2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Greg Wales who made all the approaches to them. Greg Wales, a London-based property dealer, is alleged to have raised $500,000. Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that in November 2003 , when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Etonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mr Wales denies any involvement in the coup. Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington
Equatorial Guinea nationalism. Independence was conceded on 12 October 1968 and the region became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Francisco Macías Nguema was elected president. On Christmas Eve 1969, Macías Nguema had 150 alleged coup plotters executed. In July 1970, Macias Nguema created a single-party state and made himself president for life in 1972. He broke off ties with Spain and the West. In spite of his condemnation of Marxism, which he deemed "neo-colonialist", Equatorial Guinea maintained very special relations with socialist countries, notably China, Cuba, and the USSR. He signed a preferential trade agreement and a shipping treaty with the Soviet