“We can’t forget November 25, which complements April 25,” Marcelo Rebelo de Souza.

The President of the Republic said this Friday that November 25, 1975 must not be forgotten, because it is the complementary date of April 25, 1974, and these two dates can only be understood together.

The head of state spoke in the Hall of Ambassadors of the Belen Palace in Lisbon at the ceremony in which he posthumously awarded Major General Pires Veloso with the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty and awarded the Commando Association with the title of honorary member of the Order of the Infante D. Enrique.

In a brief speech of six and a half minutes recently arrived from Qatar, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa justified holding this evocative ceremony on November 25: “We are calling out a very important date in a process that is truly inseparable from the one that has taken place since April 25, 1974. “.

“It is impossible to understand April 25, 74, without understanding November 25, 1975, and it is impossible to understand November 25, 75, without understanding April 25, 74. And it is this complementarity that explains why we cannot forget on this day,” he said.

The President of the Republic referred to “the oldest” recalling “the political process, the economic, social and military process” that followed April 25, 1974 and dominated 1975, “and then he would naturally have taken a different path, more faded” in 1976, but “younger people have a more remote understanding of History.”

“And what is important is to remember this History, not only to pay tribute to the past, but also to look at the present, at the indispensable role of our Armed Forces and prepare for a better future,” he added.

This ceremony was open to the media, but the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces decided not to speak into the microphone, which prevented his words from being clearly recorded.

Regarding Major General Pires Veloso, one of the speakers on 25 November, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed “surprise, not to say shock” that he had received only “a single award, a very low degree of the Order of Avis”. “, given its “very important role in a complex process.”

“This injustice had to be corrected. And it seemed to me good to correct this injustice on this day. Therefore, he receives a degree that suits his role and also corresponds to the responsibilities that he took on at such a difficult moment in Portuguese. life,” he said.

With regard to the commandos, the President of the Republic emphasized that his “long, long service, which began long before April 25, 1974”, had already been recognized by successive heads of state.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that he wanted with this Friday’s award “to highlight the role of the association that brings them together in a spirit of solidarity” and which has a “mission to bring together generations, generations and generations of Portuguese soldiers, the oldest fighters in Africa, others, more recent, are present in the pre-eminent national forces.”~

The events of November 25, in which antagonistic military forces clashed on the ground and defeated the so-called moderate wing of the Movement of the Armed Forces (MFA), brought an end to the so-called Revolutionary Process in Progress (PREC).