50 years ago, a group of military personnel marched to Lisbon from Santarém with one goal in mind: to end the Estado Novo regime and, primarily, the colonial war. The mission was successful, and on Thursday, the 50th anniversary of that dawn that Sophia de Mello Breyner "expected" was celebrated.

First, with a military ceremony at Terreiro do Paço and then with the traditional formal session in the Assembly of the Republic.

It was in the "house of Democracy" - which is not a "closed castle", as the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Paulo Aguiar-Branco, referred to it - that the main speeches of the day were made, both by the Parliament leader himself and by the President of the Republic.

If Aguiar-Branco asked for "moderation", citing the accomplishments of the former prime minister and former President of the Republic, the socialist Mário Soares, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa appealed to the Portuguese to have the "humility" to "always prefer Democracy, even if imperfect, to dictatorship".

The President of the Republic also argued that "it is unfair to compare the incomparable and to forget the overall costs of what we have experienced, and even the costs of the revolution, which only existed because the dictatorship did not know how or did not want to make a transition, unlike neighboring Spain". At the same time, he preferred not to dwell on responses to criticism of his words regarding colonialism. "We all keep the memories and lessons from the colonial past that will guide us in the future", he would later state in a commemorative session for the 50th anniversary of April 25, in the grand auditorium of the Belém Cultural Center.

Still in the Assembly of the Republic, the various parties with parliamentary seats also had the right to take to the podium to make their speeches.

On the Left, the secretary-general of the Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, admitted that "the realization of the dreams of April is an imperfect and still unfinished work", but "the Portuguese have won". "The PS will be here to defend political democracy and social and cultural democracy from attacks by its new and old enemies. It was one and the other that April built. Both are under attack and both will have our protection", he said.

The coordinator of the Left Bloc (BE), Mariana Mortágua, had a similar position. "The mourners of Salazarism are not dangerous because of nostalgia for that past: no empire will be rebuilt, Tarrafal has closed forever, and Aljube and Peniche are now museums that must be visited", she predicted.

The leader of Livre, Rui Tavares, chose to begin his speech with a personal story to praise "the most beautiful revolution of the 20th century", which "began the third wave of democratization in the world". He listed, at the same time, some of the achievements since then, such as the increase in the population's qualifications, paid vacations, the national minimum wage, and the National Health Service.

Finally, Paulo Raimundo, secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), recalled the party's role in the Opposition to the Estado Novo regime. "This revolution that has done everything and is doing everything to destroy achievements and regain lost power, that has done everything and is doing everything to falsify and rewrite History. A revolution that was a dream, an achievement, and a construction, was values and hope for a better life that the counterrevolution and right-wing politics seek to deny", he criticized.

The sole deputy of the PAN, Inês Sousa Real, used the metaphor of music to say that "it is time to tune in to a new music of freedom, to stand up against those who seek to silence the voice of April".

On the Right, the Social Democratic Party surprised everyone by sending a young deputy to the podium instead of its leader, Luís Montenegro, or even its parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares. In her speech, Ana Gabriela Cabilhas, wearing a carnation on her white dress, argued that it is unacceptable to accept that "the best version" of democracy has remained in the past, "crystallized in the Carnation Revolution".

In the 50 years of democracy, she considered, "an improved and reconciled democracy with the people is necessary, one that is not content to survive, but that seeks to flourish with the intensity of April 74, November 75, or the trip to the polls for the Constituent Assembly". "The voice of the people is the greatest force of democracy. Therefore, the House of Democracy must listen to the people, in order to return to the people the realization of their legitimate expectations", she said.

The Chega, through the voice of its leader, André Ventura, made a point of using the space to criticize the statements of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, about the payment of possible reparations for Portugal's colonialist and slave-owning past. "The President of the Republic betrayed the Portuguese when he said that we have to be guilty and held responsible for our History, that we have to compensate other countries for the History we have with them", he criticized.

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