A military vehicle historically associated with April 25 will tour part of the municipality of Coimbra on Saturday as part of the popular commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.
“To celebrate April, poetry is once again taking to the streets and a ‘Chaimite’ vehicle is going to drive around the city of Coimbra,” Valdemar Ferreira Rosas, one of the promoters of the action, told Lusa today as chairman of the board of the Archaeology and Art Group of the Center (GAAC).
With “great anticipation”, the GAAC has planned “a strong initiative to evoke the fiftieth anniversary of April 25, giving it a historical and artistic component”, he said, indicating that the coordinator of the program is doctor João Paulo Almeida e Sousa, a member of the 25 de Abril Association, which is providing the ‘Chaimite’ for the purpose.
“The end of the colonial war, the abolition of censorship, freedom of expression, free trade unionism, universal basic education and access to health care, freedom of religion, the constitutional principle of equal rights for men and women and political pluralism are unequivocal social advances that must be preserved,” said the cultural association.
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, he recalled that on April 25, 1974, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) “overthrew the dictatorship that oppressed Portugal and re-established the democratic political system”, putting an end to 48 years of authoritarianism and fascism, which made it possible to draft and approve the 1976 Constitution, currently in force after several revisions.
On Saturday, between 10 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., the MFA’s ‘Chaimite’, parked at the Santana Barracks, will tour the parishes of Santo António dos Olivais and União das Freguesias de Coimbra, on the right bank of the River Mondego, as well as União de Freguesias de Santa Clara e Castelo Viegas and neighboring São Martinho do Bispo and Ribeira de Frades, on the left bank.
Throughout the day, at each stop, “there will be a reading of poems alluding to the anniversary or the fight for freedom”, by Portuguese authors and those from other Portuguese-speaking countries, with the participation of the Bonifrates Cooperative.
On Sunday morning, the main program will be complemented by two more ‘Chaimite’ stops, at the Centro Educativo dos Olivais and at Praça 8 de Maio, next to the Church of Santa Cruz, where D. Afonso Henriques, the founding king of Portugal, is buried.
Coimbra City Council and the parish councils are also supporting the initiative.
