Hermínio da Palma Inácio

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Hermínio da Palma Inácio (born January 29, 1922 in Lagoa , Faro district , †  July 14, 2009 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese revolutionary against Salazar's dictatorship.

Life

Memorial stone for the Operação Vagô in the Cemitério dos Prazeres cemetery in Lisbon

Hermínio da Palma Inácio was a trained aircraft mechanic. As an opponent of the semi- fascist Estado Novo regime in Portugal, he founded the resistance group Liga de Unidade e Acção Revolucionária (LUAR, German  League for Revolutionary Unity and Action ). He is considered one of the most popular and feared resistance fighters by the regime. At the Operação Vagô , he hijacked an airplane in Morocco in 1961 and forced it to fly over Lisbon to drop 100,000 leaflets there calling for free elections. He then had the plane return to Morocco, apologized to the passengers, gave all women on board a rose and then disappeared.

Inácio landed another sensational coup in 1974 when he and a resistance group raided the branch of the central bank Banco de Portugal in the seaside resort of Figueira da Foz in order to steal money for their political struggle. Although he was arrested shortly afterwards by the DGS secret police , he was freed from prison in Caxias after the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974 . Inácio later joined the Portuguese Socialist Party . Prime Minister Mário Soares , a former colleague of Inácio, proposed him for the Portuguese Order of Freedom ( Ordem da Liberdade ), but could not prevail against more conservative circles.

The photo of the revolutionary evening newspaper "República" has become famous, as Inácio raises both arms in joy and triumph to the secret police after being liberated from prison.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christopher Hitchens: Terrorists ain't what they used to be , Slate Magazine, August 15, 2006 , accessed May 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ Entry on Hermínio da Palma Inácio on the website of the Documentation Center on the Carnation Revolution at the University of Coimbra , accessed on June 17, 2014
  3. ^ Image by Hermínio da Palma Inácio
personal data
SURNAME Inácio, Hermínio da Palma
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Lagoa , Faro District
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 2009
Place of death Lisbon