Hero in Equatorial Guinea, evicted in Murcia

"I'm a normal person, I'm an optimist," says Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo , an Equatorial Guinean journalist, historian, novelist and activist on the eve of the court order for his eviction from his home in the Espinardo neighborhood of Murcia. "I wasn't born to be dramatic. I don't take things lightly, but I'm not going to start whining either. If I didn't whine when they put a gun in my face, I'm not going to do it now ." Ndongo has been one of the most prominent figures in the opposition to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for the past 30 years, after returning to his country to rebuild it after the fall of Francisco Macías Nguema . "Many professionals made that return journey, but none of us remain." According to Ndongo-Bidyogo, there is a long chain of causes and effects that leads from that gun threat to his eviction.

"I was working at Efe in Malabo in 1994," the journalist recalls. "Teodoro Obiang didn't like the information I published, and I told him: 'What do you want me to do if this is the information you generate: repression and corruption? If I publish lies, let them judge me, but don't come at me with more pressure or threats.'" After that pressure and threats, offers arrived that seemed impossible to refuse. "They told me they would make me an ambassador, a minister... I told them I would love nothing more than to serve my country. But my country, not Obiang, his 40 children, his wives, and his tribe. That's why Equatorial Guinea doesn't advance , because Obiang turns all his collaborators into servants, no matter how brilliant they are."

"My brother, my uncle, my son, the minister... They offered me things. In 1994, they started offering me money. They told me they would make me a minister and that I should give them my bank account in Spain, and that they would give me all the money I asked for. It wasn't known yet, but it was clear that the oil money was about to arrive . I understood at that moment."

Equatorial Guinea's oil boom also explains Ndongo's fall from grace. Three facts: in 1994, the per capita GDP of the former Spanish Guinea was $183 . In 2008, it was $18,210. Today, it has fallen to $6,677.

Armengol Nguema, the head of the political police, made him the offer in a friendly manner . The Secretary of State for Security, Manuel Nguema Mba, was the next to call him to order, this time in a rude manner. "He told me: 'We're fed up with you.' He took out a pistol and started banging on the table. He told me: 'The guns will start talking, and you'll be the first to die.'"

Then, according to Ndongo, the Equatorial Guinean Foreign Ministry sent a note demanding that Efe dismiss him and replace him with "a white, Spanish journalist." Efe decided to remove its correspondent from Malabo to protect him. It sent him to Gabon for a few months, brought him back to Madrid, and then fired him in 1995. Ndongo believes it was for political, not business, reasons. It was the first time.

"During this time, I've never returned to Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has invited me to return many times. High-ranking representatives of the Spanish government have asked me to please return. They've pressured me. Return to what? If all I'm supposed to do is write. The problem is that all those people believed the things they were saying, they believed that Guinea would surpass Italy in GDP per capita... Well, they believed it and then went after their pay. That's what has sustained the dictatorship for 46 years."

After leaving Efe, Ndongo wrote for El País , ABC , and Mundo Negro ... He founded an African Studies Institute at the University of Murcia , which closed four years later without much explanation. He went on to teach at the University of Missouri and continued until retirement age. "I'm not a conflict-ridden person. I've been in Spain since I was 14, and I've never had a run-in with the police." But the Spanish Treasury doesn't recognize the years he spent in Malabo working for two Spanish public institutions and companies : the Spanish-Guinean Cultural Center and the Efe news agency itself. With only a minimal pension, Ndongo became insolvent and is now resigned to losing his home.

"I'm in good health. My sons are 22 and 25. The boy, by the way, was almost kidnapped. The nuns at the school noticed something was going on with a very well-dressed Black man and called the police. The man left before then. Thanks to them, nothing serious happened."