Francisco Macías Nguema
| Francisco Macías Nguema | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 1st President of Equatorial Guinea | |
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In office 12 October 1968 – 3 August 1979 |
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| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 January 1924 Nsegayong, Rio Muni, Spanish Guinea |
| Died | 29 September 1979 (aged 55) Bioko, Equatorial Guinea |
| Political party | United National Workers' Party (Partido Único Nacional de Trabajadores) |
Francisco Macías Nguema (born Mez-m Ngueme; Africanized to Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong) (1 January 1924 – 29 September 1979) was the first President of Equatorial Guinea, from 1968 until his overthrow in 1979.
Born as Mez-m Ngueme, Macías Nguema was the son of a witch doctor who allegedly killed his younger brother. He belonged to the country's majority Fang ethnic group. As a boy of 9, Nguema saw his father punched to death by a local administrator when he tried to use his title of chief to negotiate for better wages for his people. Nguema was orphaned a week later when his mother committed suicide, leaving the boy and 10 siblings to fend for themselves.
Nguema failed the civil service exam three times. However, he eventually rose to the position of mayor of Mongomo under the Spanish colonial government, and later served as a member of the territorial parliament. In 1964, he was named deputy prime minister of the autonomous transition government. He ran for president of the soon-to-be independent country against Prime Minister Bonifacio Ondó Edu on a strongly nationalist platform in 1968. In what has been the only free election held in the country to date, he defeated Ondó Edu in the runoff and was sworn in as president on 12 October. Ondó Edu briefly went into exile in Gabon, and was officially reported to have committed suicide March 5, 1969; alternatively it is reported that Edu was executed soon after his return on trumped-up charges of planning a coup.
On 7 May 1971, Macías Nguema issued Decree 415, which repealed parts of the 1968 Constitution and granted him "all direct powers of Government and Institutions", including powers formerly held by the legislative and judiciary branches, as well as the cabinet of ministers. On 18 October 1971, Law 1 imposed the death penalty as punishment for threatening the President or the government. Insulting or offending the President or his cabinet was punishable by 30 years in prison. On 14 July 1972, a presidential decree merged all existing political parties into the United National Party (later the United National Workers' Party), with Macías Nguema as President for Life of both nation and party. In a plebiscite held on 29 July 1973, the 1968 Constitution was replaced with a new document that gave Macías Nguema absolute power and formally made his party the only one legally permitted. By all accounts, this referendum was heavily rigged, with an implausible 99.9 percent approving.
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