The Wiriyamu Massacre, also known as Operation Marosca, was a mass killing of civilians carried out by Portuguese soldiers in December 1972 in the village of Wiriyamu, located in Mozambique’s Tete Province. The massacre was part of Portugal’s brutal response to anti-colonial resistance during the Mozambican War of Independence.
The Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) was an extended conflict fought between Portugal and emerging nationalist movements in its African colonies: Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique. The war erupted in 1961, inspired by the wave of decolonization sweeping across Africa, particularly after the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960. In Mozambique, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) emerged as the primary anti-colonial force, launching an armed struggle in 1964 to end Portuguese rule.
By the early 1970s, FRELIMO had gained significant traction, particularly in the northern regions of Mozambique, including the Tete province. The Zambezi River valley became a hotspot for guerrilla activity, with FRELIMO fighters relying on the support of local communities for food, shelter, and intelligence. In response, the Portuguese military and secret police, PIDE/DGS (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado), implemented a series of violent counterinsurgency measures, including “cleanup” operations meant to destroy villages suspected of aiding FRELIMO. These operations involved widespread massacres, forced relocations, and the burning of villages, all aimed at depriving the guerrillas of local support.
The Massacre at Wiriyamu
On December 16, 1972, the Portuguese 6th Company of Mozambique Commandos carried out Operation Marosca, a military operation aimed at rooting out FRELIMO sympathizers in the village of Wiriyamu. The operation was planned and guided by PIDE/DGS agents, including a local informant named Chico Kachavi.
The soldiers were instructed to leave no survivors. Over the course of the operation, they systematically killed between 150 and 300 villagers, including women, children, and the elderly. According to testimonies from survivors and former soldiers, the victims were rounded up, shot, and in some cases, burned alive.
Although the massacre was initially hidden from the outside world, it was later exposed in July 1973 by British Catholic priest Father Adrian Hastings and two Spanish missionary priests. Their accounts provided crucial evidence of Portuguese war crimes in Mozambique.
In the years following the exposure of the Wiriyamu Massacre, various attempts were made to dismiss or distort the event. Some alleged that FRELIMO, not the Portuguese military, was responsible for the killings. Others suggested that reports of the massacre were fabricated as part of a political campaign to tarnish Portugal’s international reputation.
However, independent investigations continued to verify the atrocity. Portuguese journalist Felícia Cabrita reconstructed the events in detail through interviews with both survivors and former Portuguese soldiers involved in the massacre. Her findings, published in Expresso, further solidified the evidence of Portuguese military involvement.
Subsequent investigations produced varying estimates of the death toll. The Red Cross reported a lower estimate of 150 deaths, while Expresso, based on testimonies from former soldiers, placed the number at 300. These figures do not account for those who died from police torture or during the three-day manhunt that followed the massacre.
Despite Portugal’s efforts to suppress information about the massacre, international pressure mounted against its colonial policies. Just two years after the Wiriyamu Massacre, the Carnation Revolution of 1974 toppled Portugal’s authoritarian government, leading to the decolonization of Mozambique and other Portuguese territories in Africa.
Mozambique gained independence in 1975, but the scars of colonial violence remain. The Wiriyamu Massacre is one of the darkest chapters in Portugal’s colonial history, a brutal reminder of the suffering inflicted on Mozambicans during their struggle for freedom.
Sources:
https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-1029
https://mozambiquehistory.net/religion/church/60s-70s/19731209_my_ordeal_with_police.pdf
To think how brutal an act this was & the cover up