“Lieutenant Anastácio who commanded the Guard barracks on April 25, 1974, replacing Captain Valente who went to “guard” the country’s border in Vilar Formoso”
1. «This is the dawn I was waiting for», Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen would say about a revolution that so many waited for for 48 years. The 25th of April fulfilled most of the assumptions that a revolution entails: the social, cultural and political transformation of society, and ended the colonial war. And celebrating April is, precisely, remembering the starting point, in 1974, and contemplating a different country, for the better. Portugal is today a country with a consolidated Democratic regime, where Freedom is a given and where people live with much greater dignity and quality of life. And when we hear that “it used to be much better”, we have to remember that no, it wasn’t: Portugal was a poor, backward, oppressed, sad country with no future. Therefore, the Revolution deserves to be celebrated, because “now no one will close the doors that April opened!” (Ary dos Santos). But we have to be vigilant… always!
two. 50 years ago, freedom won over censorship, today it is Democracy that is becoming impoverished in the face of new forms of admonition and repression of the right to inform and be informed. The press is experiencing extreme difficulties, which have more to do with the lack of market than with the flight of readers to new media and, as a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to practice journalism – a determining factor for freedom and quality of media. Democracy… The Press was decisive in the Revolution (it was on the radio that the first revolutionary messages were broadcast) and is essential in the life of Democracy.
Governments and local authorities have to make choices and understand the importance of supporting the media and as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Carnation Revolution we cannot fail to highlight the role that local radio stations and the regional press also played and continue to play in the consolidation of democracy and freedom.
3. It was the military who made the Revolution. It was the “captains of April” who dictated the end of fascism in Portugal. And it is the military who deserve the applause and tribute 50 years later. In the country, as in the Guard. It is not enough to remember the heroism of Salgueiro Maia, and then forget the risks of the many who risked his lives by deposing the regime in all the barracks where the Armed Forces revolted.
In Guarda, where, in RI12, the young officers mutinied and contributed to the execution of the coup d’état – therefore, and if there were no other reasons, it is unacceptable that the soldiers who were in RI12 50 years ago (the officers, the sergeants and soldiers) are not among those invited to the Solemn Session that the Chamber of the Guard, rightly so, organized to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Revolution. If honoring Captain Valente is an act of elementary justice, leaving out his comrades, those who shared dreams and risks with him, is incomprehensible.
4. The Revolution arrived at Guarda later. The news that arrived from Lisbon did not immediately impact the Beira city. At lunchtime, the Civil Governor continued to be Andrade Pereira and in the barracks Colonel António José Ribeiro continued to be the commander of the 12th Infantry Regiment, assisted by the Second Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel António Jorge Teixeira.
It was after lunch that the Revolution entered the barracks walls. Captain Monteiro Valente, following the instructions of the Armed Forces Movement, burst into the officers’ bar, weapon at the ready, and with a shout of rebellion gave the arrest order to the Commander taking command of RI12. And when the second commander stood up to respond to the order, Captain Valente shot to the ground and shouted that the next bullet would be aimed at him if he didn’t sit down (it was the only shot that took place in the Guard on April 25, 1974, and one of the few that took place on that day of Revolution in Portugal). The young officers surrounded Monteiro Valente (namely Lieutenant Anastácio, who commanded the Guard barracks on April 25, 1974, replacing Captain Valente who went to “guard” the country’s border in Vilar Formoso. The hitherto commander and second commander, they rescued themselves and would later go, arrested, to a room in the Hotel Turismo where they were detained. It “seems” that it is necessary to write the story of April 25th in Guarda and the region. hitherto unknown or little publicized.
5. 50 Years later, the then young soldiers all deserved to be remembered and honored, for having been on the right side of history. Or, as Luís Anastácio reminded us, they risked their lives and others are now celebrating. Others that we don’t know where they were, but we know they weren’t there…
