When trying to emigrate could mean being beaten by PIDE in Madeira

José de Jesus and João de Sousa Vicente from Jardim da Serra were detained by PIDE in the 1960s as they intended to secretly emigrate while among some 1,800 political prisoners at the Estado Novo in Madeira.

“Don’t you remember PIDE? They were very sad people. They were very cruel people, they trampled people a lot,” José de Jesus, now 93 (he will turn 94 in May), told Lusa. that his arrest occurred at an airport in 1967 along with five other people as they prepared to board.

“They took my belt and wallet, leaving me and the others with just a little change in the bottom of my pocket,” he said, noting that he was 37 years old at the time, married and already had children.

The goal was to emigrate to France, but since they did not have permits, they were taken to the headquarters of the International and State Defense Police (PIDE), located at Rua da Carreira, 155, in Funchal, where they remained until 03:00 . They were then taken overnight to the public security police station, where there were already 18 other detainees and where there was nothing to eat.

“We went looking for him in the trash can. Some said they were starving but did not eat. Others still took a bite. I didn’t eat anything here,” he recalls.

The trip between the PIDE and PSP sites lasted two days.

“They didn’t beat me. You can’t fix anything with a lie,” he said, noting that this didn’t happen to other members of the group, who was “punched and started bleeding from the mouth.”

One of his uncles, who was also part of the group, “ate a seahorse.” [chicote]because he said he was going to Lisbon,” he said, explaining that PIDE’s goal was to identify the “smuggler,” the person responsible for sending emigrants to France.

“They wanted to connect people here because of the work,” said José de Jesus, adding that “they only came out with a call sign,” and this memory, like others during the conversation, made him laugh out loud.

Speaking to Lusa first at home in Jardim da Serra, a parish of the municipality of Camara de Lobos, and then next to the old PIDE facilities in Funchal, José de Jesus explained that at that time many landowners and businessmen did not want to lose their workforce and therefore condemned workers who in any way expressed a desire to emigrate.

“There were informants and then they accused us. “This one heard, this one accused me,” and they ordered an arrest,” he said, and then clarified: “This PIDE story is a serious matter. This was not done.”

At least 1,854 people were released on Friday, of whom 1,735 were men and 118 were women, according to the book Political Prisoners of the New State in Madeira, a pioneering study of the region by Madeiran journalist Elvio Passos and lawyer João Palla Lizardo. were arrested by political police between 1933 and 1974 in the archipelago.

The vast majority of detainees are related to clandestine emigration, often motivated by evasion of military service, as was the case of João de Sousa Vicente, interrogated by PIDE in 1969, already on board a ship in the port of Funchal.

“I was about 18 years old, I was supposed to join the army, but I wanted a distraction,” he said, explaining that he and two cousins ​​were “about to run away to France” and had already paid the “passenger fee.”

PIDE intercepted them on board on Saturday and ordered them to abandon ship and report to installations on Rua da Carreira the following Monday.

“We were not taken into custody, they simply told us to appear there,” he clarified.

They were interrogated one at a time and the cousin who went first came out later to “dry his eyes” and say that he felt “the bells of the cathedral ringing at the same time” but always denied that the purpose was to emigrate to France , stating that they were only going to Lisbon.

Joao de Sousa Vicente, now 73, said that when he was interrogated, “PIDE stood up and shouted to me: [termo regional que designa pancada com a mão no pescoço ou na cabeça] and I hit the wall like a rabbit,” he recalls, recalling that he even thought about “putting my hands on the balcony and jumping down” into the street.

The investigator sat down, but João de Souza Vicente continued to deny that he was going to France. “He gets up and kicks me. I dodged, but the image of the sole of his shoe remained on my pants,” he said.

At that time, the age of majority was 21, and since the three cousins ​​were minors, the parents were called to testify and the situation was resolved.

“After the troops were assembled, the three of us boarded. We left without any problems,” explained João de Sousa Vicente, saying he had been in France twice for short periods and in Venezuela for eight years.