Mugabe, liberator and dictator of Zimbabwe has been dead for 37 years

Robert Mugabe, a teacher turned guerrilla who helped to abolish white colonial rule in Zimbabwe, but which led to economic ruin, has died. The former dictator died in a Singapore hospital. A little less than two years ago, a bloodless state coup put an end to his 37 years of government over the country of southern Africa. He ruled from 1980 to 2017. He was 95 years old.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former deputy who overthrew him, confirmed Mugabe's death in a Twitter message. "Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a panafricanist who dedicated his life to the empowerment and empowerment of his people," said Mnangagwa. "Your contribution to the history of our nation will never be forgotten." Of course, this panegyric of Mugabe might not be shared by the people. In the streets of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, the death of the dictator was greeted in silence and small groups of people gathered to discuss the news. His silence contrasted with the jubilation he had felt when Mugabe was expelled in November 2017.

For most Zimbabweans, the end of the Mugabe era did not bring the expected change. The inflation rate has again soared to 176% in June and many economists estimate that real increases in consumer prices are closer to 600%. In recent weeks there has been a brutal crackdown on protesters, opposition activists and other critics of the government.

"The author of our problems is dead," said a 22-year-old student who refused to give his name. "Now I'm in college, but I do not know if I'll find a job, Mugabe took us where we are now."

The Mugabe government has become the history of the history of Zimbabwe's independence. In 1980, he was elected Prime Minister of the newly independent nation and first strove to cultivate goodwill among whites. He invited Ian Smith, the former leader of the white minority government who ran the country then known as Rhodesia, to have tea. The former colony had been separated from the British Empire 15 years earlier, but many white settlers maintained deep ties with Britain. Mugabe was also received by Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter.

When his Zanu-PF party lost control of Parliament in 2000, in part because white farmers had backed an opponent, Mugabe felt betrayed. Following a pattern that would define his long political career, he decided to neutralize his opponents, giving the vets of the Zimbabwe liberation war the green light to invade the white farmers' farms. Another common feature of his long "reign" is the very high inflation caused by his expansionist policy in the African nation. A negative heritage still alive and nobody knows how to control it.

Far is the heroic period during which Mugabe was compared to South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Mugabe studied at a university in Fort Hare, then in Ghana, and finished his studies in economics in London. Upon his return in 1960, he was one of the young leaders who should lead the African continent to prosperity once the colonial phase is over. But it was years of cold war and the USSR sought to expand its influence by supporting the guerrillas, leaders and puppet governments of the continent. At the same time, the former colonial powers were not completely resigned to losing their historical influence.

Mugabe initially joined the African Peoples' Union of Zimbabwe (ZAPU), the Southern Rodhesia-based Mandela CNA party projection, composed of black intellectuals, mostly trained in Europe, who launched a Dangerous crusade against the oppression of apartheid. South Africa and Rodhesia lived under white minority governments. Mugabe was arrested and tortured repeatedly until he fled to Tanzania, where he founded his own party, the African Union of Zimbabwe (ZANU), more radical than the previous one. , and led the fight. In 1979, the first elections on the basis of the "one man, one vote" principle were approved, according to which all Zimbabweans can exercise their right, although whites reserve a fifth of deputies out of the results. Mugabe's victory was overwhelming: he won 57 of the 80 seats in Parliament and became the prime minister of Zimbabwe's history, the country having been renamed to change the name used by the former settlers. After years of growth and development, Mugabe has begun to show his most sinister side, triggering an ethnic struggle between the major tribes with a record of tens of thousands of deaths.