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| Guinea-Bissau Autocrat, 6 Years After His Brutal Murder, Makes Comeback | Guinea-Bissau Autocrat, 6 Years After His Brutal Murder, Makes Comeback |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — A mystery has hung over this sweltering West African capital for six years, but not because no one could solve it. Many people have an answer, though they will not say so in public: Who killed Nino? | BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — A mystery has hung over this sweltering West African capital for six years, but not because no one could solve it. Many people have an answer, though they will not say so in public: Who killed Nino? |
| Everyone here knew President João Bernardo Vieira by that nickname, a nom de guerre from his country’s fight for independence from Portugal. He was a tempestuous national hero with a checkered history, both a plotter and a victim of coups d’état in a country that has been a global leader in coups per capita. And on March 2, 2009, he was shot and then hacked to pieces with machetes. | Everyone here knew President João Bernardo Vieira by that nickname, a nom de guerre from his country’s fight for independence from Portugal. He was a tempestuous national hero with a checkered history, both a plotter and a victim of coups d’état in a country that has been a global leader in coups per capita. And on March 2, 2009, he was shot and then hacked to pieces with machetes. |
| Witnesses saw soldiers from a well-known barracks leaving the scene, but with Mr. Vieira’s enemies in the military dominating the country after his death, the assailants were never identified or prosecuted. It swiftly became taboo to talk openly about the brutal killing. | Witnesses saw soldiers from a well-known barracks leaving the scene, but with Mr. Vieira’s enemies in the military dominating the country after his death, the assailants were never identified or prosecuted. It swiftly became taboo to talk openly about the brutal killing. |
| Now there are signs that the case may finally be emerging from the shadows. In a step that would have been unthinkable as recently as 18 months ago, Parliament voted recently to erect a statue of Mr. Vieira in the capital. | |
| That such an act of public rehabilitation could even be discussed, much less approved by the National People’s Assembly, speaks volumes about the new state of play in Guinea-Bissau, a land of orange tile roofs, mangrove swamps and leisurely rhythms where most people speak a Portuguese-based creole and few have much in the way of wealth. | That such an act of public rehabilitation could even be discussed, much less approved by the National People’s Assembly, speaks volumes about the new state of play in Guinea-Bissau, a land of orange tile roofs, mangrove swamps and leisurely rhythms where most people speak a Portuguese-based creole and few have much in the way of wealth. |
| The country has a civilian government now, and the soldiers have retreated to their barracks, Mr. Vieira’s killers presumably among them. Men in green uniforms may still glare down from the ramparts of the moss-covered colonial fort in Bissau, but a stream of pedestrians and trucks bound for the city’s crumbling port pay little heed. The former army chief of staff, Antonio Injai, a bitter enemy of Mr. Vieira’s accused by the West of controlling a growing illegal drug trade, has been pushed aside | The country has a civilian government now, and the soldiers have retreated to their barracks, Mr. Vieira’s killers presumably among them. Men in green uniforms may still glare down from the ramparts of the moss-covered colonial fort in Bissau, but a stream of pedestrians and trucks bound for the city’s crumbling port pay little heed. The former army chief of staff, Antonio Injai, a bitter enemy of Mr. Vieira’s accused by the West of controlling a growing illegal drug trade, has been pushed aside |
| So the military no longer pulls all the strings here, and Mr. Vieira can have his monument. | So the military no longer pulls all the strings here, and Mr. Vieira can have his monument. |
| “He deserves this homage,” said Cipriano Cassamá, the head of the Parliament. “It’s indispensable, as a measure of justice.” | “He deserves this homage,” said Cipriano Cassamá, the head of the Parliament. “It’s indispensable, as a measure of justice.” |
| Bissau has acquired a rare liveliness lately, since a new president, José Mário Vaz, was elected last year. Construction projects have begun, investors from Portugal have come to assess business prospects, and electricity has been working more often, though it is still a challenge to place a phone call and the potholes in the streets can swallow bicycles. | Bissau has acquired a rare liveliness lately, since a new president, José Mário Vaz, was elected last year. Construction projects have begun, investors from Portugal have come to assess business prospects, and electricity has been working more often, though it is still a challenge to place a phone call and the potholes in the streets can swallow bicycles. |
| Guinea-Bissau remains one of the world’s poorest, least-developed nations. But the caved-in roof of the presidential palace has finally been fixed, about 15 years after the civil war ended, and young couples stroll past it on sultry evenings. | Guinea-Bissau remains one of the world’s poorest, least-developed nations. But the caved-in roof of the presidential palace has finally been fixed, about 15 years after the civil war ended, and young couples stroll past it on sultry evenings. |
| And now, the political leader whom the main faction in the army, the Balanta ethnic group, hated above all others, Mr. Vieira — the guerrilla leader who became a power-hungry autocrat and dominated public life here for decades — is making a posthumous comeback. | And now, the political leader whom the main faction in the army, the Balanta ethnic group, hated above all others, Mr. Vieira — the guerrilla leader who became a power-hungry autocrat and dominated public life here for decades — is making a posthumous comeback. |
| That does not mean anyone is talking about the unsolved murder case. The two prosecutors who are said to have worked on it declined to be interviewed. So did the head of the country’s human rights league. The Parliament’s resolution proposing the monument fails to even mention Mr. Vieira’s murder. | That does not mean anyone is talking about the unsolved murder case. The two prosecutors who are said to have worked on it declined to be interviewed. So did the head of the country’s human rights league. The Parliament’s resolution proposing the monument fails to even mention Mr. Vieira’s murder. |
| “This silence, for me, is the most evil thing about Guinea-Bissau,” said a priest from a Western nation who has spent many years here and has known many of its leaders. He spoke on the condition that his name not be used. | “This silence, for me, is the most evil thing about Guinea-Bissau,” said a priest from a Western nation who has spent many years here and has known many of its leaders. He spoke on the condition that his name not be used. |
| Still, a design team from Cuba — this country’s short-sleeve socialist past is still much in evidence — is expected here soon to plan the monument, to be built in an overgrown roundabout in front of the Parliament building. There is even talk of moving the murdered president’s remains out of the weedy, neglected municipal cemetery and into a tomb in Bissau’s old colonial fort, next to other heroes of the national liberation struggle of the 1960s and 1970s. | Still, a design team from Cuba — this country’s short-sleeve socialist past is still much in evidence — is expected here soon to plan the monument, to be built in an overgrown roundabout in front of the Parliament building. There is even talk of moving the murdered president’s remains out of the weedy, neglected municipal cemetery and into a tomb in Bissau’s old colonial fort, next to other heroes of the national liberation struggle of the 1960s and 1970s. |
| The Ninistas, the legions of local politicians who owe their rise to Mr. Vieira’s twice-interrupted 24-year tenure as president, are ascendant. The parish priest at Bissau’s whitewashed Roman Catholic cathedral used to call Mr. Vieira a bandit to his face, but a Mass is said for him there every year. And to many in the political elite, he remains worthy of commemoration. | The Ninistas, the legions of local politicians who owe their rise to Mr. Vieira’s twice-interrupted 24-year tenure as president, are ascendant. The parish priest at Bissau’s whitewashed Roman Catholic cathedral used to call Mr. Vieira a bandit to his face, but a Mass is said for him there every year. And to many in the political elite, he remains worthy of commemoration. |
| “The figure of Nino Vieira is intimately connected to the existence of our country,” said Mr. Cassamá, the parliamentary president, who was interior minister under Mr. Vieira and is now thought by some diplomats to be the country’s most powerful puller of strings. | “The figure of Nino Vieira is intimately connected to the existence of our country,” said Mr. Cassamá, the parliamentary president, who was interior minister under Mr. Vieira and is now thought by some diplomats to be the country’s most powerful puller of strings. |
| “History wants us to take this decision” to build the monument, Mr. Cassamá said in a recent interview at his office, which teemed with citizens seeking help or a government job. “He’s the one who proclaimed our independence.” | “History wants us to take this decision” to build the monument, Mr. Cassamá said in a recent interview at his office, which teemed with citizens seeking help or a government job. “He’s the one who proclaimed our independence.” |
| The parliamentary boss of the governing party, Califa Seidi, said that before the 2014 election, proposing such a monument “was inconceivable.” “The military would never have accepted it,” he said. “But in the current context, we can do it.” | The parliamentary boss of the governing party, Califa Seidi, said that before the 2014 election, proposing such a monument “was inconceivable.” “The military would never have accepted it,” he said. “But in the current context, we can do it.” |
| Mr. Seidi offered a qualified assessment of Mr. Vieira as a leader, saying that he was “good and bad.” Others were less charitable, citing his sometimes brutal and often divisive rule and the bloody civil war that ended his second period in office in 1999. | Mr. Seidi offered a qualified assessment of Mr. Vieira as a leader, saying that he was “good and bad.” Others were less charitable, citing his sometimes brutal and often divisive rule and the bloody civil war that ended his second period in office in 1999. |
| Some say that the country’s essential problems — deep poverty, endemic corruption and a bloated military — were all perversely nurtured during Mr. Vieira’s years in power and will hardly be helped by burnishing his image now. “We’re rehabilitating a disaster,” the Western priest said. | Some say that the country’s essential problems — deep poverty, endemic corruption and a bloated military — were all perversely nurtured during Mr. Vieira’s years in power and will hardly be helped by burnishing his image now. “We’re rehabilitating a disaster,” the Western priest said. |
| “In my lifetime, I have met crooked people, but that doesn’t mean I respect them,” the priest continued, adding that if it were up to him, “I would just leave him there” in the municipal cemetery. | “In my lifetime, I have met crooked people, but that doesn’t mean I respect them,” the priest continued, adding that if it were up to him, “I would just leave him there” in the municipal cemetery. |
| Outside the cemetery’s rusting wrought-iron gates, though, the sentiment is different. Mr. Vieira was a national hero, faults and all, several people said. | Outside the cemetery’s rusting wrought-iron gates, though, the sentiment is different. Mr. Vieira was a national hero, faults and all, several people said. |
| And he deserves his place next to the other heroes, said Tano Ca, an industrial carpenter relaxing at an outdoor cafe under a mango tree across the road from the gates. “From the beginning to the end of Guinea’s history, Nino is there,” Mr. Ca said, shortening his country’s name in a way that is common here. | And he deserves his place next to the other heroes, said Tano Ca, an industrial carpenter relaxing at an outdoor cafe under a mango tree across the road from the gates. “From the beginning to the end of Guinea’s history, Nino is there,” Mr. Ca said, shortening his country’s name in a way that is common here. |
| “They should do this quickly,” Mr. Ca said of the new monument. “This is not his place here. The people who have been in power, they wanted to erase his name from the history of our country. But they cannot.” | “They should do this quickly,” Mr. Ca said of the new monument. “This is not his place here. The people who have been in power, they wanted to erase his name from the history of our country. But they cannot.” |