Brothers!

There is and can be no power in the world able to prevent the total elimination of Portuguese colonialism from our African lands. As has happened in almost all the countries of Africa, the peoples of Guinea and Cape Verde are going to put an end to the odious colonial domination. We are going to chase the Portuguese colonialists from our lands. Our peoples are struggling and will struggle by all means possible, in order to be free, in order to be able, in peace, to build a life of progress and happiness for all their children.

Obviously, the position which our peoples, when they have freed themselves from the barbarous Portuguese colonial domination, will have to take in regard to all inhabitants will depend on the position each of the latter has taken in regard to our national liberation struggle. The suffering to which our peoples have been subject for centuries, the sacrifices they are making and will make to free themselves, the sacred objective of our struggle – all this demands the application of stern justice in judging the action of every Guinean and Cape Verdean in regard to the interests of our peoples. By force of the circumstances prevailing in our countries, you, as civil servants and employees in commerce, are the servitors of Portuguese colonialism. Through this service you seek to ensure a home, bread, health, education and the welfare of your families, things which as you know are denied to our peoples because of the hated Portuguese colonial domination. In the light of the development of our liberation struggle which is going to eliminate Portuguese colonialism, it is natural that many of you should be hesitant and apprehensive. In your minds there must be doubts like these: ‘What will become of us? What should we do?’

The answers to these doubts and to all the others which naturally worry you depend on one thing only: the attitude you take towards our liberation struggle. Each of you has to have the courage to shoulder the responsibility of being an African at this decisive moment in the history of our peoples. Many with awareness of this necessity have bravely put themselves on the side of our peoples and are our companions in struggle.