On 3 February 1969, a book containing a bomb was sent to Eduardo Mondlane at the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) Headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It exploded when he opened the package in the house of an American friend, Betty King, killing him instantly. Theories were advanced that implicated “Mondlane’s rivals inside FRELIMO, Tanzanian politicians, international actors and the Portuguese secret service, especially Aginter Press, a clandestine Portuguese anti-Communist organisation” (Wikipedia).
Former Portuguese International and State Defence Police (PIDE) Agent Oscar Cardoso claimed that PIDE Agent Casimiro Monteiro planted the bomb that killed Eduardo Mondlane. Mondlane’s death was mourned at a funeral in 1969 which was officiated by his Oberlin College classmate, in Ohio, and friend, the Reverend Edward Hawley, who said during the ceremony that Mondlane “…laid down his life for the truth that man was made for dignity and self-determination” (Wikipedia).
For Mondlane, the imperialists help each other. “This is what we’re up against. The Imperialists are in an alliance to stop the advance of freedom to Southern Africa. Our struggle is crucial, and our people as a whole have decided to fight.” – Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane: 20 January 1969 (quoted in Sechaba, Vol. 3, No. 4, April 1969).
Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane was born in “N’wajahani”, district of Mandlakazi in the province of Gaza, in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) i
