1953 жылғы Сан-Томедегі жергілікті креол халқының қырғыны

1953 killing of native creoles in colonial São Tomé
Gorgulho also faced a shortage of labor to carry out his public works and construction projects. The colonial administration used police raids to kidnap people for forced labor gangs to carry out much of this work.

Faced with widespread labor shortages, in 1952 the colonial administration proposed settling fifteen thousand people from Cape Verde on São Tomé; then in January 1953 rumors spread that the government would seize the land of the forros to give to newly arrived Cape Verdians and compel the forros to work as contract labor. On February 2, 1953, hand written pamphlets appeared in São Tomé threatening to kill anyone who contracted forros as laborers. The government responded with on official declaration: "The government has been informed that individuals who are hostile towards the present policy, known as communists, are spreading tendentious rumors to the effect that the creoles are to be obliged to contract themselves for the work on the roças like serviçais. The government declares that no creole should give credit to these rumors, but should report such individuals to the police. Thus, the government which has the obligation to protect the creoles, as it has always demonstrated, guarantees them that it will never agree to authorize such contracts." Crowds of protestors gathered on February 3 and the police killed one of them, Manuel da Conceição Soares. His death precipitated a large protest in Trindade the following day.

Gorgulho informed colonists and the administration that a communist rebellion was in the offing and he issued a call for all white colonists to take up arms to protect themselves and white women. Militias were quickly formed and some Cape Verdians responded to the call to arms. In addition, planters mobilized Angolan and Mozambican workers. Over the next few days the militias and colonial government killed hundreds of forros. Twenty eight people were suffocated in a cell by the local police, the Corpo de Polícia Indígena (CPI, Indigenous Police Corps); on one estate, twenty people were burned to death. The authorities subjected prisoners to torture using electricity and scores of prisoners died as a result of torture, beatings, and forced labor.