José Manuel Tengarrinha
Biography
José Manuel Marques do Carmo Mendes Tengarrinha was born in Portimão in 1932. In 1958, he completed his degree in History and Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts in Lisbon. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Youth Democratic Unity Movement (MUD). In 1969, he was one of the founders of the Democratic Electoral Commission (CDE) and ran as an opposition candidate in the 1969 and 1973 elections. He participated in the Second Republican Congress of Aveiro in 1969 and was a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Third Democratic Opposition Congress in 1973.
In the second half of the 1950s, he was detained for a year at the Penamacor Disciplinary Company, where he served his military service after being expelled from the Militia Officers Corps on charges of engaging in activities against state security. In December 1961, he was detained in Aljube Prison, being released on January 15, 1962. Subjected to sleep deprivation, he was expelled from high school and prevented from working as a journalist. He would be arrested again in September 1973 and on April 18, 1974, both in Caxias. He was released in the early hours of April 27, 1974.
He was president of the Portuguese Democratic Movement/Electoral Democratic Commission (MDP/CDE) and a representative for that party in the Constituent Assembly and the Assembly of the Republic. A journalist, researcher, professor, and politician, he would dedicate himself in the following years to academic life, research, and teaching history.
Date of Collection: 18.11.2015
Keywords: Comunist Party, Aljube Prison, MUD Juvenil, Students, Solidarity, Interrogations, Torture, Penamacor Prison, Caxias.
