Cape Verde–Guinea-Bissau relations Portuguese Cape Verde supplied many colonial officials for the mainland Portuguese Guinea, later Guinea-Bissau, at one point making up three-quarters of the civil service. Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau campaigned together for independence from Portugal, chiefly led by Amílcar Cabral's Marxist African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde from 1956. Cape Verde provided the bourgeoisie that led the anti-colonial movement in Portuguese Guinea. An ideology of unity was key to Cabral's theory of African liberation, and Cabral was himself Cape Verdean Guinea-Bissauan, though the call for unity was partly a tactic to avoid Guinea-Bissau becoming independent without Cape
History of Cape Verde to hold on to its former colonies, since 1951 called overseas territories. When most former African colonies gained independence in 1957/1964, the Portuguese still held on. Consequently, following the Pijiguiti Massacre, the people of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau fought one of the longest African liberation wars. As with other colonies in 1972, autonomy was granted and Portuguese Cape Verde held its only parliamentary elections in 1973, in which only those that were Portuguese citizens could vote. Out of a total population of 272,071, only 25,521 people registered to vote. A total of 20,942 people voted, giving a voter turnout of