The MPLA was not in Angola at this time, but was first in Conakry (the capital of Guinea) and then later in Leopoldville, Congo (now Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC). Cruz became secretary-general of the MPLA. After some time he and others did not agree with the party leadership, in particular with president Agostinho Neto. The main source of conflict was race. Though himself a mestiço (mixed-race person), Viriato believed that leadership positions in the MPLA should be reserved for Black Africans. Beginning in 1962, Neto recruited highly educated mestiços to serve on the MPLA's Central Committee. In the mid-1960s Neto opened the MPLA to anti-colonialist white Angolans and endorsed a policy of multiracialism in the movement."