Manuel Serra

He was born in Lisbon on 23 July 1931. A Merchant Navy officer and founder of the magazine Náutica, at 17 he joined the Catholic Workers’ Youth (Juventude Operária Católica), of which he became a leader, and he took part in Humberto Delgado’s campaign in 1958.²

He was, in the words of Mário Soares, the “civilian soul” of the cathedral conspiracy, a Catholic-inspired movement that was due to go into action on the night of 11 to 12 March 1959.¹³ He headed a civilian militia and was the link with the Military Junta. On the night of the 11th, in the cloisters of the cathedral, he was handing out badges, ropes and uniforms when the order came to disperse: the government knew about the coup. He then set off by car with Major Pastor Fernandes and Lieutenant Vasco da Costa Santos for Calçada da Ajuda, where they managed to stop Fernando Oneto from collecting at Lanceiros 2 the weapons intended for the civilian groups.¹ The PIDE arrested 44 people; Manuel Serra was the first, at nightfall on 13 March.¹ He spent six months in isolation in the Aljube and managed to escape.² When the trial began, he had taken asylum in a Latin American embassy.¹

He was later the civilian leader of the Beja revolt, in January 1962. The trial that followed, with 86 defendants, was the largest of the Estado Novo (“New State”). Arrested again, he was subjected to sleep torture: in 44 days he slept eight hours. In all, he spent 11 years in prison.²

After 25 April he founded the Popular Socialist Movement, which joined the PS as a left-wing tendency, and, once outside the party, the Popular Socialist Front. He died in Lisbon on 31 January 2010.²