Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (b. June 5, 1942) has been the President of Equatorial Guinea since August 3, 1979.Born into the Mongomo clan in the village of Acoacan, Obiang began his career in the military and attended a prestigious academy in Spain. He achieved the rank of lieutenant upon his uncle Francisco MacÃÂÃÂas Nguema's election.
Obiang was shuffled through various jobs, including governor of Bioko and leader of the Equatoguinean military. He deposed his uncle on August 3, 1979 in a coup d'ÃÂétat, and executed him soon after. In October 1979, Obiang officially acquired the title of President and declared that the new government would bring a fresh start from the repressive measures taken by his uncle's administration.
Unfortunately, Obiang now leads one of the most corrupt, ethnocentric, oppressive and anti-democratic states in the world, according to most domestic and international observers. Equatorial Guinea is now essentially a single-party state, dominated by the President's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE). Of the members of the national legislature, 85.5% are aligned with the PDGE. The opposition is severely hampered by the lack of a free press as a vehicle for their views.
Obiang was re-elected in December 2002. His government was slammed by the international community for running an election which was widely considered to be unfair and that was also boycotted by most of the opposition.
In July 2003, state-operated radio declared that the president is a God who is "in permanent contact with the Almighty."
In March 2004, Obiang announced that there was a complex plot to overthrow him that allegedly involved the intelligence services of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. Shortly after 15 people were arrested in Equatorial Guinea in connection with a possible coup attempt, an airplane landed in Harare, Zimbabwe and was promptly detained by authorities. The Zimbabwean government claimed that the aircraft was carrying armed mercenaries who were heading to Equatorial Guinea with the aim of toppling Obiang's government. However, the American-based operator of the plane maintained that the men were en route to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to guard commercial mining interests. President Obiang charges that various Western governments wanted to install the head of Equatorial Guinea's government-in-exile, Severo Moto, as president. A man that Equatoguinean media identified as the leader of the mercenaries, Nick du Toit, said he had not intended to kill Obiang, but had hoped to force him into exile.