Lula celebrates 50 years of the Carnation Revolution at the Portuguese Embassy | Brazil

President LulaDisclosure: Ricardo Stuckert

Published 04/25/2024 22:34 | Updated 04/25/2024 22:35

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva participates, on the night of this Thursday (25), in a dinner at the Embassy of Portugal, in Brasília, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, or April Revolution, which occurred on the same date, in 1974, when an action led by the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) deposed the dictatorial regime led by Antonio Salazar that lasted more than four decades.

The movement, which had mass support from the population, democratized the European country and paved the way for a series of social and political advances since then. The symbol was the distribution of red carnations to soldiers, who placed them in the barrels of their rifles, hence the reference in the name.

Lula’s participation was celebrated by the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.

“As it was impossible to attend the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April in Lisbon, the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil honored this event with his presence at a dinner at the official residence of the Portuguese ambassador in Brasília. A gesture that I thank and highlights, also in Brazil, this important date in the Portuguese-speaking community”, he posted on social media.

Lula arrived at the ambassador’s residence around 8 pm.

The dinner also comes one day after the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, acknowledged, in an interview, that Portugal was responsible for crimes committed during transatlantic slavery and the colonial era. The process resulted in human trafficking of millions of Africans to the Americas and the mass genocide of indigenous peoples.

The Portuguese president suggested the need to establish historical reparations for these crimes.