“I deeply regret the passing of Francisco Pinto Balsemão. He was very important for our freedom,” stated Ferro Rodrigues in reaction to Balsemão’s death, emphasizing that he always had a good relationship with one of the founders of the PPD/PSD “at all times”.
“He will always be associated with Expresso and SIC, which revolutionized the media in such different eras. My solidarity goes to the family, the many friends, and those who were with him until the end,” Ferro Rodrigues also wrote.
The news of the former prime minister’s death at the age of 88 was announced by the president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, during the party’s National Council, with applause heard in the room.
Balsemão was the founder, in 1973, of the weekly newspaper Expresso, still during the dictatorship, and SIC, the first private television in Portugal, in 1992.
He was one of the founders, with Francisco Sá Carneiro, of the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), later the Partido Social Democrata (PSD), in 1974, was until today its member number one, and was currently a member of the Council of State, the advisory body of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
His last political intervention, already ill, took place exactly 35 days ago, on September 16, through a written message of support to the presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes, former president of the PSD.
