In response to questions posed by journalists at the end of a lunch-debate organized by the CIP (Confederação Empresarial de Portugal), the former Navy Chief of Staff announced that if elected President of the Republic, he would be willing to deliver a speech in a solemn session dedicated to November 25, 1975.
The admiral began by agreeing with the warning given today by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, highlighting that democracy is never guaranteed.
“Democracy is lived every day, built every day for the future, and we cannot relax in defending democracy. We live in a society built on two dates: April 25 and November 25,” he stated.
Gouveia e Melo noted that April 25, 1974, represented a break with the previous regime, while November 25 “in some way reconfirmed the freedom that was gained on April 25.”
In his view, these two dates in Portuguese history complement each other: “Only someone ideologically very sectarian cannot understand that the two dates are related and completed each other. One gave freedom, and the other confirmed that freedom,” he argued.
The admiral dismissed any “competition” between the dates of April 25 and November 25.
“The two dates are part of the same period. There was a date that liberated the population from a fierce dictatorship and another that prevented a fall into another dictatorship after that liberation. So, one is freedom, and the second is the confirmation of that freedom,” he added.
