[AveMaria]

>>>He was installed as the leader of the country and was a committed Communist. He died in a plane crash<<<

Actually, Patrice Lumumba was not "installed". He was democratically elected by the people of the Congo in the first and only democratic election in their nation's history.

And he did not die in a plane crash. He was tortured and disfigured, and then executed by a firing squad carried out by Belgian soldiers. That information is available in a book published 5 years ago by a Belgian author, Luddo Witte.

The person who died in the plane crash was former UN Secretary General, Dag Hammersjkold, a Swedish diplomat. It has long been rumoured that the CIA conspired in the murders of both Lumumba and Hammersjkold.

[Central_Floridian]

Could you post a link to some documentation of those charges? That's very interesting.

[safisoft]

Actually, Patrice Lumumba was not "installed". He was democratically elected by the people of the Congo in the first and only democratic election in their nation's history.

I grew up in Congo. There has never been a "democratic election" by recognizable standards EVER in Congo/Zaire

And he did not die in a plane crash. He was tortured and disfigured, and then executed by a firing squad carried out by Belgian soldiers. That information is available in a book published 5 years ago by a Belgian author, Luddo Witte.

Somehow I doubt that Mssr. Witte also told of the countless people "sacrificed" at the foot of the Lumumba statue by his followers in 1964 in the town of Kisangani (Stanleyville). There were a number of Americans as well - hacked up by machete or mowed down by machine guns. They didn't even bother to clean up the blood afterward - they simply took the bodies and dumped them in the Congo River.

[wildbill]

mea culpa! You're right--on all counts--my memory failed me once again. It was Hammarshkold who died in the plane crash.