BUTEFLIKA: THE DEATH OF ANOTHER "HISTORIC"

 

The small number of the so-called "historical" leaders of the Algerian revolution lost another of its members on Friday: former President Abdelaziz Buteflika, who had been physically disabled since he suffered a stroke in April 2013.

Precisely, last week another of those characters died, Yacif Saadi, who was head of the autonomous area of ​​Algiers of the nationalist guerrilla; mythical character from the "Battle of Algiers" who starred in his own role in the battle of the same name.

Buteflika did not play a major role in the guerrilla confrontation with the French troops, since he was sent to the front of the Sahara, where the only task was to get volunteers for the military wing of the Algerian Liberation Front (FLN).

If he rose in the nomenclature of the guerrillas, that was given to the protection that the colonel, Huari Bumedien, also mythical head of the guerrilla army, gave him without fail.

That protection earned him not being detained by the first Algerian president, Ahmed Ben Bella, who considered him a potential enemy. And not only did he not stop him, but he was forced, by Bumedien, to appoint him minister on two occasions: that of Youth and Foreign Affairs.

It was Bumedien who detained Ben Bella and imprisoned him in a guarded residence until he was released by Bumedien's successor, Colonel Chadli Benyedid, in April 1981.

Buteflika was a man under the weight of enormous personal ambition to occupy the highest positions of power. On Bumedien's death he considered himself his natural heir shedding a sea of ​​tears in the speech he delivered during the funerals.

But the Army, the true shadow power, opposed his appointment and preferred a man from his ranks, Colonel Salah Yahiaui, FLN youth chief.

Another colonel, Kasdi Merbah, head of the powerful military security, refused to support Yahiaui because of his "Gadafi line" and in the end the most veteran colonel, Chadli Benyedid, head of the military region of the oranesado, was chosen.

From then on, Buteflika was persecuted by the ruling military clan: he was dismissed from the central committee of the FLN and accused of having managed for his benefit a “black box” with millions of dollars, kept secretly in Geneva.

Buteflika admitted the existence of that box, but assured that it was destined to help the African liberation movements. To avoid greater evils he was exiled to the Arabian Gulf until 1987 where he functioned as an advisor to the oil emirs.

 

He returned to Algiers after a long journey through the desert and tried to reconcile himself with the higher military commanders until they were able to support the president. Before, he had to wait for the downfall of Benyedid and that of his successor, Colonel Liamin Zeroual.

Buteflika, born in Morocco, was fluent in Spanish without accents and declared himself an admirer of Franco and, therefore, of Spain. The two correspondents of the Spanish press in Algiers (El País and Efe) could see him whenever they wanted.

But in 1975, after the signing of the Madrid agreements by which the Spanish government ceded the administration of Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania, he went into a rage and became an enemy of Spain.

The matter did not affect him as much as President Bumedien, who had entrusted him, together with Colonel Mohamed Adelghani, with a mission to Madrid to prevent the transfer of the colony to Rabat. The mission failed because Morocco had more important pawns in the Spanish capital.

Colonels, now generals, finally promoted him to the presidency in 1999. He declared then that he would not become "a three-quarters president" and began his own battle against the army after imposing a reconciliation process with the military. terrorist groups of an Islamist nature.

In that battle he had the support of the then Chief of the General Staff, General Gaid Salah, which allowed him to dismiss one of his great enemies, General Mohamed Medianem (alias Toufik) at the head of the always ominous military security. .

But after the stroke suffered in 2013, the leadership of the country was, in fact, in the hands of Gaid Salah, his brother, Said, and his clan. He managed, however, to access a fourth presidential term confined in a wheelchair. The clan wanted to organize a fifth term for the patient, which unleashed a general movement of rejection of the population, embodied in the so-called "hirak" that took to the streets in a massive way from February 2019.

The popular rebellion forced General Gaid, who had shown him his personal affection, to change sides and force the patient to resign from his post. He did it in dramatic ways on television, in April 2019, amid the demonstrations of joy from millions of people.

The unexpected death of General Gaid on December 23, 2019, It meant the entry into office of a new military clan, made up of generals and other subsidiaries, which began the purge of the “buteflikistas”, both civil and military, which is still ongoing. The former president did not want to be touched, which has allowed him to die in his bed in the medicalized residence of Zeralda, where he resided. Perhaps his greatest victory has been to preserve the head of state from 1999 to 2019, the longest of all.

 

manuel ostos