Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
He was director of the Express and founder of the newspaper Sol. In his book “Forbidden”, he generated controversy by exposing secrets from several Portuguese politicians, which earned him the “enmity” of José Sócrates. He died at the age of 77, a cancer victim.
Died this Thursday, March 6, journalist and architect António José Saraiva, victim of cancer. I was 77 years old. He started writing at 17, and collaborated with several newspapers, from the ball, the Republic, the Diário de Lisboa or Portugal today to Expresso, where he began to be a columnist for the invitation of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Eventually became, in 1983, Express director, in the longest term to date: It was 22 years ahead of the weekly. When he left, he founded the Sol newspaper in 2006.
On February 28 this year, he published one in this same weekly, entitled “Not a Farewell”, where he makes a kind of summary of his memories.
In it, he writes: “What was the idea for the Express? Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had gone to the government at the invitation of Francisco Pinto Balsmanha and I should replace him on page 2, which was the most emblematic. I refused the idea immediately. I was an architect, I worked at Manuel Tainha’s studio, near the Sheraton Hotel, was very fond of what I did and the idea of becoming a journalist didn’t entice me at all. ”
But it was in the Odis Campos that stood out. In a note left on the Presidency of the Republic website, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa leaves him a tribute: “In addition to the activity as an architect, José António Saraiva devoted himself to history, especially contemporary political history, and played a very important role during a certain period of Expresso’s life, such as thepolitical nalist, as a historical chronicler and as director of publications“.
“It is impossible to count the period of the 80s and 90s without mentioning its contribution, heir to a very rich family lineage, in which his father loom António José Saraiva and your uncle José Brother Saraiva“, Writes, mentioning the two historians their families who also marked the history of the country.
In the article for the sun, it also mentions a media era of your life: the controversial book Me and the politicianswhich published in 2016, when he said goodbye to journalism. In the text, it tells several controversial episodes that lived with Portuguese politicians, and the publication was worth a conviction for
“The book I and the politicians were the subject of great scandal, was the subject of many TV shows, but today I can say that the only goal was to correspond to the truth and tell what I knew with some filters I used not to get into the personal sphere, such as drug abuse by certain responsible,” he writes in the sun.
“Os enemies that truly I had were people who showed less character, Like José Socrates; On the contrary, I think I found decent, correct and sensitive people, ”he said.
