“It captured the attention of the whole world”: Venezuelan municipality will commemorate the Carnation Revolution annually

Chacao, one of the five municipalities in the city of Caracas where a large number of Portuguese people live, will celebrate April 25, 1974 annually, in honor of the local Portuguese community, local authorities announced.

“We decided to celebrate the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution every April 25th in honor of the Lusitanian community in the municipality of Chacao”, announced councilor Hilmer Escalona.

The announcement was made on Thursday night during an event in Praça de Los Palos Grandes, on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, organized by the Portuguese Institute of Culture and which for the first time took place in a public square of Venezuela, bringing together half a thousand people.

Hilmer Escalona read the reasons justifying the decision, including that “the Carnation Revolution or Freedom Day in Portugal was an event of historical and political importance for its citizens, with the birth of democracy in Portugal”.

“The Portuguese people put an end to the devastating dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar in a non-violent way, through the apparent fragility of a carnation given to each soldier”, as well as “through the unstoppable and conscious will to choose freedom and democracy as forms of political life for the progress of humanity, its defense and consolidation”, added the councilor.

The revolution “captured the attention of the entire world and remains in the collective memory as a moment of hope and change”, highlighted Escalona.

The events of April 25, 1974 led to constituent elections and the independence of the colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Santo Tomé and Príncipe, “marking the end of Portuguese colonialism in Africa and the beginning of a new era of self-determination and sovereignty for these countries”, said the municipality’s decision.

“An important contingent of inhabitants of the Portuguese Republic emigrated to Venezuelan lands from the middle of the 20th century, becoming deeply rooted in national life, being a building element of Venezuela that today continues to take shape with the certainty of their hands, especially in the city of Caracas and prominently in the municipality of Chacao”, recalled Escalona.

The Chacao City Council also highlighted the work of the Portuguese Institute of Culture, “an outstanding civil organization created and integrated by Portuguese citizens and their descendants with the aim of disseminating, promoting and recognizing, through different expressions, the living memory and cultural identity of Lusitania with transcendental values ​​of human heritage”.