Bio

Manuel António Silva Ribeiro served as a soldier in the Cape Verdean Armed Forces (FACV). He was 23 years old in April 2016.

Public information about his early life is very limited. Available reports and records do not provide clear details about his place of birth, family, schooling, or childhood.

Murder Story

On 25 April 2016, the Monte Tchota massacre took place at the Monte Tchota army barracks in Cape Verde.

Between 9:30 and 10:00 in the morning, a rogue FACV soldier identified as 23-year-old Manuel Antonio Silva Ribeiro opened fire at the barracks 27 km north of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde.

The shooting occurred as the soldiers were helping to repair antennas near the barracks. Ribeiro opened fire on his fellow soldiers, killing eight of them.

In the aftermath, Ribeiro killed three technicians, two Spanish and a local Cape Verdean, who stopped him from leaving in a getaway car. Eight Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition were stolen from the dead soldiers and later discovered in the abandoned car nearby. The bodies were discovered 24 hours later by a police officer.

The FACV soldiers killed were Nelson Neide de Brito, Romario Steffan Dias Lima, Anacleto Lopes dos Santos, Marilson Adérito Fernandes Delgado, Mario Stanick Fernandes Pereira, José Maria Correia Ribeiro, Wilson Ramos Mendes, and Adérito Silva Rocha.

The dead civilians were Danielson Reis Monteiro (Cape Verde), Angelo Martinez Ruiz, and David Sanches Zamarreno (Spain).

Ribeiro was arrested in a joint operation by judicial police and the military two days later in a neighborhood of Praia. President Jorge Carlos Fonseca said a personal feud was behind the killings, ruling out an attempted coup or links to the drug trade. On November 4, 2016, Manuel António Silva Ribeiro was sentenced to 35 years in prison, the maximum sentence available under Cape Verdean law.