AEMI

40 AEMI JOURNAL 2015
His election as President of the Republic
(a position he held for two terms
from 1986 to 1996) allowed him extensive
international action. The first proposal
for Portugal’s entrance into the
European Economic Community, led by
Medeiros Ferreira, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, is owed to his engagement. The
foreign policy that considered the Mediterranean
as one of its main goals lost its
importance, being replaced by the fresh
perspective of a triangular relationship
to be established between the country,
Europe, Africa and the Atlantic.
Manuel Alegre (1936-) recognized
poet, was the leader of the Patriotic
Front for National Liberation in Algiers
during the ten years he spent there. His
protest, broadcast by the radio station
The Voice of Freedom (A Voz da Liberdade),
turned his voice into a symbol
of resistance and freedom. The first two
books he wrote, Song Square (Praça da
Canção) (1965) and the The Song and the
Arms (O Canto e as Armas) (1967) were
seized by the Censorship. Clandestine
copies, typed or handwritten circulated
from hand to hand.
The 25th of April enabled the return
of many of those who had been exiled
outside the country, including Álvaro
Cunhal, leader of the Portuguese Communist
Party, had escaped the Peniche
Fort and spent twelve years abroad. He
returned to Portugal, like Mário Soares,
founder of the Socialist Party, after four
years of forced residence in Paris. The
convictions that both had and the battles
they fought in ideological spaces
they could never connect had, nonetheless,
the same purpose. They marked the
Portuguese political life in such a way
that their names are mandatory in the
History of the liberation of the country
from its dictatorship.
Many occupied places of great responsibility
in the following governmental
structures assuming guardianship of crucial
ministries such as Foreign Affairs and
Agriculture. The confidence inspired by
their long struggle for freedom opened
doors for the very high responsibility
positions that they were being entrusted
to governmentally and academically.
Natural Disasters
Natural disasters are catastrophes caused
by natural phenomena and imbalances
that cause human, material and environmental
damage and, consequently, economic
and social losses.
These phenomena cover a wide diversity
of events. Among them, the ones that
led to compulsory exile: flood, landslide,
volcanic eruption, erosion, tropical cyclone
(hurricane, typhoon), forest fire,
flood, tornado, earthquake, tsunami.
Although somewhat unpredictable,
the biggest tragedies have been major
promoters of movement for the people
affected by them. In 2012 the Norwegian
Refugee Council (NRC) estimates that
approximately 32.4 million were forced
to change their place of residence due to
natural disasters. In Portugal, a country
located on several tectonic faults, the
various earthquakes that have occurred
are still in everyone’s memory, especially
the terrible earthquake of 1755, which
deserves a special mention for its magnitude.
It resulted in the almost complete
destruction of the city of Lisbon, especially
the downtown area, having even
reached part of Setúbal and the coast of
Algarve. The earthquake was followed by
a tidal wave (which is believed to have