Dic 08 2013 The story of the man who wanted to kill Mandela

• Gout

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  Then, Guta asked his partner to be close the deal in a Church, before God (Ethiopian tradition that required to comply with agreed). "We went to the church and sealed the covenant before God that he would kill him and would not say anything spoken there".

Mandela's death caught me on the shore of Lake Tana, in Ethiopia. The previous afternoon he had been talking about him and the birth of the African Union created in the only country that has never been colonized on the continent.. Mandela died while I was far away, more than ever I have been of him on this earth. Then the frenzy of a complicated return to Johannesburg began (I arrived yesterday) and a long story to tell these days. That first night of his death, work did not allow me to sleep.

The next morning, John, the guide with whom he had just planned a brutal story of Ethiopians who return by thousands expelled by illegal immigrants from Saudi Arabia after they were raped in the houses where they work and some of them harassed and beaten to death, tell me: "Good Morning, everything is ready". "They are not good morning Yohanes, Mandela has died and I must go to South Africa ", I contest them with pain. “Ohhh, I saw it. A huge shame, he was a great man. Here he is respected a lot ". "It was, the best", the context. Then, after a silence, let me go without importance: "Luckily an Ethiopian spared his life". How? "If four days ago I saw it on television, the British bought him to kill Mandela ". All that comes behind is this text that was published in El Mundo last Saturday. Yohanes translated the entire Amharic interview for me at a hotel reception, in a surreal scene. Phrase by phrase, while we made some impossible accounts to go to meet and interview Captain Guta. It could not be, it did not match my flight schedules.

Luckily an Ethiopian spared his life

Let me before reading this story point out one thing, Guta Dinaka and Nelson Mandela I think they share very similar values. That is why the call to be the murderer forgave his victim because deep down both are almost the same person.

The story of the man who did not want to kill Madiba

The millions of pages and hours of television in the last hours, the tears shed all over the planet, the miracle of the end of apartheid and all that mythical that Mandela takes to the grave, would not have existed had it not been for that afternoon in which Captain Guta Dinaka went home with 2000 pounds in your pocket and a puff of conscience in your throat. That day 1962 Neslon Mandela's death warrant had been signed and he decided not to carry it out.

That day 1962 Neslon Mandela's death warrant had been signed and he decided not to carry it out

The unknown story of this Ethiopian who could change history came out last week on his country's EBS channel. Guta Dinaka, the one who was Nelson Mandela's bodyguard during the military training he received in Ethiopia in the year 1962, these were the times of the beginning of their armed struggle to end apartheid, narrated how he was hired to finish off his protégé.

The old man of 72 years he answered in a famous television show without doubting this question: Did they hire you to kill Mandela? “Sí”. It was the year 1962 when Captain Guta was summoned by a military comrade, the one who was Mandela's other bodyguard, to a meeting at the newly opened luxurious Taitu hotel. "When I arrived I did not know how to enter, there were revolving doors that I had never seen ", explains the old man amid the laughter of the public “I arrived and my partner was with two white men, they were two british, that they asked me to eat. I had never used a fork or knife either before, so when I chopped the meat it slipped to the ground ", continues.

When I arrived I did not know how to enter, There were revolving doors that I had never seen

At one point, the one who had to protect Mandela by order Haile Selassié, hear a proposition that was not foreseen: "We will give you 2000 pounds if you kill Mandela tomorrow ", the two Brits proposed to him. "They also gave me a camera because after killing him I had to take two photos to confirm that the mission was accomplished".

The idea was that Guta would enter through the window of Mandela's house and kill him by hanging him with a rope. “The Israelis had trained us to kill without weapons. For example, I could sink someone's eyes ", remember in the interview.

Guta would enter through the window of Mandela's house and kill him by hanging him with a rope

Then, Guta asked his partner to be close the deal in a Church, before God (Ethiopian tradition that required to comply with agreed). "We went to the church and sealed the covenant before God that he would kill him and would not say anything spoken there".

But Guta's conscience was able to him and when he left the Church and stayed alone he began to have many doubts. "I really liked Mandela, I even parted my hair in the middle like him to imitate what a military punishment cost me ". Doubts turned into certainties and the captain decided to breach his sacred word. "I went to see my superior and denounced the whole plan. Then I prayed a lot to God to forgive me for breaking an oath made in the church. The whole plan was thwarted and Mandela was still alive ", explains. "He was a good guy, in the end I no longer only ate grilled meat and even ate injera (Ethiopian national food).

Who sent him to kill Mandela?, the interviewer asks him. "The British", responds a man who gave up winning 2000 pounds in a country that at that time a basic salary did not reach the 90 birr (less than four euros).

Who sent him to kill Mandela?, the interviewer asks him. "The British"

Guta was recently contacted, He explains that he even teaches the letter to the camera, by the Nelson Mandela Foundation who traveled to Ethiopia to record this unknown story told by its protagonist. They even left the Ministry of Culture and gave him a scarf with the South African flag that he wears with pride. "I asked them to show me a card and when I saw that they were from the Foundation I agreed to tell them". What will you do with the money that you have been paid? "Money is needed by everyone and I already lost 2000 pounds for him ", he says smiling, "But what I want is to spend that money on buying a traditional dress and going to see him in Johannesburg to tell him the story".

The old Ethiopian will no longer have time, Mandela left before he could spend his money finding him and telling him in person that 51 years ago his integrity saved his life and allowed him to become the legend that he is..