The Minister of Culture has had a sensible rethink on including the Forte de Peniche in his list of public buildings to be leased for tourism purposes in the government's Revive programme.
Luís Castro Mendes justified the removal of the fort from the list by saying it is necessary to "respect and to perpetuate the memory of the struggle for democracy."
The fort served as a prison for the Estado Novo (between 1934 and 1974), where the opponents of the Salazar (pictured) regime were sent, mostly being members of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
On January 3rd, 1960, there was an escape from Peniche by Álvaro Cunhal* (general secretary of the PCP), Joaquim Gomes, Carlos Costa, Jaime Serra, Francisco Miguel, José Carlos, Guilherme Carvalho, Pedro Soares, Rogério de Carvalho and Francisco Martins Rodrigues. Cunhal and the other prisoners drugged a jailer and abseiled down the walls to waiting getaway cars.
This 'Great Escape' was one of the most spectacular jail breaks during the Salazar years, mostly because Peniche was considered one of the most secure prisons in the country. The Peniche escape was unmatched until December 1961, when another seven PCP prisoners drove straight out of the jail at Caixas, near Lisbon, in an armour-plated car.
Nowadays, the old political prison at Forte de Peniche can be visited with some cells being preserved as they existed before April 25th 1974.
The announcement that the buildings is off the Revive list was made on Thursday in parliament by the minister, who added that the Socialist government would never do anything to destroy the memories entombed in the Peniche fort.
The plan to include Peniche in the Revive programme ran into trouble early on, with the Communists and the Left Bloc especially outraged that this memorable place could be turned into a boutique hotel serving to erase an important reminder of Portugal's violent and oppressive past.
Other buildings in the scheme include the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, the convent of São Paulo in Elvas, the Castelo de Vila Nova de Cerveira, the Forte do Guincho in Cascais, the Paço Real de Caxias in Oeiras, the Mosteiro de São Salvador de Travanca in Amarante, the Mosteiro de Arouca, the Pavilhão do Parque in Caldas da Rainha, the Castelo de Portalegre, the Forte de S. Roque da Meia Praia in the Algarve and the Quinta do Paço de Valverde, Évora.
*Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal - obituary: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/14/guardianobituaries.world
Cunhal Wikipedia entry:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Cunhal
See also: 'Government evades responsibility for 30 crumbling national monuments'
The first 30 Revive buildings on the government list can be viewed at:
