The Missing Dimension


they would proclaim independence "... even while a small part of our country and our capital are still in enemy hands".
His ambivalence concerning the independence of the Cape Verde islands first became evident in 1969. In that year, in an interview in the Cuban journal, Tricontinental, he made a totally confusing statement regarding the place of the Cape Verde islands, in the liberation struggle: "Something very important in this context is that the Portuguese have no problems in the Cape Verde islands. When we begin the action there the struggle in Guinea will be practically over. It is not an in- depensable condition for the termination of the struggle; it can end without this prerequisite. But the day that the action is extended to Cape Verde, the struggle will be practically ended" (Cabral's emphasis). This ambivalent attitude towards the independence of the Cape Verde islands is very likely to have alienated those members of the PAIGC who were from the islands.