José Zarcos Tirado Palma
Biography
José Zarcos Tirado Palma was born in 1954 near the São Domingos Mines in Mértola. At the age of 10, he moved with his family to Lisbon and began working at 14 in a screw factory in the Cabo Ruivo industrial area as a draftsman, studying at night at the Afonso Domingues Industrial School. A resident of Moscavide, he interacted with young workers from other factories and developed a political consciousness, particularly regarding the colonial war. In 1971, he joined the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), joining the Cabo Ruivo cell and carrying out activities in factories in the area, including agitation work, distributing propaganda, and putting up posters and stickers. He twice participated in the nighttime graffiti of subversive slogans on the walls of the Afonso Domingues Industrial School. He was arrested at the age of 18, on July 21, 1972, by the PIDE/DGS (National Security Council of the Portuguese People’s Party) at his home. Taken to the Northern Redoubt of Caxias, he was subjected to interrogation and sleep torture. He remained in this prison for approximately five months, being sentenced in November 1972 by the Boa Hora Court to a 13-month suspended sentence, after which he was released. His political activity became necessarily more discreet until April 25, 1974, when he became actively involved, as a member of the workers’ committee and the management committee, in the struggles at the company where he worked, which was occupied by workers.
