Yes, compensate former combatants

Yes, compensate former combatants In recent days we have witnessed a lively debate on the topic brought to the public square by the President of the Republic, who, he said, “intends to make a historical reparation for our colonial past.” It is a peregrine, inopportune and wrong idea, since, if any reparation must be ensured, first of all, it is to the approximately one and a half million young people, and all those who remained here, especially women, who the old regime until April 25, 1974, he was forced, in the culture of a lie and an undemocratic regime, to head to Africa to leave the best of his youth and, in many cases, his life there. The reasons for the ostracism to which former combatants were voted are rooted, in addition to others, which cannot be analyzed here, in a poor awareness of political power – of successive governments, with the exception of the last one (between 2016-2024) – and also of the post-25 April military power, who never knew or wanted to assume any responsibilities towards the families of the more than ten thousand soldiers killed on the three battle fronts (Guinea, Angola and Mozambique). In the same way that no serious and effective measures were taken to face the serious difficulties of the more than twenty thousand soldiers who returned disabled and the many more who still today suffer daily the nightmares of a war they lived over 50 years ago. If the current political power, with the President of the Republic on the first line of combat, understands that some reparation must be made to the former colonies, it demands the most basic justice that this reparation begins with the then young soldiers sent to war and today finished men , bent by the hardships of life, already two steps from the grave. They were the first and main victims of the colonial policy of the Salazar regime, who saw their academic careers, their professional projects or their dreams of starting a family suddenly interrupted. The clumsy and inopportune way in which such a controversial issue was brought to the public square – unless the intention was, in a Machiavellian political move, to create conditions to reinforce economic cooperation ties with the various countries that make up the CPLP, represented at the highest level in the celebrations of the 25th of April – justifies all the pertinent criticisms that the majority of the media did not echo. We too are perplexed by the priorities chosen by the President of the Republic, especially in the particularly difficult phase that Portugal and Europe are going through. The creation of new political facts with each passing day does not allow us to forget the incomprehensible way in which he managed his involvement in the so-called “twins case”, nor the adventures that involved the most recent dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic. “As they accumulate power, bureaucracies become immune to their own mistakes. Instead of changing their story to fit reality, they are able to change reality to fit their story.” (Yuval Noah Harari) I performed mandatory military service for three and a half years in Santarém, Póvoa do Varzim, Alcabideche and Santa Margarida. I was sent to Cabinda, in the middle of the Mayombe forest, where I stayed for more than two years. I want to add that I would like to know (as I cannot find literature on the subject, whether literary or statistical) how many people died by suicide (due to the breaking of romantic or marital ties, for example), how many by accident (by mine, real and not just any another category that was useful in the regime's communications), how many divorces and separations? Any study on the impacts and consequences on the social fabric of the time. But there were many of each, there were. But that's just the perception of an old survivor. Therefore, Mr President of the Republic: “Yes, compensate the former combatants”. Never forget that “truths may be naked - but lies must be clothed.” (Jewish Texts) "Dedication, I will give the people my poem/I will give them the flower and the stone/every minute every sadness/a javelin against hard luck/my burning anger every night./I will give them the flower and the stone./And my life. And my death.” (Manuel Alegre.)