[2] The movement failed due to poor planning of the actions to take power,[2] the lack of a clear objective in front of the popular masses[2] and the military support to the State apparatus provided by the troops of the Cuban Armed Forces,[2] who had been carrying out Operation Carlota in Angolan territory since 1975.
There was a wedge at the core of the movement between the "moderados" (moderates), committed to a steady and careful growth and the return of Agostinho Neto and Lopo do Nascimento, and a radical faction, led by Nito Alves, which objected to the predominance of mestizos and whites in the government.
Some of those government members saw the opportunity of obtaining a larger share of power, explicitly launching an appeal for race to the people, as Nito Alves did when claiming, in a rally in Luanda's periphery, that "Angola would only be truly independent when whites, mestizos and blacks swept the streets together".
However, Nito Alves' dissatisfaction with Agostinho Neto's alleged orientation toward the intellectual urban mestizos, such as Lúcio Lara, influential historian and the party's chief ideologist, Paulo Jorge, and the Minister of Defence, "Iko" Carreira, constituted a division in the government.
This division became more evident during the Central Committee's 3rd plenary meeting on 23 to 29 October 1976, when Nito Alves and José Van-Dúnen were suspended for accusations of fractionism, after having played a crucial role in creating a 2nd MPLA.