Rodrigo Antunes / Lusa
A new book by Manuel Carvalho includes reports from former party member who reveal a climate of intimidation and hidden recordings of conversations and phone calls. André Ventura even had an escape plan for Morocco if the party was illegal.
Illegal recordings of conversations between leaders, internal reports filled with conspiracy theories, and even a Ventura escape plan for Morocco in case of police persecution. These are some of the episodes reported in the book “Confidential – inside the arrival”(Objective), by journalist Miguel Carvalho, launched this week after six years of investigation.
With 750 pages, the work plunges behind the scenes of the party and details the climate of intimidation during the 2020 internal conflicts. According to former leaders such as Rodrigo Freire, Nuno Afonso and Luís Graça, a clandestine phone recording And meetings was a “frequent practice”, used as a weapon against internal critics.
Rodrigo Freire, who led the district of Leiria, states that the party hierarchy, including deputies today, was aware of these practices, including Ventura itself. Already Nuno Afonso even suggested, in his memories book, that the leader resorted to personal recordings: “When they talk to him, take signal inhibitors.”
Miguel Carvalho also had access to an eight -page internal document where he and Pedro Coelho, SIC journalist who has also made several reports about arrival, were described as foreign agents Involved in conspiracy networks with figures as diverse as Álvaro Cunhal, George Soros or Yasser Arafat, denotes the.
One of the most unusual episodes appears at the opening of the book: during the pandemic and with the closed Spanish border, Ventura, the woman and nearby leaders will have discussed an escape plan if the party was illegalized by the authorities. The information that the Judiciary Police prepared the “beheading” of the arrival led the group to the Algarve, where, according to businessman and militant Arlindo Fernandes, he even prepared a quick speedboat trip to Tangier, in Morocco, with a final destination to Ivory Coast. The plan ended up not moving forward.
