Cabinda Province
Café was born in 1945 in Cabinda Province, an exclave of Angola at the north of the country. She received a degree in economics in the Soviet Union in 1968. Café was part of the Angolan independence movement, first working from the present-day Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo before returning to Angola in 1974. She was part of the Alvor Agreement negotiations which were signed on January 15, 1975 and led to Angolan independence. After independence, she was considered a loyal member of the MPLA who could bring people together.