“Honestly, I don’t see any gravity. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is no longer a candidate for President of the Republic; he is the sitting President, he will not run again, he cannot do so, and I think we must give this day the dignity it deserves,” stated André Ventura to reporters in Viseu.
In his opinion, it will be “a very relevant day because it’s the first time we hold a solemn session for November 25,” a day that prevented Portugal from “becoming a leftist dictatorship.”
“We should all contribute to giving dignity to this day, in the case of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as President, and for the other participants whether they are candidates, leaders, mayors, or anything else,” he emphasized.
The commission promoting the fiftieth anniversary of the military operation of November 25, 1975, established by the government, will organize a military parade, release a documentary, a book, and hold various debates, in a program that extends until May.
General João Vieira Borges, one of those responsible, stated that the celebration program prepared by the commission kicks off next Tuesday with a military parade at Praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, at 9:00 a.m.
This military parade will be presided over by the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, according to the general.
The president of Chega considered that Portugal should have long had a solemn session on November 25, as it is “a fundamental day for democracy.”
“For many years, neither the PSD nor the PS had the courage to make November 25 a solemn date. I think it suits Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa well to mark this date, though he should have done it in the past, and he didn’t,” he stressed.
André Ventura lamented that it has been forgotten that on November 25, Portugal preserved the freedom won on April 25, ensuring “a free country, with pluralism of press, of parties, and not a dictatorship or single-party country.”
The events of November 25, in which opposing military forces clashed and the so-called moderate wing of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) prevailed, marked the end of the so-called Ongoing Revolutionary Period (PREC).
