Authentication

User ID:

Password:

Iniciar sessão

U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Emídio Guerreiro

Emídio Guerreiro 1899-2005 Politician and mathematician

Emídio Guerreiro was born in Guimarães on 6 September 1899, the son of a military and a housewife. Due to the Republican influences of his father, he soon assumed himself as a Republican and defender of freedom, and enlisted in the army to fight in World War I. Nevertheless he was not sent to the war front, went back to study and enrolled in the University of Porto to study Mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences.

He was part of the Orfeão Universitário [university choir], chaired the Academic Association of Porto and was a member of the theatre group of his faculty. On 3 February 1927, he rebelled against the military dictatorship, joined the Masonry in 1928 and collaborated in the Porto newspaper Humanidade (1929-1931).

In 1931, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Differential Calculus at the Faculty of Sciences, where he worked with Professor Gomes Teixeira. However, he was dismissed three months later due to his political views.
In 1932, he was arrested for writing a manifesto insulting the President of the Republic, Óscar Carmona and was sent to Aljube. He managed to escape to the Algarve; from here he fled to Spain and exiled in Madrid near the opponents of the regime, and later became a teacher in Galicia. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he fled to France.
Later, he returned to Spain where he fought alongside the Republicans. When they were defeated, he fled once again to France, where he was sent to a concentration camp for Communists and Republicans involved in the civil war. With the start of the Second World War, he ran away and joined the French Resistance, fighting alongside the Maquis against the Nazis.

After the war, he settled in Paris, taught Mathematics at a high school and set up the Committee for the Defense of Freedom in Portugal in order to expose the crimes committed by the Portuguese government. In 1959, he contacted General Humberto Delgado, and became his putative representative in Paris. After Delgado disappeared, he alerted the international media and participated in the Spanish prosecution case to investigate the causes of the crime.
In 1967, Emídio Guerreiro, Palma Inácio and others formed the L.U.A.R, a revolutionary organization that aimed to fight against Salazar’s regime.

After the 25 April 1974 he returned to Portugal and joined the PPD party led by Francisco Sá Carneiro; in the following year, when Sá Carneiro became ill and had to move abroad, he was appointed stand-in Secretary-general, a position he assumed with great spirit despite being 76 years old. At the end of the year, he left the party as he disagreed with Sá Carneiro’s project. In 1976, he abandoned political life and from this year on his life became more calm and secluded.

In 1980, the President of the Republic, Ramalho Eanes awarded him the rank of Commander of the Order of Liberty. In 1999, on his 100^th anniversary, he was honoured by the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, with the Grand-Cross of Liberty.

Emídio Guerreiro dies on 29 June 2005, in Guimarães, at the age of 105.
(Texto de Tiago Barros Leite, 2008)