The former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos did not leave a will, making it difficult for Spanish justice in the legal battle involving the government and his family, a source close to the case told Lusa.
“There is no will, this has already been confirmed by family members and the head of the escort with whom he confided during the last 33 years,” the source told Lusa. According to the same source, the former head of state was “pragmatic” and “will have given each of the children what he thought each one should have”, calling “each one in his own time”.
“Each of the sons knows perfectly well what he left,” he added, admitting that “a lot of water will still flow under the bridge,” since the head of state did not leave his last will in writing.
Meanwhile, the Angolan government has instructed the lawyers who represent him in Barcelona to investigate whether José Eduardo dos Santos could be in an illegal situation, as reported by Club K, and has ruled out this possibility.
Also read: Tchizé, daughter of Eduardo dos Santos, resigns from letter and says she is against amnesties
“If he were an illegal immigrant, the matter would already be resolved,” the source said, indicating that José Eduardo dos Santos had been treated by the same doctors in Barcelona for several years and enjoyed the same status as when he was President, which allowed him to stay as long as necessary in Spain for medical treatment at the Teknon clinic, where he died, on July 8, at the age of 79.
“He was not resident in Spain, but in Angola. He had a support team of about 15 people assigned to his service and to his escort, and the escort was relieved every 30 days. The only ones who had a long term visa were the President, his personal doctor and the head of the escort, but José Eduardo dos Santos had no need to leave Spain, because he was often hospitalized,” he explained.
The issue was raised by the website Club K, according to which the Spanish judge who is judging the case “discovered” that the former President was illegal in Spain because he entered with a diplomatic passport (which does not require an entry visa), exceeded the time he was allowed to stay in the country and did not request a visa to stay in the country.
According to his daughter Tchizé dos Santos, people with diplomatic passports can enter countries freely, but they cannot stay more than 90 days, and “if they do they will have to deal with a resident card”, which Jose Eduardo dos Santos did not have.
Also read: Eduardo dos Santos: Angolan law provides no exceptions for detentions, but there may be deals
“The embassy, the government of Angola, didn’t take care of anything and they didn’t even need to. It was enough to give a diplomatic status to Jose Eduardo dos Santos and register him with that status with the Spanish Foreign Ministry for him to be listed in the diplomatic corps. Thus, today they could be the ones in charge because eng. Eduardo dos Santos’ house would be Angola’s territory, it would be a diplomatic house, which never happened,” he said in a voice message sent to Lusa.
This could be a decisive week for the Spanish court, which has ordered toxicology tests to complement the autopsy, postponing the judicial decision on the custody and possible transfer of the former president’s body to Angola.
The court should also summon the Spanish police and migratory authorities to verify the legality of Dos Santos’ stay in the Iberian country and where he was actually residing.
Two factions of the dos Santos family are disputing, in the Family Court of the Civil Court of Catalonia, who will take custody of José Eduardo dos Santos’ body. On one side is Tchizé dos Santos and her older siblings, who oppose the delivery of the remains to the former first lady and are against holding a state funeral before the elections to avoid political exploitation.
Also read: National mourning ends today: Party leaders defend immortalization of José Eduardo dos Santos
On the other side is the widow Ana Paula dos Santos and her three children in common with Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who also claim the body and want it to be buried in Angola in the near future.
This claim is supported by the Angolan government which announced its intention to hold a state funeral, but had to settle for seven days of national mourning and a wake without a body, while the dispute continues in the judicial instances, four days before the beginning of the campaign for the general elections, becoming a political fact that is marking the electoral race.
In an interview on Sunday with Angolan media, the Minister of State and head of the Military House of the President of the Republic, who leads the delegation representing the Angolan State, General Francisco Furtado, was confident of a favorable outcome, stressing that Angolan citizens and the international community want to see “the problem resolved.”
“The entire Angolan nation wants the presence of its former leader in the country to pay him the homage he deserves,” said Francisco Furtado, stressing that if the Spanish authorities take into account the reasons that led the former President to Barcelona “there will be no other outcome than the return of the body to Luanda.
