Angolan journalist harassed, illegally detained for 4 days for protest coverage

New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Angolan authorities to investigate the harassment of Folha 8 reporter Hermenegildo Caculo, who was illegally detained for almost four days for attempting to cover a protest last week — the third time he was arrested while reporting on demonstrations in less than a year.

Caculo told CPJ that he was detained on April 6 at a protest in the capital, Luanda, by ex-employees of the national oil company, Sonangol, and taken to the covered yard of a local police station, where he slept on benches and chairs for three nights. His arrest was not officially recorded, he said.

When Caculo appeared in court on April 9, his lawyer, Mauricio Quintas, discovered that his arrest had not been booked and asked the court to release him as the detention was illegal. The journalist was released without charges, Quintas and Caculo told CPJ.

Caculo was also detained for nine hours on April 1 for seeking to cover the same ex-workers’ protest. On April 27, 2025, he was arrested and held for five hours for covering a student protest. 

“It is outrageous that a journalist was held for four days with no record of arrest. Unlawfully detaining a reporter covering protests is censorship and shows blatant disregard for press freedom and journalists’ safety,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. “Hermenegildo Caculo’s third arrest in less than a year reflects a disturbing pattern of harassment. Angolan authorities must credibly investigate and hold those responsible to account.”

Caculo told CPJ that shortly before his April 6 arrest, he received a call from Silário da Silva, deputy police commander of Luanda’s Ingombota municipality, who told him not to interview protesters in front of the Sonangol building as “it could be interpreted as incitement of rebellion.” Caculo followed the commander’s instruction and planned to interview two protesters about 300 meters away.

While Caculo was preparing his equipment, police on two motorcycles and in a van came and ordered him to get inside. They first took him to the city’s 4^th police station in Ingombota district, near the protest site, then to Boavista station, and lastly to the Bairro Operário neighborhood station, where he was detained until his release on the evening of April 9.

Silva told CPJ by phone that he could not comment and referred CPJ to police spokesperson Nestor Goubel, who said he had been out of office for a week and would enquire about the case, but did not reply to subsequent calls.

Interior ministry spokesperson Wilson dos Santos did not respond to CPJ’s calls.