My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

thing as freedom of speech or expression. But as I had just come
from America and all its freedoms, I became very vocal. I spoke
freely, without reservation, which was considered fairly dangerous
before 1974. The Salazar regime always had informers hired by
the PIDE, Policia Internatcional Defesa do Estado, listening to
everything people said. This was a way of keeping the dictatorship
intact, in case an uprising was in the works. So, one day at the
office, I had a photograph underneath the glass on my desk
showing a group of people with whom I had taken a picture during
a class on photography. One morning, when I arrived at my office,
I noticed the photograph was gone. I asked my staff if they had
seen anyone take the picture. No one had. A few days later, I
received a letter from PIDE requesting my presence at their
headquarters in the city of Angra.
I was a bit surprised, but I went to their office as requested. I can
remember quite vividly the two agents waiting for me. One was in
front of an old Underwood typewriter and the other was in front of
a tape recorder. They began a line of questioning and stated that
there were suspicions that I was a subversive and that I had
become rather outspoken about the Salazar regime since returning
from the U.S. They wanted to know, “Who were the people in the
photograph?” I replied that everyone in the picture was taking a
course in photography. They also asked if I was reading a book
about Bahaullah, and I replied that I was. The book was entitled
Bahaullah and the New Era. The book was about a new religion
that started in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It started in
Persia, present day Iran, and I said I was curious about all
religions. I enjoyed educating myself about anything of interest,
and that is why I read the book.
They were visibly furious and told me the book was prohibited in
Portugal. It was a revolutionary book and that was the reason they
had taken the photograph from my desk. They thought this was a
subversive group that might be planning to overthrow the
government. Well, I couldn’t control myself, and I exploded into
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