The President of the Republic defended this Friday that November 25, 1975 cannot be forgotten because it is a complementary date to April 25, 1974 and it is only possible to understand the two dates together.
The head of state was speaking in the Ambassadors Hall of the Belém Palace, in Lisbon, at a ceremony in which he awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty, posthumously, to Major General Pires Veloso and awarded the Commando Association with the title of honorary member of the Order of the Infante D. Henrique.
In a brief intervention of six and a half minutes, recently arrived from Qatar, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa justified the realization of this evocative ceremony on November 25: “We evoke a very relevant date in a process that is truly inseparable from the one that has been lived since on April 25, 1974.”
“You cannot understand April 25, 1974 without understanding November 25, 1975 and you cannot understand November 25, 1975 without understanding April 25, 1974. And it is this complementarity that justifies why we cannot forget today”he claimed.
The President of the Republic said that “the oldest” remember “the political process, the economic, social and military process” that followed April 25, 1974 and dominated the year 1975 “and then naturally it would proceed in a different way, more blurred ” in 1976, but “the youngest have a more distant notion of History”.
“And the important thing is to remember this History, not only to do justice to the past, but also to look at the present, at the irreplaceable role of our Armed Forces and prepare for a better future,” he added.
This ceremony was open to the media, but the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces decided not to speak into the microphone, which prevented his words from being clearly captured.
Regarding Major General Pires Veloso, one of the speakers on November 25, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed himself “astonished, not to say shocked”, for having received only “the only decoration, a very low degree of the Order of Avis ”, considering its “very important role in a difficult process”.
“This injustice had to be repaired. And it seemed good to me today to repair that injustice. For this reason, he receives the title that corresponds to what his role was and also corresponds to the responsibilities he assumed at such a difficult moment in Portuguese life, ”he declared.
Regarding the Commandos, the President of the Republic stressed that their “long, long service, which began long before April 25, 1974”, has already been recognized by successive heads of state.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that he wanted, with this Friday’s award, “to underline the role of the association that unites them in solidarity” and that it fulfills “the mission of bringing together generations and generations and generations of Portuguese soldiers, the oldest combatants”. in Africa, while other more recent ones are present in outstanding national forces”.
The events of November 25, in which opposing military forces clashed on the ground and the so-called moderate wing of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) won, marked the end of the so-called Revolutionary Process on the Move (PREC).
Source: Observadora
