Editing History of Equatorial Guinea (section)

==Independence and Macias government (1968–1979)==
{{Infobox country
|conventional_long_name = Republic of Equatorial Guinea
|common_name = Equatorial Guinea
|image_flag   = Flag of Equatorial Guinea (1973–1979).svg
|flag_type    = Flag (1973–1979)
| flag        = Flag of Equatorial Guinea
|image_coat   =  Coat of arms of Equatorial Guinea (1973-1979).svg
|symbol_type = Coat of arms
| national_motto         = 
{{native name|es|Unidad, Paz, Justicia}}<br />"Unity, Peace, Justice" <br />(1968–1978)
<br />
{{native name|es|No hay otro Dios que Macías Nguema}}<br />"There is no other God than Macías Nguema" <br />(1978–1979)
| national_anthem        = {{native name|es|[[Caminemos pisando las sendas de nuestra inmensa felicidad]]|nolink=yes}}<br />''Let Us Tread the Path of Our Immense Happiness''<br />{{center|[[File:Equatorial Guinea's national anthem, performed by the United States Navy Band.oga]]}}
|image_map    =  LocationEquatorialGuinea.svg
|capital          =   [[Malabo]] 
|government_type    = [[Federal state|Federal]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fegley |first=Randall |date=February 1981 |title=The U.N. Human Rights Commission: The Equatorial Guinea Case |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/762065 |journal=The Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=36 |doi=10.2307/762065 |jstor=762065 }}</ref> [[presidential republic]] under an [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] [[dictatorship]]<br>(until 1973)<hr>[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[one-party state|one-party]] [[presidential republic]] under a [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] [[dictatorship]]<br>(From 1973)
|leader1                =  [[Francisco Macías Nguema]]
|year_leader1           =  1968–1979
|title_leader =  [[List of presidents of Equatorial Guinea|President]]
|event_pre = [[#Independence and Macias government (1968-1979)|Independence]]
|date_pre = 12 October 1968
|event_start = [[1968 Equatorial Guinea constitution|1968 Constitution]]
|date_start  =  12 October 
|year_start  =  1968  
|event1      = [[Equatorial Guinea Constitution of 1973|1973 Constitution]]
|date_event1 = 29 July 1973
|event_end   = [[1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état|1979 Coup]]
|date_end    = 3 August
|year_end    =  1979  
|currency         =  [[Equatorial Guinean peseta]] <br /> 
[[Equatorial Guinean ekwele]]
|today= [[Equatorial Guinea]]
}}
[[File:Fraga na sinatura da independencia de Guinea Ecuatorial.jpg|thumb|left|Signing of the independence of Equatorial Guinea by the then Spanish minister [[Manuel Fraga]] together with the new Equatorial Guinean president [[Macías Nguema]] on October 12, 1968.]]

In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the [[United Nations]], Spain announced that it would grant independence to Equatorial Guinea. A constitutional convention produced an electoral law and draft constitution. In the presence of a UN observer team, a referendum was held on August 11, 1968, and 63% of the electorate voted in favour of the constitution, which provided for a government with a General Assembly and a Supreme Court with judges appointed by the president.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

In September 1968, [[Francisco Macías Nguema]] was elected first president of Equatorial Guinea, and independence was granted in October.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Equatorial Guinea – Independence {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Equatorial-Guinea/Independence|access-date=2022-02-23|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref>

At independence, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa, although it was also very unevenly distributed as most of the money was in the hands of colonial and elite planters.<ref name="Lacosta"/> In its final years of rule the Spanish colonial government achieved a relatively high literacy rate and developed a good network of health care facilities. However, at the time of independence, the number of African doctors and lawyers was in the single digits.<ref name="Lacosta">''Ndongo-Bidyogo, Donato. Historia y tragedia de Guinea Ecuatorial. 1977.''</ref>

[[File:Don Francisco Macias.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Francisco Macías Nguema]], first [[president of Equatorial Guinea]] in 1968 and became a dictator until he was overthrown in a coup d'état in 1979.]]
In July 1970, Macias created a [[single-party state]] and by May 1971, key portions of the [[Constitution of Equatorial Guinea|constitution]] were abrogated. In 1972 Macias took complete control of the government and assumed the title of [[President for Life]]. The Macias regime was characterized by [[human rights abuses]], [[totalitarianism]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea|title=Equatorial Guinea &#124; EG Justice|website=www.egjustice.org|access-date=2019-04-19|archive-date=2019-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417075119/http://www.egjustice.org/post/equatorial-guinea|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|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|first=Tom|last=Burns|date=August 7, 1979|via=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> and the abandonment of all government functions except internal security, which was accomplished by terror; this led to the death or exile of up to one-third of the country's population.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} Due to pilferage, ignorance, and neglect, the country's infrastructure—electricity, water, road, transportation, and health—fell into ruin. The private and public sectors of the economy were devastated. Nigerian contract labourers on Bioko, estimated to have been 60,000, left en masse in early 1976. The economy collapsed, and skilled citizens and foreigners left.

Religion was repressed, and education ceased. All schools were ordered closed in 1975, and the country's churches were also closed in 1978. Nguema introduced a campaign of 'authenticity', replacing colonial names with native ones: the capital Santa Isabel became [[Malabo]], the main island of [[Fernando Po (island)|Fernando Po]] was renamed Masie Nguema Biyogo after himself, and [[Annobón]] became [[Pagalu]]. As part of the same process, Nguema also ordered the entire population to drop their European names and adopt African ones. His own name underwent several transformations, so that by the end of his rule he was known as Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong. Much of the population residing on the island of Bioko, consisting of Nigerian labourers and traders, were forced to evacuate.<ref>Aworawo, David. "Decisive Thaw: The Changing Pattern of Relations between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, 1980–2005." ''Journal of International and Global Studies'' 1 (2010): 89–109.</ref>

In August 1979 Macias' nephew from Mongomo and former director of the infamous [[Black Beach]] prison, [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]], led a successful [[1979 Equatorial Guinean coup d'état|coup d'état]]; Macias was arrested, tried, and executed. Obiang assumed the presidency in October 1979. The islands were renamed [[Bioko]] and Annobón. The new ruler faced the challenge of restoring order in a country that was in shambles—by the end of Macias Nguema's dictatorship, the state coffers were empty and the population had been reduced to only one-third of what it was at independence.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}