{"id":211813,"date":"2025-01-09T21:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T21:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/09\/venancio-mondlane-returns-to-mozambique-declaring-himself-president\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T21:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T21:44:07","slug":"venancio-mondlane-returns-to-mozambique-declaring-himself-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/09\/venancio-mondlane-returns-to-mozambique-declaring-himself-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane Returns to Mozambique, Declaring Himself President"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/09\/multimedia\/09mozambique-01-gcwh\/09mozambique-01-gcwh-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane Returns to Mozambique, Declaring Himself President\" title=\"Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane Returns to Mozambique, Declaring Himself President\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He stepped off a gray jumbo jet to the excited but subdued applause of a few airport employees in neon vests. At least one fellow passenger giddily approached him for a selfie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly three months after fleeing Mozambique, saying he feared for his life, opposition leader Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane made a grand return on Thursday to try to claim what he insists is rightfully his: the presidency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mozambique is scheduled to inaugurate a new president from the long-governing Frelimo party on Wednesday. Daniel Chapo of Frelimo won with 65 percent of the vote in the October election, according to the nation\u2019s highest court. By the official tally, Mr. Mondlane got just 24 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After several independent election observers identified irregularities in the vote, Mr. Mondlane spent months arguing the race was stolen, calling on his supporters to take to the streets. Some protests have descended into violence, with at least 250 people killed during a police response that human rights groups have called unnecessarily brutal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mondlane\u2019s return comes at a delicate moment for this mineral- and gas-rich nation of 33 million. The government is struggling to address housing and debt crises, and to quell a yearslong insurgency backed by the Islamic State. Regional leaders like South Africa have sent envoys to try to broker a resolution to a political deadlock that has stymied trade and threatens further economic damage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet the outspoken opposition candidate has refused to back down. \u201cI, Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane, elected president by the Mozambican people,\u201d he said, raising his right hand before a gaggle of news cameras outside of the airport in the capital, Maputo, \u201cswear on my honor to serve Mozambique and Mozambicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">About a quarter mile away, thousands of his supporters crowded police barricades, shouting, \u201cThe president has arrived! The president has arrived!\u201d beneath a steady drizzle. The police kept the crowd at bay using tear gas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Filipe Nyusi, the current president, gathered the leaders of the main opposition parties for a meeting on Thursday to discuss solutions \u2014 an exercise that some say lacked credibility because Mr. Mondlane was not there. Following the meeting, Mr. Chapo said the parties had agreed to look at making changes to election law and to the constitution \u201cto accommodate the interests of Mozambicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The 50-year-old Mr. Mondlane might appear to some as an election denier and populist troublemaker. But to his supporters, he is a singular figure at a singular moment. Voters across southern Africa, led by a restless young population, have over the past year sharply rebuked former liberation parties at the polls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Corruption, unemployment, inequality and poor living conditions have sparked widespread anger in Mozambique and around the region at political leaders viewed as out of touch. Mr. Mondlane has seized that wave of discontent to offer a simple message: He would give the country back to the people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As celebratory crowds swarmed Mr. Mondlane\u2019s motorcade in Maputo on Thursday, witnesses say the police, with little provocation, responded with tear gas and bullets, leaving at least one man dead on the sidewalk with blood gushing from his head. A police spokesman declined to comment on any fatalities, saying they were still gathering information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat the people in Mozambique don\u2019t want is Frelimo,\u201d said Francisco Victor Chimene, a 25-year-old driver, standing next to an open-air market where Mr. Mondlane earlier had addressed throngs of his supporters. \u201cWhat we want is change. We see that Ven\u00e2ncio will change this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Educated in agronomy, Mr. Mondlane has a diverse r\u00e9sum\u00e9. He\u2019s worked as a banker, a Pentecostal pastor and a television pundit. His political breakout came in 2013 when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Maputo. He lost the mayoral race again two years ago, but the result was heavily disputed with civil society organizations claiming that there was massive fraud. A court ordered a recount in a major district because of irregularities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After losing a leadership battle in what was Mozambique\u2019s main opposition party, Renamo, Mr. Mondlane ran for president last year with the support of a smaller party, Podemos. His meteoric rise as a candidate drew global attention, winning him support among right-wing populist figures abroad, even as young, leftist voters rallied behind him at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=drPQOrw9TZ0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a video posted to social media<\/a> during the campaign last year, Mr. Mondlane thanked Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president accused of plotting a coup, and called him \u201ca man of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mondlane sees Mr. Bolsonaro \u201cas a pioneering man,\u201d said Jonatas Feitosa, the pastor of a conservative evangelical church in Brazil and friend of Mr. Mondlane. Mr. Bolsonaro styled himself as the antidote to a leftist party that had dominated Brazilian politics for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Frelimo, which has its roots in communism, has governed Mozambique since the country\u2019s independence from Portugal in 1975. But the party has since lost the trust of many Mozambicans because of widespread corruption. The government\u2019s violent response to demonstrations after the election was viewed by many as an indication of Frelimo\u2019s desperate attempt to hold onto power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During his presidential campaign, Mr. Mondlane traveled to Portugal, where he met with Andr\u00e9 Ventura, the president of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/21\/world\/europe\/portugal-chega.html\" title=\"\">Chega, the far-right nationalist party<\/a> that supports stricter immigration measures and has fought against restitutions for former colonies. But Chega has also fashioned itself as a champion of the working class, like Mr. Mondlane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ventura said in an email that his party was hoping to build a common political platform with Mr. Mondlane that focused on \u201ccombating corruption and crime, defending family and order, and addressing the collapse of justice and other institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mondlane has not publicly addressed his ties with right-wing figures abroad. But in a country where most voters struggle to find their next meal or a stable home to live in, those ties are of little importance, said Benjamin Francisco Malate, a 38-year-old businessman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe reason we are supporting Ven\u00e2ncio is not because he is from the left or the right,\u201d Mr. Malate said. \u201cWe\u2019re just supporting the solutions that he presents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of his proposals include policies that would require significant state intervention, like building three million homes in five years and financing businesses for youth and women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As he stood on top of a car surrounded by a packed crowd of thousands in Maputo on Thursday, Mr. Mondlane said that if the government went ahead with next Wednesday\u2019s inauguration, the country would have two presidents. \u201cWho runs this country?\u201d Mr. Mondlane shouted into a loudspeaker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is the people,\u201d the crowd replied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Ana Ionova<!-- --> contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro and Tiago Carrasco from Lisbon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/09\/world\/africa\/mozambique-president-mondlane-protests-election.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He stepped off a gray jumbo jet to the excited but subdued applause of a few airport employees in neon vests. At least one fellow passenger giddily approached him for a selfie. Nearly three months after fleeing Mozambique, saying he feared for his life, opposition leader Ven\u00e2ncio Mondlane made a grand return on Thursday to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/09\/multimedia\/09mozambique-01-gcwh\/09mozambique-01-gcwh-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[460,2209,72690,167215,167209,20034,43104,167211,167212,167210,167207,26654,137131,2627,163229,167214,6512,167208,167213,7058],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211815,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211813\/revisions\/211815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}