Heroes Day in Guinea-Bissau ― Date, History, and Details
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History of Heroes Day in Guinea-Bissau and How to Celebrate/ Observe It
Heroes’ Day is a public holiday in Guinea-Bissau, celebrated on April 10. It commemorates the day in 1973 when Amílcar Cabral, the country’s independence leader, was assassinated.
Cabral was born in 1924 in the Cape Verde Islands, then a Portuguese colony. He studied agronomy in Portugal and later worked as a civil servant in Guinea-Bissau. In 1956, he co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) with his brother Luis. The PAIGC fought for the independence of both countries from Portugal.
Cabral was arrested and imprisoned several times by the Portuguese authorities, but he continued to lead the independence movement from exile. In 1973, he returned to Guinea-Bissau, where he was assassinated on April 10. His death was a major blow to the independence movement, but the PAIGC continued the fight and Guinea-Bissau gained independence in 1974.
Every year on Heroes’ Day, Guinea-Bissauans remember Cabral and the other heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country’s independence.