OPERATION ‘END OF REGIME’. The commitments of the military who made the Revolution of April 25, 1974

Moderation and Presentation by António Teodoro

26th September 2022
15.00 – 17.30 hours
José Araújo Auditorium
Lusófona University
Campo Grande, 380 (annex to the Vítor de Sá Library)

In the context of the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution, the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Education and Development (CeiED) of Lusófona University has an ongoing project entitled Utopias of April. The Portuguese Revolution and Education. The project Utopias de Abril aims to make a critical assessment of the changes and the state of education in Portugal during the period of democratic transition between 1974 and 1976. Several initiatives will take place between 2022 and 2025.

One of the formats chosen for some of these initiatives was the Conversations with… And nothing could be more appropriate to start these conversations than inviting Commander Carlos Almada Contreiras, one of the military men of April who played, most of the time without public exposure, a decisive role in the paths that the Revolution took.

“The Armed Forces Movement will not collaborate in the establishment of a military dictatorship in the country, but will fight for the establishment in Portugal of a political democracy. Thus began the protocol assumed by the military that made up the Revolution of April 25, 1974.

In this conversation, Commander Almada Contreiras will address the evolution of political thought within the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), based on an unprecedented systematization work, and will present some of the original founding documents of that thought, including the Protocol, which included the MFA Program as an annex.

Carlos de Almada Contreiras

Born in Aljustrel in 1941, he completed his secondary education at the Setúbal High School. He joined the Naval School in 1960. Between 1964 and 1970 he held several military commissions in Guinea, Mozambique, Angola and S. Tomé and Príncipe. On the 25th of April he was a member of the Political Coordinating Committee of the MFA, having participated in the writing of the MFA Program and indicated the song “Grândola Vila Morena” as the password for the military operation “Fim do Regime”.

After the 25th of April, he was a member of the MFA Coordinating Committee, a member of the Council of State and the Council of the Revolution. He was director of the Intelligence Coordination Service in 1975. After his retirement he was in Mozambique from 1988 to 1997, with activities in the Secretary of State for Fisheries and in FAO. In Cascais City Hall (1997-2007) he was advisor to the President and director of the Municipal Police Department. He holds several decorations, among which the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty. He is a retired Captain by career reconstitution in 1989. He directs the collection “Memories of War and Revolution” editing works that seek to study and clarify the historical memory of the April Revolution of 1974. He is coordinator of the works: Operation “Historical Turnaround” (2nd ed.) – April 25, 1974 and The Night that Changed the April Revolution – The Military Assembly of March 11, 1975 (transcription of the original recording).