One of the most extraordinary stories of the Cold War links Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu with Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Central African Empire. At the center of this political and human drama stands Gabriela Drâmbă, a young Romanian woman whose life was quietly reshaped by secret diplomacy.
On July 28, 1973, Bokassa paid an official visit to Bucharest, where Ceaușescu received him with great ceremony. Shortly afterward, Gabriela—then a translator of French and English, not a dancer—was sent to Central Africa with a Romanian cultural group. She met Bokassa for the first time in Bangui, and soon discovered that the emperor had become obsessed with her. According to Gabriela, Bokassa even asked Ceaușescu for permission to marry her, and she was later forced by the Romanian security services to return to Africa and become his wife.
From 1975 to 1977, Gabriela lived in the imperial palace in Bangui under constant guard. Bokassa gave her extraordinary privileges: servants, luxury cars, and even a private palace with a lake filled with crocodiles. Despite the splendor, she describes her life as a gilded cage—she was watched day and night and had no freedom to leave.
Over time, Western media turned her into a spy and Bokassa into a cannibal, but Gabriela has rejected both claims. She insists she was neither a secret agent nor part of any diamond deal rumored between Bokassa and Ceaușescu. The legend has it that 10% of the mined diamonds would be sent to be processed in Romania.
Fearing for her future and desperate to return home, Gabriela finally convinced Bokassa to grant her a divorce, just before his imperial coronation. She returned to Bucharest at the age of 23 and rebuilt her life in silence.
Today, her story remains one of the most haunting examples of how ordinary people could be trapped in the power games of dictators.
https://www.cancan.ro/drama-sotiei-romance-a-dictatorului-bokassa-14772915
Dracula's Guide to Romania 
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