Cristiano Ronaldo’s father, José Dinis Aveiro, was a well-known football player from Portugal and a veteran of several wars. He participated in his nation’s conflict with Angola as a soldier.
He returned home (a shattered man) to Portugal had been devastated economically and turned to drunkenness after witnessing the diseases and atrocities in African nations. This was difficult for the family.
José Dinis Aveiro: Was Cristiano Ronaldo’s father in the military and how long did he serve?
According to reports, Aveiro was coerced into enlisting. He participated in the African war against the Angolan colony as a Portuguese soldier. Fighting for its freedom from Portugal was the colonies. The atrocities the Portuguese troops saw in Africa had a lasting effect on the men, who ultimately lost the battle.
The circumstances that the soldiers had to survive in were horrific. The food was rotten by the time the supplies got to them, making them scarce. An array of illnesses, such as malaria, fever, chills, tremors, etc., plagued the half-starved troops.
Additionally, it was deemed unsafe to drink the water, so the soldiers subsisted on ‘Cuca,’ a local beer from Angola.
Aveiro spent 13 months serving under trying circumstances in Mozambique and Angola.
