Memórias de um militar e prisioneiro em Goa (1961-62)

Abstract

In the beginning of the year of 1961, a professional soldier leaves Castelo Branco (Portugal) in a
two years military service to Pangim, Goa (India’s region today) as a Cavalry Captain. The mission main goal is to persuade the neighbor Pakistan to defend the territory under Portuguese control,
which is claimed by the Dominion of India since 1950.
Through dozens of letters sent by this Captain to his father during his military mission, and also from the diary he writes in 5 months of imprisonment in India after the Portuguese surrender, this compilation provides an unusual and historical memory to understand the role of Portugal in Goa region after 450 years of colonization.
On the one hand, the Goan customs and lifestyles and, on the other, the intercultural relations
and the Portuguese capacity for adaptation, are faithfully represented by the soldier himself on his regular reports, without the typical linguistic misunderstandings that older documents usually
contain. Besides, it is also possible to access, in a very detailed written, to the description of the war prisoners’ daily routine and their feelings during those months in jail.
After the disrespect of the Prime Minister Salazar’s order to the Governor Vassalo e Silva in the moments before the Indian invasion – “Victorious Soldiers or Dead Soldiers” –, the recently released prisoners go back to Lisbon in May 1962, waiting for everything but ovation.