican regime but actually a oppressive kleptocracy who uses the money given to him by control, censorship and hydrocarbon exploitation to maintain his power. And, starting with the United States, the Western powers bow their heads, because their own companies mainly use these natural resources.
Moratinos’ comments
Spain, which has complex relations with the former colony, has tried for years to bring Spanish companies closer to the region. Guinea oil trade. The Spanish Government has not decided on these elections, and Miguel Ángel Moratinos, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current UN representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, arrived last week to celebrate “they were somehow able to be made”. free, democratic and in line with the wishes of all Ecuadorian citizens”.
“These are unfortunate and inexplicable statements by someone who seems to have forgotten that Spain is experiencing a dictatorship,” he told EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group from Malabo. Andres Esonogeneral secretary Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), Obiang’s main rival in the elections. “They were a shameless robbery, they got votes from our party to add to Obiang,” he says, explaining that in the constituencies where the CPDS represents senators, deputies and councilors, it hasn’t gotten a single vote. “Didn’t we even vote for ourselves?” sarcastically curious. “This is not an election, but another coup by Obiang, whose sole legitimacy is military power,” he says.
Obiang began his term in a coup against his uncle in 1979. francisco maciasHe is the first president of independence, a bloodthirsty dictator trying to get closer to the communist dictatorships of China and North Korea. Macías was shot two months later, after a summary trial.
The end of tyranny was met with hope in a country that was very poor at the time. committed to the sale of coffee and cocoa and international cooperation. Also by the international community, which in 1991 was able to force Obiang to set up a multi-party system. But everything changed in 1995 when two US companies discovered oil, which experts estimated was between 5% and 10% of the world’s reserves.
below the poverty line
It’s a finding that makes the country the third-richest country in Africa in terms of GDP per capita ($8,500), but where a large proportion of the population lives. below the international poverty line (2 euros per person per day) and this only served to improve the financial situation of the president and his relatives. Forbes magazine reported Obiang’s wealth 600 million dollars.
The country is also one of the most corrupt in the world. Transparency International’s annual index (Ranked 172 out of 180 countries). Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks 141 (out of 180) for press freedom in its annual report. NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International year after year they point to him as one of the greatest oppressors of human and civil rights in the world.
“For the press, Equatorial Guinea is like North Korea,” he says. Alfonso BauluzThe head of the RSF in Spain and who has lived in the African country for two years as a journalist maintains contacts and closely follows its development. “Obiang doesn’t care about the opposition, sitting on a bag of gas and oil, the longest-serving dictator on the planet and didn’t even bother to campaign,” he adds.
Various plans canceled
Obiang has limited his public appearances in recent years. polygamous and married to five womenIt is not known how many children he had, although some speak of thirty. As a prostate cancer survivor, he has justified more control and repression by boasting of canceling at least a dozen coup or assassination attempts, some real or imagined conspiracies.
As in North Korea, power remains in the family clan. Your son theodorine(Teddy on social networks), 54 years old, the current vice president and the best person to replace him, boasts a flamboyant lifestyle. luxury homes and luxury cars abroad. It’s a show that attracts the attention of the courts of many countries. The US has seized a mansion in Malibu, Switzerland has auctioned 11 Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls Royce and Bugatti, confiscated from the leader. France fined him 30m euros for money laundering and confiscated a 101-room property on Paris’ exclusive Foch Avenue.
too much for some leaders of the regime They said they would advise Obiang, patriarch or not, to park for now a succession that illuminates no path to democracy.