“I understand the concerns of Colonel Vasco Lourenço and Commissioner Professor Maria Inácia Rezola regarding the timeline, but it can’t be said that the idea was to sabotage [the construction of the interpretive center], because that wouldn’t make sense,” he stated.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made these remarks to journalists following a visit to the inauguration of the exhibition “Mário Soares: Um Homem Inteiro” by photographer Luís Vasconcelos in Lisbon. These comments were in response to the president of the Associação 25 de Abril, Vasco Lourenço, who accused the Government of failing to honor its commitment to establish an interpretive center on the Carnation Revolution.
The President of the Republic clarified that a meeting was held recently at Belém between the Commission for Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of April 25, the Associação 25 de Abril, and the Minister of the Presidency to discuss changes to the site designated for the interpretive center. Despite these modifications, the “Government never said it was closing the chapter” on this project.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa acknowledged that “everyone is right in their way” and expressed his role as “the first to fight for speeding up the process,” which he described as “taking too long.” However, he emphasized that this delay “has nothing to do” with the celebration of the military operation on November 25.
“These are different matters. I believe there should be an interpretive center. The Government never said there shouldn’t be one; it is indeed taking too long to establish this project. It’s important that it gets underway. The celebrations of April 25 will continue with those of the Constitution and the first elections next year, while November 25 has its space,” he said.
The president of the Associação 25 de Abril accused the Government of failing to keep its promise to create an interpretive center on the Carnation Revolution, and described the new commission on November 25 as “a farce.”
