Eduardo González
The Equatoguinean opposition exiled in Spain has denounced the “pernicious connection” between the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and the presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko.
“The political forces that oppose the dictatorial regime headed by Obiang Nguema, namely the Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea, Citizens for Innovation and Popular Union of Equatorial Guinea, express their concern to national and international public opinion about the pernicious connection between Obiang Nguema with the Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko and with Vladimir Putin,” the opposition groups denounced in a statement, signed this past Wednesday in Madrid.
“Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the dictator, arrived this Monday the 11th to Moscow, as a continuation of the visit that his father made from November 1 to 3,” the statement continues, referring to the trip to Russia of the vice president of the Republic. for Defense and State Security. This “frenzy of visits by the father and son to Russia and Belarus (…) portends, needless to say, bad omens for the people of Equatorial Guinea,” it adds.
During Obiang’s official visit to Russia, as reported by the Equatorial Guinean Government, Putin committed “to help and accompany the African continent, in general, and Equatorial Guinea, in particular, for its emergency and economic development.” The meeting was held in the Kremlin and the two leaders toasted the future of relations between Moscow and Malabo. Separately, Aleksandr Lukashenko visited Malabo on December 9. According to the Obiang regime’s website, “for Minks, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea can also serve as a bridge to extend its cooperation in other countries for the development of Africa.”
“We are facing an extremely serious situation, since all these visits seem to have the objective of ensuring Obiang’s succession and thus consolidating and prolonging the dictatorship in Equatorial Guinea,” denounce the three signatories of the statement, the president of the Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea. , Armengol Engonga Ondo; the general secretary of Citizens for Innovation of Equatorial Guinea, María Jesús Mené Bopaboté; and the president of the Popular Union Party of Equatorial Guinea, Celestino Nvo Okenve Ndo.
“Obiang Nguema has always prioritized his personal interests, those of his family and those of his clan, in that order, above those of the Guinean people,” says the opposition. “Faced with the demands for democratization made by the United States of America and the European Union, it seeks protection and apparent impunity in the Russian orbit,” a protection that increases “the probability that the mercenaries of the Wagner group enter our country,” it warns.
The statement recalls that “the opposition as a whole has denounced the last electoral fraud of 2022, which resulted in a victory for Teodoro Obiang and his PDGE party close to 99% and that the majority of important countries have not wanted to recognize” and warns that “the Ecuadorian Guinean people cannot tolerate this cruel dictatorship any longer.” “For this reason, the opposition parties come to ask the international community to help us in the effort to free ourselves from the family, tribal and military dictatorship of Obiang, so that we can, after the expulsion of the dictatorship, begin a transition towards a authentic democracy in our country,” the statement concludes.
