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From Salazar to the Present |
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Religion
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Pre-History
| The Romans |
The Middle Ages | 17th and 18th Century Wars | The
Napoleonic Invasions | The
Monarchist Incursions
Antonio Salazar dominated Portugal from 1932 to 1968 The
revolution of May 1926 finally put an end to the Republic.
Once again a Flaviense played an important part in the affairs of
the country. The leader of
the new government was General Antonio Fragoso Carmona, born in and with
ties to Chaves. First
president of the ministry, by decree he was soon nominated president of
the Second Republic, then dictator of the country.
He was to remain president until his death in April 1951.
But real power in the country soon came to be held by Antonio de
Oliveira Salazar, who nominated Minister of Finance, gradually increased
his power until he became prime minister in 1932.
During
this period Chaves played no major role in the events of the nation.
With a long period of stability, albeit under a dictatorship,
there were no battles in the region.
As for the possibility of incursions by pro-Royalist or
conservative forces, they were now in power.
As for the democratic forces, they were in exile or in hiding and
could hardly have found refuge in Franco Spain for any type of attack
even if they had ever been so organized to do so.
Chaves was now a spectator in the events of the country, and
spent these years in relative obscurity.
The
Pide, Salazar’s political police, made sure that no opposition would
form to contest the policies of the New State that stressed the three
F’s—Fado, Football, and Fátima.
Most of the population here, being of rural origin and illiterate,
probably supported the authoritarian regime.
Tras-os-Montes and the Minho have always been conservative in
religion and politics. An
area of mini-fundio, sympathy for Communism and any idea of land
distribution never caught on here.
The
only event that showed that all was not so peaceful in the region was an
isolated incident that took place in the village of Cambedo, north of
the main town and on the Spanish border.
There in 1946 could be heard echoes of the Spanish Civil War,
long over in 1939. Saint
Gonçalo of Amarante, patron of these simple people, protected them
well when the village was the scene of a serious gunfight between
Portuguese forces and a nucleus of refugees from the Civil War, who had
been hidden here. The history still has to be written.
What is known is that there was a handful of men commanded by
Juan Salgado Ribeiro who attacked the Braga-Chaves bus in October 1946.
The passengers were robbed of their money and jewels.
Once the alert was out forces of the GNR—National Republican
Guard, the PIDE—the secret police, and the Guarda Fiscal—customs and
tax police, began to look for the guerrillas in all the border villages
until they discovered them in Cambedo, in the houses of those who had
taken them in and supported them. On
20 December 1946 the Portuguese forces surrounded the village, and when
daybreak came, it was subjected to an intense fire fight, which besides
damaging some house, still visible today, annihilated the group of
Spanish who had sought refuge here.
There is a plaque in Cambedo mentioning the event but the details
and motives have been lost in history and clouded in legend. The
border region north of Chaves had a tradition of helping refugees from
the Spanish Civil War. The
village of Tourém, which in the 1930’s had only forty inhabitants,
was one example of a border village that sheltered refugees from
Franco’s repression. There,
professor and justice of the peace Manuel Gonçalves Barros (1889-1957)
hid Galego refugees in his barn and brought them newspapers so that they
could be informed about the situation in their country.
Many of these men and women finally emigrated to Latin America.
In 1940 the PIDE found out about Professor Barros and took him to Porto
where he spent two months behind bars.
Like this man there were others who the history books have
forgotten. During
this period Chaves continued as a small backward town, with poor road
communications, and poor health and educational facilities.
With no opportunities for educational or economic improvement
many Flavienses chose to emigrate, to the Colonies, Brazil, and later to
France. If Portugal was cut
off from the rest of Europe by the policies of a reactionary regime,
then Chaves, on the edge of Portugal, was even more cut off.
To the north lay Galicia, one of the poorest areas of Fascist
Spain, with no major cities close enough to influence Chaves.
To the west and east there were only mountains and bad roads
passing through some of the poorest, most isolated areas in all of
Europe. The only contact
with new ideas that could possibly improve the backwardness of the area
lay to the south, and Oporto. But
there was still an almost impenetrable barrier to cross called the Marão.
Chaves was literally cut off. The
railroad came to Chaves in August 1921—ending the period of the
“Mala Posta”, a transport by truck, which followed the “estrada
real” to connect to neighboring lands.
The
Caldas (Hot Water Spa) was built in 1940, but was, and still hasn’t
been, developed to any extent. Until
recently it wasn’t even open for about six months of the year.
There is still a mentality of the spa being a water treatment of
illness; this attracts the old and infirm, but also the less monetarily
endowed. The hundreds of people coming to take the treatment in the
summer have spurred the construction of small pensions and inexpensive
restaurants, but the town itself has benefited little from this hot
water complex. People with
money have never made Chaves their destination for taking the waters. Improvements
in the town have been the construction of a new hospital in the eighties,
a new technical school in the sixties, and still another secondary
school, named after Antonio Granjo, in the eighties.
On the other hand, at the end of the eighties, the railroad was
finally closed after many years of bad service and economic loss.
Other
improvements in modern Chaves have been the construction of two health
centers, a remodeling of the Caldas, and the construction of two more
bridges crossing the Tâmega, one of them only a few years ago. Chaves
after the Revolution of 1974
Chaves and its world treasure--the Roman Bridge With
the Revolution of the Carnations of April 25 1974, one of the only
bloodless revolutions in European history, Chaves saw the arrival of
thousands of “retornados”, returnees from the African colonies that
were now independent countries and with very unstable conditions for
European immigrants. Some
of these people managed to make vast fortunes in Africa, especially
Angola, and brought some of it with them, but the majority came with
“one hand in front and another behind”, with only the clothes on
their back. Many Flavienses
had gone to Africa and now they were back.
New housing was built for them, and a neighborhood in Chaves is
still called the “bairro dos retornados.”
There is also a famous restaurant called “O Retornado.”
Many of these people were strong Salazar supporters and still
bear a grudge against the Socialist government led by Mario Soares that
supposedly “gave Africa away to the blacks.” Politically Chaves has been divided between Socialists (PS) and Social Democrats (PSD). Communists (PCP) and Christian Democrats (CDU-PP) have had little recent expression. The leftist Bloco de Esquerda has gained recent support, especially among the young, and more educated. The Socialists dominated the government in the late Nineties but the recent government is PSD. One feels that people vote more for the person and less for the party. There is a lot of political clientism as the City Hall provides a lot of jobs. Many of these go to the party faithful, the famous "Jobs for the Boys" politics, so common in small town politics. In the last five years (2003-2008) Chaves has seen several important changes in its infrastructure, and for the most part life has improved greatly.
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