Shortly after the end of the ceremony, Vasco Lourenço, one of the "strategists" of the revolution that ended 48 years of the Estado Novo and current president of the April 25 Association, stressed that the "dignity" of the ceremony proves that the Armed Forces assume the change of regime.

"This is proof that the proposal for the parade made by the April 25 Association means that the Armed Forces assume April 25 [1974]. That is what we did and that was very present here. The Portuguese Armed Forces assume April 25. You already know what was worth it. The 50 years were worth it", said Vasco Lourenço.

The "captain of April", who was in the Azores on the day of the "Carnation Revolution", asked the new generations to continue to commemorate the anniversary and that, in 50 years, they can still celebrate it in the name of freedom and democracy, without extremism.

Also to Lusa, cavalry colonel Joaquim Capão, who considers himself the "man of the eve" - he was sent to Angola on April 23, 1974 and returned to Portugal on November 23, 1975 (two days before "November 25") - congratulated himself on the ceremony, where all political, military, judicial and religious authorities were present in the grandstands, as well as most of the "captains of April".

"I boarded [a plane] for Angola on April 23. I already knew what was going to happen two days later. Well, it was close to Salgueiro Maia [who led the revolutionary forces that led to the overthrow of the dictatorship]. I heard on the radio that the revolution had happened and successfully", reported the last Portuguese soldier to leave Angola, on November 11, 1975, the day of Angolan Independence.

Until he returned to Portugal, Joaquim Capão, decorated with the Order of Liberty, was commander of the "Dragões de Luanda", the guard of honor and security of the Portuguese authorities who remained there until Angola's independence.

Mário Pinto, a paratrooper officer who participated in 'April 25' only afterwards - he commanded a detachment that freed the last political prisoners from Caxias prison - also welcomed the "dignity" of the ceremony, an act that "ennobles" the Armed Forces and Portugal.

"The paratroopers did not participate in 'April 25'. But, at a certain point, we came under the orders of the Movement [of the Armed Forces], we came from Tancos by plane. And we were stationed at Portela", recalled Mário Pinto, also decorated with the 'Order of Liberty'.

"But then it was necessary to go to Caxias, because the captain who had to go there did not. And so it was the paratrooper forces that freed Caxias. I commanded a detachment of paratroopers that freed the last political prisoners of the Estado Novo", he added.

For Mário Pinto, military ceremonies, such as civil ceremonies, help to keep alive, in the new generations, the memory of what Portugal was like before the "Carnation Revolution", the reasons that led a movement of captains to organize it and still clarify what the values of freedom and democracy represent.

This morning, Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon, was the stage for the military ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of 'April 25', an event presided over by the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The ceremony involved, among other activities, a mounted parade of forces on parade and military personnel equipped for combat, with aircraft flyovers, as well as a parade of army vehicles and some vehicles, including two chaimites, which were present in the military operations from the early hours of April 24 to 25. 

Without any political interventions, in the ceremony, in whose surroundings of Terreiro do Paço were present more than two thousand people (according to the police), the Armed Forces had the participation of about 1,100 military personnel, 430 of them on parade, and 37 means and equipment from the three branches.

The Navy participated with two frigates, an oceanic patrol ship and another coastal ship and a hydrographic ship, the Army with two motorcycles, two ultralight vehicles, a Panhard M11, five URO VAMTAC vehicles and eight PANDUR vehicles, and the Air Force with an EH-101 Merlin, two Koala, three EPSILON TB-30, a KC-390, a C130H, a P-3C CUP+, a Falcon 50 and four F16M. 

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