(Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Mvezo, Transkei, 1918 - Johannesburg, 2013)

South African activist and politician who led the anti-apartheid movements and who, after a long struggle and 27 years in prison, presided over in 1994 the first government that put an end to the regime racist. The twentieth century left two world wars, the extermination camps and atomic terror, but also great champions of the fight against injustice, such as Mahatma Gandhi or Martin

Luther King. The last and most charismatic of them was Nelson Mandela.

Like any African child in rural areas, the childhood of Nelson Mandela was spent in games and in close contact with the traditions of his people. Son of the head of a tribe, he was called Rolihlahla, which means unruly, but at the age of seven, so that he could attend the Methodist school, he was baptized with the name of Nelson in the church of Transkei; already famous, his compatriots would call him Madiba, by the name of his clan.

Two years later, because of the death of his father, little Nelson was left in the care of his cousin, the great chief Jongintaba; with him who became fond of listening to the tribal chiefs and became aware of the sense of justice. When he was sixteen years old, he became part of the tribal council; three years later, in 1937, he entered the boarding school for blacks of Ford Hare to pursue higher education.

But when in 1941 he learned that Chief Jongintaba had arranged a marriage for him, Mandela decided to leave his village and left for Johannesburg. Poorly settled in the overpopulated suburb of Alexandra, shortly after arriving he met Walter Sisulu, with whom he established a friendship that would be decisive in all areas: it influenced his political ideas, helped him find work and finish his law studies and He introduced his cousin Evelyn Mase, with whom he would marry in 1944.

From jail to the presidency Prisoner for 27 years (1963-1990) in painful conditions, the government of South Africa rejected all requests that he be released. Nelson Mandela became a symbol of the struggle against apartheid inside and outside the country, in a legendary figure that represented the suffering and lack of freedom of all black South Africans. n 1984 the government tried to put an end to such an uncomfortable myth, offering him freedom if he accepted to establish himself in one of the Bantustans to whom the regime had granted a fiction of independence; Mandela refused the offer. During those years his wife Winnie symbolized the continuity of the struggle, reaching important positions in the African National Congress. Winnie's fervent activism was not exempt from scandals; Years later, already in the 90s, she would be involved in a controversial trial in which she was accused of murder, although she was acquitted.

Finally, Frederik De Klerk, president of the Republic for the National Party, had to yield to the evidence and open the way to dismantle racial segregation. In February 1990 he legalized the African National Congress and freed Mandela, who became his main interlocutor to negotiate the dismantling of apartheid and the transition to a multiracial democracy;   Despite the complexity of the process, both were able to successfully complete the negotiations. Mandela and De Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

The 1994 elections made Mandela the first black president of South Africa

(1994-1999); From that position he set in motion a policy of national reconciliation, keeping De Klerk as vice president and trying to attract the Zaku majority Inkhata party to the democratic participation. A film by American filmmaker Clint Eastwood, Invictus (2009), would reflect quite accurately the

Mandela of those years; his support for a national team made up of whites during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, held in South Africa, shows his commitment to integrate the white minority and the black majority using that sporting event and his firm will to build a nation for all South Africans, without distinction of race.

Mandela initiated the Reconstruction and Development Plan, which allocated large amounts of money to improve the living standards of black South Africans in matters such as education, housing, health or employment, and also promoted the drafting of a new constitution for the country, which was finally approved by parliament in 1996. A year later, the leadership of the African National Congress gave way to Thabo Mbeki, destined to become his successor in the presidency. In 1998, two years after she divorced Winnie, she married Graça Machel, widow of the former president of Mozambique, Samora Machel. Together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who presided over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Nelson Mandela presented the report with the conclusions of the Commission in June 1998. The size of the African leader was shown once again when, in the opinion of the African National Congress, he endorsed the conclusions of the report, which indicated not only the abuses and crimes of the segregationist regime, but also those committed by the various groups of the movements of the African liberation, including the African National Congress. Three months before the end of his term, Mandela announced that he did not intend to stand for re-election. He was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki, winner of the June 1999 elections.

Separated from political life since that year, he received multiple awards, although his health problems made his public appearances more and more sporadic. Despite his withdrawal, the fervor that Mandela aroused in his countrymen remained alive: in 2010 he was present at the World Cup soccer ceremonies in South Africa, and received the warm support of the crowd; In July 2013, when the leader was seriously ill, the South African population took to the streets to celebrate its 95th anniversary. Raised to the status of one of the most charismatic and influential characters of the twentieth century, his figure has entered history as an embodiment of the struggle for freedom and justice and as a symbol of an entire nation.

Tariler de la pelicula: /www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe5Ly7FIxgA 

SURCE: https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/m/mandela.htm

Estuadiantes: Gannina Casarino, Diego García, Angelina Delgado.