At 96 years old, Adventino Ferreira still has the strength he once had, which allowed him to survive for almost three years as a political prisoner of the Estado Novo. It was in this tone that he spoke to the students of EB 2,3 in Pataias, last Thursday, as part of Dias +, under the theme of April 25th and freedom. The communist resister was one of the speakers invited by the Senior University of Pataias (USP), which promoted several activities, following a challenge from the school.
“If I hadn’t been strong in my head, I wouldn’t have been able to stand it”, assured the nonagenarian, as he described the torture he was subjected to, such as the “Statue”, which forced him to remain motionless for hours on end.
The former employee of a glass producing company was a communist and was denounced by a comrade, who assured the PIDE (International and State Defense Police) that Adventino Ferreira knew who all the communists in Pataias were. It didn’t take long until the house where he lived with his parents, in the then village, was surrounded by the regime’s police. He was arrested and tried at the Boa Hora Court, which sentenced him to a prison sentence of almost three years. The sentence did not mention him, but daily episodes of torture also awaited him, first in Aljube and then in Caxias. He became emotional several times during his intervention, remembering the horrors to which he was subjected. “I never spoke”, boasts the communist, who, of course, knew the names of the approximately 40 members of the Portuguese Communist Party in Pataias, but always protected his comrades.
The former resister, who maintains the daily routine of working the land whether it rains or shines, was joined by Maria Bagagem from Patai, who described what it was like to be a student during the Estado Novo, and Maria de Lurdes Sousa from Monte, who began giving classes in the year of the revolution.
The USP choir had performed the day before, with “E Além do Adeus”, by Paulo de Carvalho, “Grândola”, by José Afonso, and “Somos Livres”, by Ermelinda Duarte, the latter song together with EB students 2.3.
USP also made a true return to the past, decorating a small room – “Our grandparents’ room” – with the furniture of yesteryear: desks, the measuring box, maps, rivers, railway stations and various memorabilia and where the crucifix and portrait of Salazar could not be missed.
Outside the school, students were strategically placed to form the number 50, with giant red carnations. The symbolic flowers, built by the young people, were then placed next to the main entrance of the school, where, on a banner, one can read: “Freedom 50 years, 50 carnations”.
Tags: Senior University Pataias takes political prisoner school
