Holden roberto biography meaning

1923-2007

Political leader

Holden Roberto was the founder of the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA; National Front for the Liberation of Angola), a militant political organization that played a major role in Angola's struggle for independence from Portugal from the 1950s to the 1970s.

After achieving independence in 1975, Roberto's organization competed in an extended civil war that lasted until the major combatants formed a peace agreement in 2002. Roberto remained the leader of the FNLA until shortly before his death in 2007 and was posthumously acclaimed by leading members of the Angolan government as one of the most effective and important leaders in Angolan history.

Holden Roberto was born on January 12, 1923, in a portion of northern Angola known as Sao Salvador (now Mbanza Congo), which bordered the Belgian Congo (later Zaïre and then the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1960).

Roberto's family was part of the Bakongo ethnic group, one of t