In a statement, the board of the Associação 25 de Abril, led by Vasco Lourenço, noted that last Friday, General Amadeu Garcia dos Santos, “one of the most significant members of the unique group, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA),” passed away.
The association emphasized that the MFA “led the memorable endeavor to bring freedom, peace, democracy, and a more just, equal, and solidary rule of law to Portugal,” which it believes is “falling apart.”
“Among the authorities, credit must be given to the President of the Republic, who attended the wake and funeral of this Captain of April, who even became a general. As for the rest, what did we see? From the Government or the Assembly of the Republic, everything was reduced to the chief of staff of the Minister of National Defense offering condolences to the family,” it criticized.
Leaders of the Associação 25 de Abril questioned whether Portugal still lives “more than 50 years in freedom and democracy, a situation never experienced in its almost 900 years and which the Captains of April helped build.”
“One of the key members of the group that achieved the April 25 revolution has left us, and among state authorities, only the President of the Republic attended and honored him,” they reiterated.
Expressing gratitude to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as well as to the Portuguese Army for the “high dignity of the funeral military honors,” the association expressed “enormous repudiation toward the actions of the remaining state authorities,” also criticizing the media.
“Perhaps exhausted by the exaggerated campaign surrounding the deaths of two young sportsmen, the media paid little attention to the passing of Amadeu Garcia dos Santos, who did not deserve front-page headlines or news bulletins,” they lamented.
The association stated that at the funeral, there was a “total absence of any means to collect images or sound,” questioning whether there is no longer “a true and ethical public communication service.”
The leaders of the Associação 25 de Abril warned that these situations regarding the funeral of Garcia dos Santos might “indicate unimaginable changes in the memories and values for which the April military always fought.”
General Amadeu Garcia dos Santos, one of the military figures involved in the April 25, 1974 revolution and former Chief of the Army Staff, died on Friday at the age of 89, an official branch source confirmed to Lusa.
Amadeu Garcia dos Santos was born on August 13, 1935, in Bairro Alto, Lisbon.
The military leader was one of the operational minds behind the Carnation Revolution on April 25, responsible for communications, which were essential to the success of the coup.
