TERROR IN THE COUNTRY DOES NOT REPRESENT A FORM OF AFRICAN ATAVISM, AND LEADERS CANNOT BE SIMPLISTICALLY DISMISSED AS RACIST MURDERERS. EQUATORIAL GUINEA IS NOT ECONOMICALLY, ETHNICALLY, OR POLITICALLY UNIFIED; AND FORCE IS THE BASIS OF SOCIAL POLICY. SINCE 1969, UNDER THE NGUEMA REGIME, THE DEATH RATE FOR POLITICIANS HAS BEEN UNUSUALLY HIGH. AUTHORITARIAN RULE BY NGUEMA HAS BEEN CONSIDERED ONE MEANS BY WHICH TO EXTIRPATE SEPARATIST TENDENCIES THAT HAD NOT BE RESOLVED AT THE TIME OF THE COUNTRY'S 1968 INDEPENDENCE. AS IN CERTAIN OTHER CENTRAL AFRICAN NATIONS, INDEPENDENT EQUATORIAL GUINEA HAS SPAWNED A CULT OF PERSONALITY AND PROGRAM OF CULTURAL NATIONALISM. THESE CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE INTENSIVE HISPANIZATION CHARACTERIZING THE LAST YEARS OF SPANISH RULE PRIOR TO INDEPENDENCE. IT IS AGAINST THIS CULTURAL IMPERIALISM THAT THE INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT IS REACTING. THE AGENCY FOR IDEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION IS TO BE EDUCATION OR, RATHER, REEDUCATION. THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA IS NOT STABLE, AND THE MASS EXODUS OF MANY SPANISH WORKERS HAS THREATENED THE ECONOMY. SINCE 1968, NGUEMA HAS KEPT TOGETHER A STATE THAT APPEARS TO BE BOTH A GEOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC ANOMALY. TERROR HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE. BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN LABOR FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ITS MAJOR EXPORT CROP, HOWEVER, TERROR IS ULTIMATELY DYSFUNCTIONAL. NOTES ARE INCLUDED. (DEP)