Mário Soares died this
Saturday. He had been hospitalized since December 13 at the Red Cross Hospital
in Lisbon.
Counting among the founding members of the Socialist Party, Mário Soares was
one of the most complex political personalities in Europe, and one of the most
notable protagonists in the history of Portuguese politics in the second half
of the twentieth century.Having been sworn in three times as Prime Minister of Portugal, the Socialist leader was still president of the Portuguese Republic in two terms, and will be remembered above all as the minister of the first four provisional governments of democratic Portugal that officially initiated the process of decolonization.
He also initiated the process
of Portugal's accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) and signed the
Treaty of Accession to the EEC as prime minister.
Life in exile
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares was born in Lisbon on December 7, 1924, the son of Elisa Nobre Soares and João Lopes Soares, teacher, pedagogue, author and politician of the Iª. Republic. Graduated in History-Philosophical Sciences and Law from the University of Lisbon, he was a teacher of secondary education (private) and director of the Modern College, founded by his father. He was a lawyer for many years and, when he was in exile in France, he was "Chargé de Cours" at the Universities of Vincennes and the Sorbonne in Paris, and an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Upper Brittany in Rennes.
Resistant to the dictatorship (to the Estado Novo regime) and active in organizing the democratic opposition to Salazarism, Mário Soares defended political prisoners as a lawyer, participating in numerous trials in the Plenary Court and the Special Military Court.
Life in exile
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares was born in Lisbon on December 7, 1924, the son of Elisa Nobre Soares and João Lopes Soares, teacher, pedagogue, author and politician of the Iª. Republic. Graduated in History-Philosophical Sciences and Law from the University of Lisbon, he was a teacher of secondary education (private) and director of the Modern College, founded by his father. He was a lawyer for many years and, when he was in exile in France, he was "Chargé de Cours" at the Universities of Vincennes and the Sorbonne in Paris, and an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Upper Brittany in Rennes.
Resistant to the dictatorship (to the Estado Novo regime) and active in organizing the democratic opposition to Salazarism, Mário Soares defended political prisoners as a lawyer, participating in numerous trials in the Plenary Court and the Special Military Court.
For his political activity
against the dictatorship, he was also arrested more than a dozen times by the
Estado Novo political police, PIDE. He was deported without trial in Africa. He
was also exiled in France, where he returned three days after the revolution of
25 April 1974, having arrived at the station of Santa Apolónia in Lisbon,
transported by the "convoy of freedom", as the Sud-Express of 28 Of
April of that year.
On February 17, 1986, marking the victory of Mário Soares (the day before) in the elections of the first president of the civil Republic elected directly by the people in Portuguese history, JN wrote: "Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares is a sounding family name. Not necessarily by the Nobles, the Lopes or the Soares, but by the Mitterrands, the Brandts or the Palmes, all members of this heterogeneous and scattered "family" that already so many heads of state and rulers gave to the World - the Socialist International.
On February 17, 1986, marking the victory of Mário Soares (the day before) in the elections of the first president of the civil Republic elected directly by the people in Portuguese history, JN wrote: "Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares is a sounding family name. Not necessarily by the Nobles, the Lopes or the Soares, but by the Mitterrands, the Brandts or the Palmes, all members of this heterogeneous and scattered "family" that already so many heads of state and rulers gave to the World - the Socialist International.
Protagonist of the 20th
century
However, Mário Soares "head of government" - as several of his public life associates say - was not the best Soares of the many who were known. It was said, at the time, that he was "a specialist to overthrow governments, even his own." Soares antifascista and Soares anti-communist were better than Prime Minister Soares, in the words of the sociologist and chronicler António Barreto, who was minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Mário Soares in the First Constitutional Government of Portugal (1976-1978).
As one of the most notable protagonists of Portuguese political history of the second half of the twentieth century, Mário Soares also attempted to write (or rewrite) history - in the true meaning of the terms - as they consider personalities that were close to him. "Soares (not always strict) wanted to take care of his history, to the smallest detail," writes António Barreto, who in 1985 was a member of his Political Commission for the Presidency of the Republic.
However, Mário Soares "head of government" - as several of his public life associates say - was not the best Soares of the many who were known. It was said, at the time, that he was "a specialist to overthrow governments, even his own." Soares antifascista and Soares anti-communist were better than Prime Minister Soares, in the words of the sociologist and chronicler António Barreto, who was minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Mário Soares in the First Constitutional Government of Portugal (1976-1978).
As one of the most notable protagonists of Portuguese political history of the second half of the twentieth century, Mário Soares also attempted to write (or rewrite) history - in the true meaning of the terms - as they consider personalities that were close to him. "Soares (not always strict) wanted to take care of his history, to the smallest detail," writes António Barreto, who in 1985 was a member of his Political Commission for the Presidency of the Republic.
Moreover, alongside the
various official and / or unofficial biographies of Mário Soares, his
personality and action are described in other works, which were not always to
his liking or cause satisfaction to the "soarist tribe" in the
Socialist Party.
As Secretary-General of the PS, Vice-President of the IS (position for which he was elected at the Geneva Congress in 1976, and afterwards successively re-elected (he was Honorary President since 1986), Mário Soares developed a great international activity. IS for the Middle East and for Latin America and carried out various information missions to those areas, as well as to Southern Africa. It participated in numerous negotiations, meetings, colloquia, congresses and missions within and outside the IS.
On 13 December 1995 he assumed the presidency of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans; In March 1997, the chairmanship of the Portugal Africa Foundation and the chair of the European Movement; In September of the same year, the chairmanship of the Promoting Committee of the World Water Contract and, in December, the chairmanship of the Committee of Wise Men of the Council of Europe. He was also Counselor of State.
As Secretary-General of the PS, Vice-President of the IS (position for which he was elected at the Geneva Congress in 1976, and afterwards successively re-elected (he was Honorary President since 1986), Mário Soares developed a great international activity. IS for the Middle East and for Latin America and carried out various information missions to those areas, as well as to Southern Africa. It participated in numerous negotiations, meetings, colloquia, congresses and missions within and outside the IS.
On 13 December 1995 he assumed the presidency of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans; In March 1997, the chairmanship of the Portugal Africa Foundation and the chair of the European Movement; In September of the same year, the chairmanship of the Promoting Committee of the World Water Contract and, in December, the chairmanship of the Committee of Wise Men of the Council of Europe. He was also Counselor of State.
Thanks to him I lost my
country and far more… but, I hope he RIP.
Saisi!
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