Since early morning, with the military ceremony in Praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, where soldiers who carried out the coup of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA that overthrew the dictatorship in 1974) paraded in period vehicles, thousands of people also passed by Largo do Carmo and, in the afternoon, filled Avenida da Liberdade, in the capital, as had not been seen for many years. Demonstrations and parades were repeated in Porto, Coimbra, Faro and other cities.

After the military parade, the official ceremonies moved inside the Assembly of the Republic, for the traditional political speeches, marked by criticism from the CDS-PP, Iniciativa Liberal and Chega, which accused Marcelo of betraying the Portuguese people for having acknowledged Portugal's responsibilities for crimes committed during the colonial era, suggesting the payment of reparations for past mistakes.

"We have to pay the costs. Are there actions that have not been punished and those responsible have not been arrested? Are there goods that have been looted and not returned? Let's see how we can fix this," said Marcelo, quoted by the Reuters agency, on Tuesday, at a dinner with foreign correspondents in Portugal.

The phrase triggered an attack by the right, starting with Paulo Núncio, parliamentary leader of the CDS, who rejected "revisiting colonial legacies" and "duties of reparation": "We do not want historical controversies or duties of reparation that seem imported from other contexts outside the Lusophone framework".

Rui Rocha, leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL), considered that whoever declares that it is Portugal's obligation to "indemnify third parties" for the past, is attacking "against the interests of the country" and said to Marcelo: "And no, Mr. President, History is not debt. And History does not require penance."

The most violent in the criticism was André Ventura, from Chega. "The President of the Republic betrayed the Portuguese people when he says that we have to be guilty and held responsible for our History, that we have to compensate other countries for the History we have with us", he criticized.

For the left-wing parties, the issue was secondary, in the speeches and in the statements after Marcelo's speech, although Mariana Mortágua, from the Left Bloc, said it was important for Portugal, as it happens in other countries, to have a debate about its colonial past and rejected the right-wing narrative that "blames democracy for everything that went wrong".

The PS, through Alexandra Leitão, parliamentary leader, stressed that the President's speech was of "unity around these 50 years", agreeing that "however imperfect democracy may be, it is always better than any dictatorship".

Marcelo, she said, gave a speech of "a historical journey, in an analytical way of these 50 years, referring to personalities from various political quadrants" and "in that sense it was a speech of unity".

And that is what the Head of State defended, after revisiting the origins, the events of April 25th. Without responding to the controversy involving him, he said: "Let us have the humility and intelligence to always prefer democracy, even if imperfect, to dictatorship."

For Marcelo, "even unfinished democracies are the strongest and most creative societies in the world, as they are the best humanly, as they are the most environmentally advanced, as they are the freest, most plural, most open, less repressive, less persecutory, less intolerant, less averse to difference".

From the speeches, there is the defense of democracy, and with different balances of the last 50 years. Pedro Nuno Santos, general secretary of the PS, promised to defend political, social and cultural democracy "from the attacks of new and old enemies", considering that April is a victory for the Portuguese whose problems "are not solved with populism".

For the PSD, the independent deputy Ana Gabriela Cabilhas warned that "politicians are at the service of the people" and must work to solve their problems, criticizing those who want to "divide the country".

Also on the left, Mariana Mortágua, from the BE, criticized the "mourners of Salazarism", warned that "the nostalgic are dangerous because they live for lies" and called for a "manifesto for the future" with warnings about capitalism.

Already Rui Tavares, from Livre, improvised, recalled April 25th as the "most beautiful revolution of the 20th century", a unique date, appealing to a country "full of desires for political object" against the enemies of the revolution.

For the PCP, the new secretary-general, Paulo Raimundo, criticized a minority "that did and does everything to destroy conquests and recover lost power", trying to "falsify and rewrite history", and asked that "hope in April" be resumed.

The PAN deputy Inês Corte Real warned that human rights are being challenged and argued that it is time for the country to "rise up against those who seek to silence the voice of April".

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