Editing Equatorial Guinea (section)

=== Independence under Macías (1968–1979) ===
[[File:Don Francisco Macias.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Francisco Macías Nguema]], first [[president of Equatorial Guinea]] in 1968, became a dictator until he was overthrown in a coup d'état in 1979.]]
Independence from Spain was gained on 12 October 1968, at noon in the capital, Malabo. The new country became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (the date is celebrated as the country's [[List of national independence days|Independence Day]]<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=16378 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022184931/https://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=16378 |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 October 2020 |title=Congratulations marking Independence Day continue to arrive |date=10 September 2020 |publisher=Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office |access-date=10 September 2020 }}</ref>). Macías became president in the country's [[1968 Spanish Guinean general election|only free and fair election to date]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Campos, Alicia|title=The decolonization of Equatorial Guinea: the relevance of the international factor|journal=Journal of African History|year=2003|pages=95–116|volume=44|issue=1|url=http://www.egjustice.org/publications/decolonization-equatorial-guinea-relevance-international-factor|doi=10.1017/s0021853702008319|hdl=10486/690991|s2cid=143108720|hdl-access=free|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820182226/http://www.egjustice.org/publications/decolonization-equatorial-guinea-relevance-international-factor}}</ref> The Spanish (ruled by [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]) had backed Macías in the election; much of his campaigning involved visiting rural areas of Río Muni and promising that they would have the houses and wives of the Spanish if they voted for him.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He had won in the second round of voting.

During the [[Nigerian Civil War]], Fernando Pó was inhabited by many Biafra-supporting Ibo migrant workers and many refugees from the breakaway state fled to the island. The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] began running relief flights out of Equatorial Guinea, but Macías quickly shut the flights down, refusing to allow them to fly diesel fuel for their trucks nor oxygen tanks for medical operations. The Biafran separatists were starved into submission without international backing.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 60. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0-8204-0977-4}}</ref>

After the Public Prosecutor complained about "excesses and maltreatment" by government officials, Macías had 150 alleged coup-plotters executed in a purge on Christmas Eve 1969, all of whom were political opponents.<ref name=tufts>{{cite web|title=Equatorial Guinea – Mass Atrocity Endings|work=Tufts University|date=7 August 2015|url=https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/equatorial-guinea/#_edn27|access-date=12 November 2018|archive-date=10 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910163306/https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/equatorial-guinea/#_edn27|url-status=live}}</ref> Macias Nguema further consolidated his [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian powers]] by [[One-party state|outlawing opposition political parties]] in July 1970 and making himself [[president for life]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea|title=Equatorial Guinea – EG Justice|website=www.egjustice.org|access-date=17 April 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417075119/http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/07/equatorial-guineas-president-said-to-be-retired-not-ousted/b21f82be-7401-4b7c-b6ea-1774dc0639e5/|title=Equatorial Guinea's President Said to Be Retired, Not Ousted|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-date=25 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225105319/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/07/equatorial-guineas-president-said-to-be-retired-not-ousted/b21f82be-7401-4b7c-b6ea-1774dc0639e5/|url-status=live}}</ref> He broke off ties with Spain and the West. In spite of his condemnation of [[Marxism]], which he deemed "[[Neo-colonialism|neo-colonialist]]", Equatorial Guinea maintained special relations with [[communist state]]s, notably China, Cuba, [[East Germany]] and the [[USSR]]. Macias Nguema signed a preferential [[trade agreement]] and a shipping treaty with the Soviet Union. The Soviets also made loans to Equatorial Guinea.<ref name="aworawo103">{{cite journal|last=Aworawo|first=David|title=Decisive Thaw: The Changing Pattern of Relations between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, 1980–2005|journal=Journal of International and Global Studies|volume=1|issue=2|page=103|url=http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume1Issue2/essays/89-109.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124030353/http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume1Issue2/essays/89-109.pdf|archive-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> The shipping agreement gave the Soviets permission for a pilot [[fishery]] development project and also a naval base at [[Luba, Equatorial Guinea|Luba]]. In return, the USSR was to supply fish to Equatorial Guinea. China and Cuba also gave different forms of financial, military, and technical assistance to Equatorial Guinea, which got them a measure of influence there. For the USSR, there was an advantage to be gained in the [[Angola Civil War|war in Angola]] from access to Luba base and later on to [[Malabo International Airport]].<ref name="aworawo103" />

In 1974, the [[World Council of Churches]] affirmed that large numbers of people had been murdered since 1968 in an ongoing [[revolutionary terror|reign of terror]]. A quarter of the entire population had fled abroad, they said, while 'the prisons are overflowing and to all intents and purposes form one vast concentration camp'. Out of a population of 300,000, an estimated 80,000 were killed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2530772.ece|title=Coup plotter faces life in Africa's most notorious jail|publisher=News.independent.co.uk|date=11 May 2007|access-date=3 May 2010|location=London|first=Kim|last=Sengupta|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229043459/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2530772.ece|archive-date=29 December 2007}}</ref> Apart from allegedly committing [[genocide]] against the ethnic minority [[Bubi people]], Macias Nguema ordered the deaths of thousands of suspected opponents, closed down churches and presided over the economy's collapse as skilled citizens and foreigners fled the country.<ref>{{cite news|last=Daniels|first=Anthony|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3610187/If-you-think-this-ones-bad-you-should-have-seen-his-uncle.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3610187/If-you-think-this-ones-bad-you-should-have-seen-his-uncle.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=If you think this one's bad you should have seen his uncle|publisher=The Telegraph|date=29 August 2004|access-date=22 May 2014|location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>