Santa Maria Maior
Café Chave d'Ouro
On the first floor of this café on the Rossio, on 10 May 1958, Humberto Delgado answered “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!) when asked what he would do with Salazar if he were elected.
History
On 10 May 1958, General Humberto Delgado’s candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic was presented to journalists, including foreign ones, at a press conference in the Café Chave d'Ouro, on the Rossio.174 According to João Paulo Guerra, it was Raul Rego, the campaign’s press officer, who called the session and helped to prepare it, on the first floor of the café.2
He was asked what he would do with the President of the Council (head of government) if he were elected. The answer — “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!) — set the country alight and marked the whole campaign.13 The question was asked by the France Presse correspondent, Lindorfe Pinto Basto: “I saw that my colleagues were all holding back. They couldn’t speak. I belonged to France Presse. I asked the question”, he told Iva Delgado, the general’s daughter, in 1998. The versions of the answer recorded by the journalists do not all agree — “Demito-o, obviamente”, “mas obviamente demito-o”.28 In a photograph from the Torre do Tombo National Archive released by the Commemorative Commission for the 50 Years of 25 April, Delgado appears at the table with Aquilino Ribeiro, Rolão Preto, Vieira de Almeida and António Sérgio.3
The café had been founded in 1919 and, in the 1940s and 1950s, was a meeting place for the opposition; in its place, on 22 May 1961, a branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino opened, now belonging to the Caixa Geral de Depósitos.5
The Rossio, where the café stood, would fill up again a few days later, when Delgado returned from Porto and the National Republican Guard (GNR) chased and beat his supporters in the Baixa.2
Where
Map showing where Café Chave d'Ouro is.
Open on the map of Lisbon Walk there
Nearby
Rossio (Praça de D. Pedro IV)
10 m · 1 min on foot
Café Gelo
100 m · 1 min on foot
Rua do Carmo — Celeste Caeiro’s carnations
110 m · 2 min on foot
D. Maria II National Theatre
120 m · 2 min on foot
Dates
10 May 1958
Press conference presenting Humberto Delgado’s candidacy: “Obviously, I’ll sack him!”
22 May 1961
A branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino opens where the café stood (according to Restos de Colecção).
Videos
In other archives
These can only be viewed on each archive’s own website.
- Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso · Photograph · 10 May 1958Candidatura de Humberto Delgado à Presidência da RepúblicaA reproduction of a photograph of the press conference at which Humberto Delgado presented his candidacy for the Presidency, at the Café Chave d’Ouro. It belongs to the Historical Archive of the Socialist Party.Open in the archive
- RTP Arquivos · Video · broadcast on 8 March 2007 · 4 min1958 – Humberto DelgadoIn the series “50 Anos, 50 Notícias” (50 Years, 50 News Stories), the journalist Jacinto Godinho recalls Humberto Delgado’s 1958 candidacy and the censorship that surrounded it. João Coito, then a journalist at the “Diário de Notícias”, says he attended the candidacy’s press conference; Vasco Hogan Teves, then at RTP, says that footage was shot but never broadcast.Open in the archive
Notes on the sources2
- Exact location of the former café on the Rossio and its street number: the coordinates are those of the square. There is a Caixa Geral de Depósitos branch on the adjoining Praça D. João da Câmara (OSM node 2493312081), but it has not been confirmed that it is the Chave d'Ouro building. Observador (2015), drawing on the book by Frederico Delgado Rocha, places the café “at number 38 on the Rossio”; which building that is today is still to be confirmed.
- The current use of the building: a bank branch, first of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and now of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos, according to the blog Restos de Colecção.
Do you know more, or do you have a document? Tell us.
Sources8
- 1Candidatura de Humberto Delgado – uma jornada de resistência. Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade (EGEAC) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 2Delgado: Um vendaval varreu o País (João Paulo Guerra). esquerda.net — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 3O general sem medo. Comissão Comemorativa 50 Anos 25 de Abril — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 4Candidatura de Humberto Delgado à Presidência da República – conferência de imprensa no café Chave d'Ouro (fotografia, cota 11635.005.003). Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 5Café Chave d'Ouro. Restos de Colecção (blogue) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 6Humberto Delgado. Wikipédia — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 7As eleições de 1958 em fotografias. RTP Ensina — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 8«Obviamente demito-o!», a frase famosa de Humberto Delgado com várias versões. Observador, 2015 — consulted on 4 October 2026A partir do livro de Frederico Delgado Rocha, diz que a pergunta foi feita por Lindorfe Pinto Basto, correspondente da France Presse em Lisboa desde 1948, na conferência de 10 de maio de 1958 no café Chave d'Ouro, «no número 38 do Rossio»; Pinto Basto contou-o a Iva Delgado em 1998.
Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim), consultado a 2 de outubro de 2026.