José Eduardo dos Santos

Dos Santos (fifth from the left) at the Brandenburg Gate during a 1981 state visit, with East German officials

In June 1975, dos Santos became coordinator of the MPLA's Department of Foreign Affairs;[5] he also coordinated the MPLA's Department of Health at this time.[5] Upon Angolan independence in November 1975, the MPLA held power in Luanda, but the new MPLA government faced a civil war with the other political formations, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA).[10] The same year, dos Santos was appointed as Angola's first Minister of Foreign Affairs upon independence,[5] and in this capacity he played a key role in obtaining diplomatic recognition for the MPLA government in 1975–76.[15] At the MPLA's First Congress in December 1977, dos Santos was re-elected to the Central Committee and Politburo.[5] In December 1978, he was moved from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister in the government to that of Minister of Planning.[5]

After the death of Angola's first president, Agostinho Neto, on 10 September 1979, dos Santos was elected president of the MPLA on 20 September 1979, and he took office as President of Angola and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on 21 September. On 9 November 1980 he was also elected President of the People's Assembly.[5]

George W. Bush hosts Festus Mogae of Botswana, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, and José Eduardo dos Santos in 2002

The biggest issue Dos Santos had to cope with was the ongoing conflict with the main rival liberation movement, the National Union for the Total Integration of Angola (UNITA).[10] UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi and supported by South Africa and the United States, never fully recognized the legitimacy of MPLA as the ruling government of Angola and triggered several armed conflicts over the years to express its opposition.[1] The war was also marked by intense foreign intervention, since the Soviet Union and Cuba backed the MPLA government and the U.S. and South Africa supported UNITA as a way to limit the expansion of Soviet influence in Africa.[16]

On 29 and 30 September 1992, after 16 years of fighting that killed up to 300,000 people, elections were held in Angola, under United Nations supervision.[17] Dos Santos led the field in the first round with 49.57%; his main rival, Jonas Savimbi, won 40.07%.[18] Under a constitution adopted earlier that year, since dos Santos finished just short of an outright majority, he would need to win a runoff against Savimbi to become Angola's first constitutional president. This second round never took place, as UNITA declared it did not recognize the election.[19]

A three-day war then started, during which the Halloween Massacre occurred, when tens of thousands of UNITA protestors were killed nationwide by MPLA forces.[20] Savimbi then decided to give up on the elections, alleging voting fraud, and immediately resumed the civil war.[20] Meanwhile, Dos Santos remained in office.[20]

In 1993, while Savimbi and UNITA refused to give up territory won through battle, the United States, involved in settling peace talks between the two rival parties and leaders in order to work out a power-sharing arrangement, decided to withdraw its support from UNITA and officially recognize Dos Santos and the MPLA government as the official ruling body in Angola.[18]

The death of UNITA's leader Jonas Savimbi in February 2002 enabled the resumption of the peace process. On 4 April, the Angolan Army and the rebels agreed to a ceasefire and peace was officially declared on 2 August.[21] While recognized as an official political party by the Angolan government, UNITA agreed to demobilize its armed forces, made up of 50,000 fighters, and agreed for them to be integrated into the national security forces.[22] Following that decision, the UN Security Council reopened United Nations offices in Angola and established the United Nations Mission in Angola (UNMA), aimed at consolidating peace in the country.[23]

Dos Santos in 2003 with the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva

In 2001, Dos Santos announced that he would step down at the next presidential election.[24] In December 2003 he was reelected as head of the MPLA[25] and no further presidential election took place, despite their announcements for 2006,[26] then 2007, and finally 2009.[27] After a legislative election in 2008 in which the ruling MPLA won a landslide victory, the party started working on a new constitution that was introduced early in 2010. Under the terms of the new constitution, the president is elected by first-past-the-post double simultaneous vote for the same term as the assembly, and may serve a maximum of two terms. Each participating party nominates a presidential candidate as top of its list, who must be clearly identified on the ballot paper. The top candidate of the party receiving the most votes is elected president.[28][29]

President George W. Bush welcomes President Dos Santos to the Oval Office, 2004.

Dos Santos reportedly escaped an assassination attempt on 24 October 2010, when a vehicle tried to intercept his car as he was returning from the beach with his family. His escort opened fire, killing two passengers in the vehicle, and weapons were found on board.[30] This incident has not been confirmed by any other source. In February–March 2011, and then again in September 2011, demonstrations against Dos Santos were organized in Luanda by young Angolans, mostly via the Internet.[31]

In the 2012 legislative election, his party, the MPLA, won more than two-thirds of the vote.[32] As Dos Santos had been the top candidate of the party, he automatically became president, in line with the constitution adopted in 2010.[33]

In September 2014, dos Santos announced the end of the coupling of the position of provincial governor with provincial first secretary of the MPLA. This measure aimed to improve the operation of the provincial administration and the municipal administrations, as a way to adjust the governance model to a new context and bigger demand for public services.[34]

Dos Santos with Vladimir Putin during a meeting in 2006

Dos Santos with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev whilst the latter was on a state visit to Angola in 2009

Once a Marxist-Leninist, Dos Santos allowed a partial market economy to emerge as the collapse of the Soviet Union was in progress. Dos Santos subsequently abandoned Marxism-Leninism completely and allowed Western firms to invest in Angola's major oil fields.[35] Angola became Africa's second-largest oil producer and third-largest diamond producer during Dos Santos' tenure in office.[35] In November 2006, Dos Santos co-founded the African Countries Diamond Producers Association, an organization of approximately 20 African nations founded to promote market cooperation and foreign investment in the African diamond industry.[36]

Despite the country's natural resources, most Angolans remained in poverty.[35] At the time of Dos Santos' death in 2022, a few years after he left office, more than half of the more than 30 million Angolans subsisted on less than US$1.90 a day.[35] Dos Santos oversaw a kleptocracy with vast amounts of wealth diverted to the Dos Santos family; Dos Santos's successor, João Lourenço, estimated in 2020 that more than $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated under Dos Santos, allegedly through diversion of oil revenue, patronage, and government contracts.[35][37]

President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff meets José Eduardo dos Santos at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, 2011

Dos Santos announced on 11 March 2016 that he planned to retire in 2018. This timetable would mean that he would leave office after the next election, scheduled for 2017.[38][39] In December 2016, the MPLA chose João Lourenço, the Minister of Defense and Vice-President of the MPLA, as the party's top candidate and therefore its presidential candidate for the 2017 legislative election, indicating that Dos Santos would step aside prior to 2018.[40] Dos Santos stated on 3 February 2017 that he would leave office following the election later in 2017, with Lourenço slated to succeed him. He remained President of the MPLA and was therefore expected to continue playing a key role at the top of Angolan politics through the leadership of the ruling party. His children Isabel dos Santos and José Filomeno dos Santos held key economic posts at Sonangol and the Fundo Soberano de Angola, respectively, suggesting their father retained considerable influence.[41]

Dos Santos has been accused of having led one of the most corrupt regimes in Africa by ignoring the economic and social needs of Angola and focusing his efforts on amassing wealth for his family and silencing his opposition, while nearly 70% of the population lives on less than $2 a day.[42]

Dos Santos speaking in 2014

Dos Santos became wealthy when he first took power, and began amassing larger assets during and after the Angolan civil wars. When the ceasefire occurred and large portions of the economy were partially privatized, he took several emerging companies and industries. He helped arrange similar takeovers of several other natural resource industries.[43]

Eventually the Angolan Parliament made it illegal for the president to have financial holdings in companies and organizations. In response to this, Dos Santos supposedly began arranging for his daughter to receive the financial kickbacks and assets from these companies. Dos Santos then began using the government to take direct control of stakes in companies offered as kickbacks which he indirectly controlled and reaped the benefits of and managed to retain large corporate assets through proxies.[43]

In what has become known as the Luanda Leaks, a vast network of more than 400 banks, companies, and consultants was revealed to have engaged in money-laundering for the Dos Santos family.[44] Among others, these include firms such as Banco BIC, founded by dos Santos family billionaire associate Américo Amorim, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company,PwC, Eurobic, and a shell company called Athol Limited.[45] According to Angolan media reports, Brave Ventures, a firm run by Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, was also implicated in money-laundering activities in its role as a subcontractor for a French consulting firm tasked by Dos Santos to oversee the development of the public health system.[46][47]

Along with this, the government budget had grown over a decade to 69 billion dollars in 2012 through oil revenues. The International Monetary Fund reported that 32 billion in oil revenue went missing from the government's ledger before it was found spent on "quasi-fiscal activities".[43]

José Eduardo dos Santos was married at least twice, and possibly as many as four marriages,[60] depending on the source. He had at least six children from his wives, and one born out of wedlock.[61][62][60]

His first wife was the Russian-born geologist Tatiana Kukanova, whom he met while studying in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Azerbaijan).[63][64][65] Dos Santos and Kukanova had one daughter, Isabel dos Santos (b. 1973), who was at one time the richest woman in Africa.[63][66][67] Their marriage ended in divorce.[60]

His next two marriages (or long-term relationships, depending on the source) also ended in divorce or separation as well.[60] With his second wife, Filomena Sousa, had one child, José Filomeno dos Santos, known as "Zenú"[60] (b. 1978), who served as chairman of Fundo Soberano de Angola.[62] His third wife was Maria Luísa Abrantes Perdigão.[62] Abrantes' and Dos Santos' two children were daughter, Welwitschia "Tchize" dos Santos (b. 1978), and a son, the Angolan artist Coréon Dú (b. 1984).[60][68]

In 1991, Dos Santos married his fourth and final wife, Ana Paula de Lemos, a former flight attendant and model.[62] José Eduardo and Ana Paula dos Santos had three children: Eduane (b. 1991), Joseana (b. 1995), and Eduardo (b. 1998).[60] The couple remained married until his death in 2022.[60]

In mid-2017, dos Santos twice traveled to Barcelona, Spain, on weeks-long visits that were rumored to be related to a medical problem. The government acknowledged that the first visit was related to his health. No official explanation was given for his second visit, from 3 to 19 July.[69]

Dos Santos died on 8 July 2022, at Teknon Medical Centre in Barcelona, at the age of 79.[70] He was in a critical condition after suffering cardiorespiratory arrest on 23 June 2022 and also testing positive for COVID-19.[71][72] He also had cancer for several years prior.[73][35]

He was held a state funeral in the Angolan capital Luanda. Several African leaders and Portugal's president were at the funeral in August 2022.[74]