Gabriel Lozès Explained

Gabriel Lozès (18 August 1917  - 25 June 1986^[1])^[2] was a Beninese medical doctor, politician, and diplomat.

Lozes served as Minister of Health in 1963 and 1964 and replaced Chabi Mama as Foreign Minister from 25 January 1964 to 1 December 1965. During this time, Lozes also served as General Secretary of the unique Parti Démocratique Dahoméen (PDD) and as Ahomadegbe's right-hand man. After the dissolution of the PDD, he created the Alliance Démocratique Dahoméenne (ADD) and became its first General Secretary. On 28 January 1966 he was briefly detained for interrogation on suspicion of publishing tracts inciting revolt against the new government of Christophe Soglo. He was again imprisoned in May 1969, being accused of plotting to return Ahomadegbe to power and to overthrow the regime of Emile Zinsou. In 1971 he served as Minister of Public Works, Transports and Mines. He was again arrested and briefly detained in 1973.^{[3] [4] [5]}

The Lozès family migrated to the French suburban city of Creil in 1979, then to Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis).^[6]

Gabriel Lozes is the father of Patrick Lozès (fr), former president of the Representative Council of France's Black Associations and candidate to the 2012 French presidential election.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Index Lo-Ly.
2. Les Élites africaines, Édiafric, 1972
3. Les Anciens Ministres, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, de l'Intégration Africaine, de la Francophonie et des Béninois de l'Extérieur
4. Philippe Decraene, "Le projet d’« Union du Bénin » a des chances limitées", Le Monde diplomatique, August 1964
5. He was however never a senator in France, either under the Fourth or the Fifth Republic, in contradiction to the pretences of his son on his website, although he may have been a member of the short-lived (1959-1961) Senate of the French Community (fr)
6. Patrick Lozès, Nous, les Noirs de France, Paris, Ed. Danger public, 2007, p.14