NEWS 6c NOTES # 10
NEWS FLASH *** NEWS FLASH *** NEWS FIASH *** NEWS FIASH *** NEWS FLASH
HERBICIDES TO DESTROY PAIGC HARVEST (From telegram to ACOA from Amilcar
Cabral, November 10, 1971)
"Desparate in the face of the great victories brought by our party
during this year, the criminal Portuguese colonialists have launched a
wave of savage air bombings since August against the peasant population
in our liberated areas. As of the end of October, 38 villages were
destroyed, 7 women and 8 children killed and 28 wounded,
"They have not succeeded in terrorizing or demoralizing our people
in their determination to pursue the just struggle for liberty, peace
and progress, I bring to your attention that the Portuguese colonialists
are feverishly preparing to spread toxic chemical products to destroy
our crops before the next harvest. The goal is clearly to stop our
struggle by famine. We face dismal prospects resulting from these
preparations,
"We request that you take all measures in your reach to denounce
and condemn in advance this montrous crime against Africa and humanity,,f
ARMED REVOLUTIONARY ACTION (ARA) STRIKES WITHIN PORTUGAL (From Le Monde ,
November 10,14, 19, 1971)
Underground NATO installations were destroyed in a bomb blast on
November 8, at Caparica, This attack took place just 12 days after another
blast in the new quarters for North Atlantic naval operations.
On November 12, a battery of canon was destroyed in a bomb blast 12
kilometers outside of Lisbon, On November 17,a fire caused considerable
damage In the archives of Portuguese Army General Headquarters in Lisbon,
WAR 6c EMIGRATION A DRAIN ON PORTUGAL'S RESOURCES (from 0fShaughnessy article,
Fin, Times (U.K.) November 16, 1971)
".,,the difficulties and loss of blood that Portugal is having to put
up with in Africa are far exceeded by the loss of blood which is flowing out
of continental Portugal to other parts of Western Europe, Portugal is now
faced with a masSexodus of workers, who are fleeing the homeland in search of
better conditions in cities like Paris and London,  ,,,Caetano himself has
referred to this process as a veritable 'bloodletting,' There are now more
than half a million Portuguese in France and tens of thousands in Britain,
so that a list of the four cities which contain most Portuguese would today
probably read Lisbon, Paris, Oporto, London, Bad working conditions In the
countryside and a lack of opportunity for advancement in the towns have
combined with the pull of the booming labor market in the EEC to attract up
to 160,000 Portuguese a year from their mother country. The number has been
augmented to a small but very significant degree by the flight of middle
class intellectuals unwilling to serve in a colonial war,
"•♦.This loss of two percent of the population a year is, more than
the African war, the greatest menance to Portugal today.,..In some villages
only the women and the old men are left and some of the land is going out
of cultivation."