June 26, 1924 - Francisco Macías Nguema
His eleven-year rule over Equatorial Guinea resulted in the deaths or exile of a significant portion of the country's population, the dismantling of its infrastructure, and the near-total collapse of its economy. Having consolidated power rapidly after independence through a cult of personality, a single-party state, and a self-declared presidency for life, he presided over a campaign of persecution that fell especially hard on non-Fang ethnic and religious minorities. The scale of destruction relative to the country's small population makes his tenure among the more comprehensively ruinous of the postcolonial era.
From Wikipedia
Francisco Macías Nguema (born Mez-m Ngueme, later Africanised to Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong; 1 January 1924 – 29 September 1979), often referred to as Macías Nguema or simply Macías, was an Equatoguinean politician who served as the first president of Equatorial Guinea from the country's gaining of independence in 1968, until his overthrow in 1979. He is widely remembered as one of the most brutal dictators in history. As president, he exhibited bizarre and erratic behavior, to the point that many of his contemporaries believed he was insane.
A member of the Fang people, Macías Nguema held numerous official positions under Spanish colonial rule before being elected the first president of the soon-to-be independent country in 1968. Early in his rule, he consolidated power by establishing an extreme cult of personality and a one-party state ruled by his United National Workers' Party (PUNT), and declaring himself president for life in 1972.
Domestically, his presidency was characterized by attempts at Africanization and harsh persecution of non-Fang ethnic groups. In foreign policy, he quickly turned against Spain and allied himself with the Eastern Bloc, receiving support from the Soviet Union, Cuba and North Korea, and to a lesser extent, France and its local allies such as Cameroonian President Ahmadou Ahidjo and Gabonese President Omar Bongo, although relations with Cameroon and Gabon collapsed by 1976. Due to his dictatorship's severe human rights abuses and economic mismanagement, tens of thousands of people fled the country to avoid persecution.
- Last updated on .