African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( ) or PAIGC is a political party that governed Guinea - Bissau from the independence of the then Portuguese Guinea in 1974 , until the late 1990s , and from 2004 to 2005 . Currently it is the party with the largest number of seats in the National People ' s Assembly . It became part of a governing coalition in 2007 , with PAIGC member Martinho Ndafa Kabi serving as Prime Minister , until withdrawing in 2008 . National revolutionary struggle . Amílcar Cabral founded the party with his brother Luís in then - Portuguese Guinea in 1956 , advocating the independence of Cape Verde and Portuguese Guinea from Portugal . In the 1950s , Portuguese Guinea was the poorest and least developed Portuguese colony in Africa , though it was prized for its strategic position , as it acted as a stepping stone from Portugal to her colonies of Portuguese Mozambique and Portuguese Angola . In 1959 , the Pijiguiti Massacre took place , when Portuguese soldiers opened fire on protesting dockworkers , killing 50 . This massacre caused a large segment of the population to swing towards the PAIGC ' s push for independence . Portugal , however , still considered the PAIGC to be irrelevant , and took no serious action in trying to suppress it . In 1961 , the FRELIMO in Mozambique , the MPLA of Angola and the PAIGC formed the " Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas " ( Portuguese : Conference of Nationalist Organisations of the Portuguese Colonies ) , a common party to coordinate the struggles for independence of Portuguese colonies across Africa . The three groups were often represented at international events by the CONCP . The PAIGC was originally a peaceful movement , their first strategy being requests for the Portuguese to peacefully withdraw from their Guinea colony . As this failed , however , the PAIGC turned to more violent measures to achieve independence . Armed struggle against the Portuguese began in March 1962 with an abortive attack by PAIGC guerrillas on Praia . Guerrilla warfare was largely concentrated to the mainland Guinea , however , as logistical reasons prevented an armed struggle on the Cape Verde islands . On the Cape Verde islands PAIGC worked in a clandestine manner . After being nearly crippled militarily , Amílcar Cabral ordered that sabotage be the PAIGC ' s main weapon until military strength could be regained . In January 1963 , Cabral declared full - scale war against the Portuguese , and on January 23 , the Portuguese fortress at Tite came under heavy gunfire from PAIGC guerrillas . Frequent attacks in the north also took place . In that same month , attacks on police stations in Fulacunda and Buba were carried out not only by the PAIGC but also by the FLING . In the context of the ongoing Cold War , PAIGC guerrillas received Kalashnikov s from the USSR , bazooka s from Cuba and recoil less rifles from the People ' s Republic of China . Guerrillas were also trained in these countries . The first party congress took place at liberated Cassaca in February 1964 , in which both the political and military arms of the PAIGC were assessed and reorganized , with a regular army ( Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People , FARP ) to supplement the guerrilla forces ( The People ' s Guerrillas ) . Como Island was the site of a major battle between PAIGC and Portuguese forces , in which the PAIGC took control of the island and resisted fierce counterattacks by the Portuguese , including airstrikes by FAP ( Portuguese : " Força Aérea Portuguesa " ; Portuguese Air Force ) F - 86 Sabre s . Throughout the war , the Portuguese handled themselves poorly . It took them a long time to finally take the PAIGC seriously , diverting aircraft and troops based in Guinea to the conflicts in Mozambique and Angola , and by the time that the Portuguese government began to realise that the PAIGC was a significant threat to their continued rule over Guinea , it was too late . Very little was done to curtail the guerrilla operations ; the Portuguese didn ' t try to sever the link between the populace and the PAIGC until very late in the war , and as a result , it became very dangerous for Portuguese troops to operate far from their fortresses . Following the loss of Como Island , the Portuguese army , navy and the air force ( FAP ) began the Operation Tridente , a combined arms operation to retake the island . The PAIGC fought fiercely , and the Portuguese took heavy casualties and gained ground slowly . Finally , after 71 days of fighting and 851 FAP combat sorties , the island was taken back by the Portuguese . However , less than two months later , the PAIGC would retake the island , as the Portuguese operation to capture it had depleted much of their invasion force , leaving the island vulnerable . Como Island ceased to be of strategic importance to Portugal following establishment of new PAIGC positions in the south , especially on the Cantanhez and Quitafine Peninsula s . Large numbers of Portuguese troops on these peninsulas were encircled and besieged by guerrillas . In 1966 , Amílcar Cabral attended the " Conferencia Tricontinental Enero " in Havana and made a great impression on Fidel Castro . As a result of this , Cuba agreed to supply artillery experts , doctors and technicians to assist in the independence struggle . The head of the Cuban Military Mission was Victor Dreke . By 1967 , the PAIGC had carried out 147 attacks on Portuguese barracks and army encampments , and effectively controlled 2 / 3 of Portuguese Guinea . The following year , Portugal began a new campaign against the guerrillas with the arrival of the new governor of the colony , António de Spínola . Spínola began a massive construction campaign , building schools , hospitals , new housing and improving telecommunications and the road system , in an attempt to gain public favour in Guinea . PAIGC was the first African party to establish a comprehensive cooperative program with Sweden . However , in 1970 , the FAP began to use similar weapons to those the US was using in the Vietnam War : napalm and defoliant s , the former to destroy guerrillas when they could find them , the latter to decrease the number of ambushes that occurred when they could not . Spínola ' s tenure as governor marked a turning point in the war : Portugal began to win battles , and in a Portuguese invasion of Guinea , 1970 raid on Conakry , in the neighbouring Republic of Guinea , 400 amphibious troops attacked the city and freed 26 Portuguese prisoners of war kept there by the PAIGC . The USSR and Cuba began to send more weapons to Portuguese Guinea via Nigeria , notably several Ilyushin Il - 14 aircraft to use as bombers . Though the Portuguese army in the Guinea colony began to start winning battles more frequently , following a leftist military coup d ' état , the Portuguese government began to negotiate with the PAIGC , and on September 10 , independence was granted . Luís Cabral , brother of Amílcar , became the country ' s first president . In January 1973 , a crushing blow was dealt to the PAIGC : its leader , Amílcar Cabral , was assassinated , not by the Portuguese , but rather by a disgruntled former associate . Independence was unilaterally declared on September 24 , 1973 and was recognized by a 93 – 7 UN General Assembly vote in November , unprecedented as it denounced illegal Portuguese aggression and occupation and was prior to Portuguese recognition . 1 , 875 Portuguese soldiers ( out of 35 , 000 stationed in Portuguese Guinea ) and some 6 , 000 ( out of 10 , 000 ) PAIGC troops were killed by the end of the 11 year war . Post - independence history . After achieving independence , PAIGC was instituted as the sole legal political party of Guinea - Bissau and Cape Verde . Luís Cabral became the president of Guinea - Bissau . PAIGC strove for a union between Guinea - Bissau and Cape Verde , but in 1980 the union finally broke down , following the military take - over by João Bernardo " Nino " Vieira against Cabral , who was of Capeverdean origin . The Cape Verdean branch of PAIGC was converted into a separate party , the African Independence Party of Cape Verde ( PAICV ) . The youth wing of PAIGC is called African Youth Amilcar Cabral ( " Juventude Africana Amilcar Cabral " ) and the women ' s wing is called Democratic Union of the Women of Guinea ( " União Democrática das Mulheres da Guiné " ) . Under Vieira , the party continued to govern the country in the 1980s and 1990s . Vieira was re - elected as PAIGC Secretary - General at the party ' s fourth congress in November 1986 . Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991 , the first multiparty elections were held in 1994 . Vieira won the 1994 presidential election against opposition candidate Kumba Yala of the Party for Social Renewal ( PRS ) , while the PAIGC won 62 out of 100 parliamentary seats , with 46 % of the vote . Vieira was re - elected for another four - year term as President of PAIGC in mid - May 1998 at PAIGC ' s sixth congress , with 438 votes in favor , eight opposed , and four abstaining ; the post of Secretary - General was abolished at this congress . An outbreak of civil war in June 1998 eventually led to the ouster of Vieira in May 1999 . A few days afterward , former Prime Minister Manuel Saturnino da Costa was named acting President of PAIGC on May 12 , 1999 , replacing Vieira . Vieira was expelled from PAIGC at a party congress in September 1999 for " treasonable offences , support and incitement to warfare , and practices incompatible with the statutes of the party " . Francisco Benante , the leader of reformists within the party and the only civilian in the transitional military junta , was elected as the President of PAIGC at the end of this congress , on September 9 , 1999 . Benante ' s candidacy was supported by the junta , and he received 174 votes against 133 votes for the only opposing candidate . The PAIGC won the third highest number of seats in the Nov 1999 parliamentary election , and its presidential candidate , Malam Bacai Sanhá , was defeated by Yala . In the 2004 legislative elections , held on 28 and 30 March 2004 , the PAIGC was the largest single political party , winning 31 . 45 % of the popular vote and 45 out of 100 seats . It formed a government in May 2004 , with the party ' s leader , Carlos Gomes Júnior , becoming Prime Minister . In the 2005 presidential election , PAIGC candidate Malam Bacai Sanhá won 35 . 45 % in the first round . He was defeated in the second round by João Bernardo Vieira , who had returned from exile and ran as an independent . Sanhá won 46 . 65 % of the vote , while Vieira won 52 . 35 % . A few weeks after taking office , Vieira dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior as Prime Minister on 28 October 2005 , and on 2 November he appointed Aristides Gomes , who had formerly been a high - ranking member of PAIGC but split with the party to support Vieira , in his place . In March 2007 , the PAIGC formed a three - party alliance with the PRS and the United Social Democratic Party , and the three parties sought to form a new government . This led to a successful no - confidence vote against Aristides Gomes and his resignation late in the month ; on 9 April , the choice of the three parties for the position of prime minister , Martinho Ndafa Kabi , was appointed as prime minister by Vieira , and on 17 April a new government was named , composed of ministers from the three parties . Kabi is a leading member of PAIGC ; he was elected as the party ' s Third Vice - President in 2002 . PAIGC withdrew its backing for Kabi on February 29 , 2008 , saying that this was done " to avoid acts of indiscipline threatening cohesion and unity in the party " . PAIGC ' s Seventh Ordinary Congress , held in Gabu , began on June 26 , 2008 ; 1 , 050 delegates participated . Malam Bacai Sanhá , the party ' s presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005 , challenged Gomes for the party leadership , but Gomes was re - elected for a five - year term as President of PAIGC on July 1 – July 2 , receiving 578 votes against 355 for Sanhá . Kabi , Cipriano Cassama ( considered a dissident within the party and associated with Aristides Gomes ) , and Baciro Dia also contested the leadership election , but attracted comparatively little support . After Kabi dismissed the directors of customs , taxes and the treasury on July 25 , 2008 without notifying the party , PAIGC decided to withdraw from the three - party stability pact that was signed in March 2007 . Vieira then dismissed Kabi and appointed Carlos Correia as Prime Minister on August 5 . Foreign support . PAIGC received support from the governments of China , Cuba , Soviet Union , Senegal , Guinea , Libya , Algeria , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Ghana