REFUSING TO TAKE PART IN THE COLONIAL WAR

BY FERNANDO CARDEIRA*
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN evident to me that the refusal to take part in the colonial
War impacted the duration of the war, and no one can deny it.
All those who refused to take up arms in the war that Portugal waged against
the liberation movements in the colonies that were fighting against the continuation of Portuguese colonial rule made a notable contribution in shortening the duration of a war that caused so much suffering and death to the Portuguese people and the oppressed people of Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique. Especially them!
Whether it was through the decision to desert the military ranks, not showing up at the barracks after the barracks after a military inspection, or simply not these inspections, the hundreds of thousands of young people who, for the most reasons, whether political or of conscience, took these actions strongly contributed to the weakening of the war effort that the fascist regime of Salazar and Caetano imposed on the Portuguese people. It is now very evident today, and there is no shortage of studies to prove it, that in the last three or four years of the war years of the war, the regime was faced with enormous difficulty in military recruitment, struggling above all with a lack of officers to command the troops. It was these difficulties that led the military hierarchy to resort to
laws to attract young men to military careers, created situations of injustice within the Armed Forces that led the officers to get together to challenge these laws, thus initiating a process that would lead them to conclude that the only solution to their
problems, and those of the country, was to overthrow the regime by force. Which
they ended up doing courageously, heroically, and patriotically on April 25, 1974.

Military Academy
As a young man, I entered the Military Academy in October 1961, the year the war began in Angola; I never found within the institution any enthusiastic adherence to the desire to fight in Africa for the greatness of the Portuguese empire. Although it wasn’t possible, given the ferocious political repression conducted by the PIDE and openly supported by the hierarchy, taking organized initiatives to challenge the Salazar regime and the colonial war was impossible. Salazar’s regime and the colonial war, as well as discontent with the drag out of military operations and the successive mobilizations for the war, became more intense over the years. For the Military Academy’s Engineering courses, the change accelerated when they moved from the barracks to the benches of the Instituto. The group of 10 deserters, of which I was one, left the Armed Forces and confronted the regime in August 1970, is only the most spectacular example of the rejection of the colonial war and the fascist regime. Because many others did so before and after that date.

Vinício Alves da Costa e Sousa
An example that is entirely unknown or ignored by historians is of Infantry Major Vinício Alves da Costa e Sousa who, after having deserted, sent a letter to the President of the Republic, Américo Tomás, from Paris in January 1972, explaining the reasons for his decision.
Among other reasons, he considered the “war to be unjust because its purpose
is to prevent the free access of colonial peoples to their own self-determination…”. It also considered the “war immoral,” giving as an example “the violent repression committed by military units, administrative authorities and armed European settlers,”; “the bombing of African villages with Napalm bombings of African villages”; “the creation of forced settlements of the population.” He ended by saying that “the Armed Forces must represent the people and not a militaristic caste.”

Desertion
The desertion of a soldier, especially if he was an officer, always greatly impacted his comrades-in-arms who did not follow the same path. Whether they condemned or applauded the attitude, those who remained in the military ranks were no strangers to the news of a desertion.
Those who stayed were eventually forced to embark on fighting in the African
colonies and knew very well how difficult it was to decide to leave behind their family, friends, comrades, and the country where they had been born. Desertion was a choice that involved, above all, solving a problem of conscience. Even when made in a group, which was very rare, the decision was made on an individual level; if we forget the few
individual level, if we forget the few cases of desertion resulting from escaping
persecution by PIDE or, very few, the desertions organized by political political party organizations.
There can be no doubt that desertion, especially the desertion of officers, has always been desertion of officers, has always had a strong negative impact on the morale of the Armed Forces.
Armed Forces. Take, for example, the violent reaction of the Minister of Defense and the Army, General Sá Viana Rebelo, who reacted violently to the defection to Sweden in 1970 by a group of officers who were former students at the Military Academy, which I mentioned earlier. The speech, published in full in the newspapers Diário de Notícias and O Século newspapers on December 31, 1970, and referred to, among others,
by the newspaper Le Monde on January 7, 1971, attacks the young officers with vehemence: “So nefarious is this action that only a few months ago just a few months ago, six militia lieutenants deserted to Sweden. Engineering students at the Military Academy who, under the terms of the legislation, had to attend their final three years at a civil engineering school in Lisbon, who, in this establishment, received sufficient inspiration to betray their homeland and wage a vile campaign against their country and their comrades abroad, where they never actually served.” A short commentary on this speech is in order. Caetano’s minister only mentions the desertion of “six officers who were former students at the Military Academy,” when in fact on this date, there were 10, seven in exile in Sweden and three in Belgium. On the other hand, the statement that “never actually served” in the army, because we had actually served in the Army for 9 years, or even 10 years in some cases!

Amnesty
The deserters, refuseniks, and compelled soldiers were granted amnesty immediately after April 25, 1974, and could return to their homes and families without much hassle in most cases. Many of them, as was the case with me, were in the ranks of the Armed Forces as militiamen and served for some time in different missions entrusted to them. The recognition, at the institutional level, of the importance of the contribution of those who refused to go to war in Africa to the isolation and downfall of the fascist regime has yet to be done. This component is vital in the fight against fascism and the colonial war. One of the scarce exceptions is the message sent by Colonel Vasco Lourenço,
President of the 25 de Abril Association (of which I am proud to be a member) sent to all the members on the death in 2019 of our comrade Fernando Paes Mendes, a fellow exile in Sweden between 1970 and 1974. He wrote Vasco Lourenço: “It is with deep regret that we inform you of the death of our partner Fernando Paes Mendes. A staunch and militant democrat, Paes Mendes was one of the soldiers who, in 1970, deserted for political reasons. His action, as part of a group of ten former students from the Military Academy, all students at the Instituto Superior Técnico, with a lieutenant, had enormous repercussions in military and student circles. We can even say, without fear of error, that it was fundamental in helping to open up the minds of the officers opposed to the dictatorial regime and the colonial war, an important element in the creation of the Captains’ Movement, the Armed Forces Movement, the 25
of the Armed Forces, of April 25, 1974. A big hug, dear Paes Mendes, so long! Vasco Lourenço”

Freedom
The Captains’ Movement, through the Armed Forces Movement,
the MFA brought us Freedom, Democracy, and the end of the colonial war. It is
itself the result of a long and very diverse political struggle by the Portuguese people against the Portuguese people against the dictatorial regime of Salazar and Caetano. All
contributions were significant; it is time that the contributions of all those who refused to participate in the colonial war were also recognized and valued.

• Former student-officer at the Military Academy, co-founder of the Association of
  Portuguese Political Exiles, President of the Não Apaguem a Memória, and a member of the Association 25 de Abril.

in O Referencial, in N 152-153