Beira, Mozambique being a favourite holiday destination for white Rhodesians. One reminder of this is the Grande Hotel, built by the Portuguese, near the shore of the Indian Ocean. By 1970, the city of Beira had 113,770 inhabitants. After independence from Portugal in 1975, many white ethnic Portuguese left the city. Mozambique was ravaged by a civil war from 1977 to 1992, opposing Marxist FRELIMO, which controlled the government, to the rebels of RENAMO, descending to near total chaos in a couple of years. The famine, disease and poverty-stricken country collapsed. In Beira, the famous Grande Hotel was occupied by around 1,000
People's Republic of Mozambique preceding independence, FRELIMO consolidated its presence in the south and in urban areas. This was done through the work of militant groups ("grupos dinamizadores" or "dynamic groups"), which also included Mozambicans of Portuguese origin. The period prior to independence was also marked by the settling of scores and public trials against members FRELIMO who had strayed from the FRELIMO party line. "Traitors," "reactionaries," and real or suspected agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency or PIDE, the Portuguese security agency. The Central Committee of FRELIMO adopted the constitution of the People's Republic of Mozambique on June 20, which established that