Francisco Balsmanha: “When Eanes understood that I was gaining strength and power, I sought to find obstacles that complicated my life”

One of the phases of greatest Cold War was most crispted: the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, on December 25, 1979, the communist military coup in Poland and the imposition of martial law on December 13, 1981; The appearance of anti -American pacifist movements in Europe against the installation of tactical missiles decided in 1979 and effective from 1983 (Crisis of the Euromyseis).

The support that in December 1981, the Balsmanian government gave Solidarność of Lech Walesa, Poland, and the condemnation of Soviet intervention originated a serious conflict with President Ramalho Eanes, with which “it was never easy to work.”

Listen to this and other stories in the fourth episode of the third season of ‘Memories’. Next week we will hear about the VIII Constitutional Government (1981-1982).

Always ahead of your time, Francisco Pinto Balsemão entrusted the cloning of his voice to tell the story of his long and memorable first person lifeusing technology supported by artificial intelligence. Launched in 2021 by Porto Editora, Francisco Pinto Balsemão’s work ‘Memories’ sold over 17,000 copies and now leaves in 2025 in the podcast format, following the work as published in a book.

The founder of Expresso and SIC recorded with his own voice the reading of some pages of the book. Then the Instinct Innovation Agency took advantage of the stretch and generated the voice of Francisco Pinto Balsmanha to read the entire 1000 pages of the work. Accompanying Francisco Pinto Balsemão was journalist Clara de Sousa, who gives voice to all the titles and subtitles of the work.

The podcast version, which has the support of Volkswagen and Porto Editora, consists of 24 episodes. The first is now available on all podcast platforms and in this article. From here all listeners will have access to new episodes every week to Friday.

“I used what you might call my natural intelligence to write the more than 1000 pages of my memories. I thought that, to read them to this new podcast, I could already and should have a help from artificial intelligence. It was a challenge that I readily accepted. Be pioneers in an innovative project, based on artificial intelligence, ”says Francisco Pinto Balsmão.

This is the third podcast of Francisco Pinto Balsemão in Expresso. The premiere took place in 2023, with. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the newspaper, Balsmania interviewed 50 striking personalities from the most diverse sectors of society, including António Guterres, António Costa, Ramos Horta, Ricardo Araújo Pereira, Paula Amorim, Vasco de Mello, António Horta Osório, Joana Vasconcelos, António Damásio, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, among others. The top of the 10 most ears was: Ricardo Araújo Pereira, Francisco Pinto Balsemão (interviewed by João Vieira Pereira, director of Expresso), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Daniel Oliveira, António Horta-osorio, Rita Blanco, José Milhazes, António Costa, Durão Barroso and Vhils.

It followed in 2024, consisting of 12 episodes. Francisco Pinto Balsemão presented a series of debates on the current and future impact of artificial intelligence in various areas of our lives in society. From geopolitics to national security, from medicine to teaching, from art to religion, how technology is shaping the 21st century.