Santa Libertade on January 1961, a Group Of

Santa Libertade On January 1961, a group of antifascists hijacks a Portuguese steamer, the Santa Maria . The hijackers are led by a general of the Air Force and by a captain of the Army, both Portuguese. Those two officers are not ordinary officers. The first, Humberto Delgado, has challenged Salazar’s party in the race for the Presidency of Republic; the latter , Henrique Galvão, has escaped from Salazar’s jails , after having been arrested two years before, because of having taken part to a military uprising, repressed immediately. General Delgado is a traditionalist military. He has abandoned Salazar’s experience, after having been a convinced supporter of it ( as Galvão did, in the early times of the Estado Novo ). He has a big charisma. Candidate in the presidential election in 1958, he did not give up on the eve of the vote and went all the way. His was a right choice. Officially one elector on four, in the Metropolitan territory and in the Overseas Provinces, voted for him. Many more, in Delgado’s opinion. I want to know- he will write- why in Lisbon only one elector on ten has voted. I want to know why on the newspapers of the press of the regime nobody has spoken of the two hundred thousand people who in Porto listened to my political rally. I want to know why many enlisted electors were forbidden to participate. In other words, Delgado considers himself as the real president of the Republic. Who negates this fact is a cheater. Once the polls are closed, the “cheater” in office- if we consider true the existence of electoral frauds—the untouchable Salazar puts in scene the usual script: first he demotes Delgado, then sends him to breathe a healthy air in Brazil. Along with a lot of his supporters. Even a bishop- the bishop of the diocese of Porto- author of a passionate but not appreciated letter about the need of change, is forced to leave his diocese and to go in exile. But now, aboard of this steamer, for the general who has scared Salazar, the story is different. He is in the centre of the international attention, he can make his voice heard. Before the Santa Maria - renamed immediately Santa Libertade - gets to Bahia in Brazil, Delgado addresses a passionate exhortation to the Portuguese: rebel yourself, make yourself free. Somebody listens to him. Even in high places. The Minister of Defence, Botelho Moniz, plans a military coup to remove Salazar, but he fails. Some months later, in the Beja district, some military units rise against Salazar. And what about one of the brightest minds of the Estado Novo , the professor Marcello Caetano, rector of the University of Coimbra? When the student revolts are repressed, he protests against the violation of the autonomy of the university. A big confusion, nothing to say. The situation, inside and outside Portugal, gets worse. But the answer always is the usual answer. Come back from Brazil, general Delgado is assassinated at the Spanish border; the PIDE—a state into the state-- takes charge of the situation and many opponents are exiled or jailed. The socialist Mario Soares -- future President of the Republic--is sent into internal exile at Sao Tomé. Meantime, in the Overseas provinces ( i.e. in the colonies), colonizers and colonized are at loggerheads. The inhabitants of the Provinces are claiming freedom, independence, autonomy from Portugal and from the Portuguese. At first they rise their voices, then they take up weapons. Movements of liberation rise in Angola (MPLA) in Mozambique (FRELIMO) in Guinea Bissau(PAIGC), the war of guerrilla becomes harsh. India occupies Goa and Diu. In both sides there are the first Portuguese fallen. Even Salazar falls. In the true sense of the word. When he is about to sit on a chair, loses his balance, falls to the ground and bangs his head. The fall will cause an hematoma into his brain and he will never recover from this accident. At first, President Tomàs waits. He gathers a lot of health updates, then, seeing no bettering of the illustrious ill, he appoints professor Marcello Caetano Prime Minister. It is 1968, the year of the student protests in the western world. Salazar has “reigned” for thirty-six years, eight years less than “ Magnanimo ” João V, king of Portugal from 1706 to 1750. The “Man of the Fate” is out. Will the Estado Novo able to last ? .

Load more