Humberto Delgado

Humberto da Silva [His Identity Card, shown on the Portuguese documentary "Crónica do Século", has this name.] Delgado, GCL, pron. IPA2|ũ'bɛɾtu dɛɫ'gadu, (15 May 1906 in Brogueira, Torres Novas – 13 February 1965 near Olivenza) was a General of the Portuguese Air Force and politician. He was the son of Joaquim Delgado and wife Maria do Ó Pereira and had three younger sisters, Deolinda, Aida and Lídia.

He began his military career by joining Colégio Militar in 1916. He became the Director of the "Secretariado Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil" (National Secretariat of Civil Aeronautics), General-Commander of the Legião Portuguesa, Deputy National Commissar of the Mocidade Portuguesa and Procurator to the Corporative Chamber.

Although initially a staunch supporter of the right-wing dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, and the youngest general in Portuguese history, his passage as a Military Attaché and Aeronautic Attaché to the Portuguese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1952 pushed him into the defence of democratic ideals, and inspired him to run as a candidate to the Portuguese presidency in 1958. [cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898805,00.html|title=Under the Eucalyptus Trees - TIME|publisher=www.time.com|accessdate=2007-12-25]

In a famous interview on 10 May 1958, in the "Chave d'Ouro" café, when asked what would be his attitude towards Salazar, he made one of the most famous quotations of Portuguese politics: "Obviamente, demito-o!" ("Obviously, I'll sack him!").

His outspoken attitude earned him the epithet of "General sem Medo" (Fearless General).

He was nevertheless credited with only around 25% of the votes in the highly rigged presidential elections of 1958, despite the consensual opinion that he was the true winner and some evidence of ballots filled with votes for the regime candidate by the secret police.

He was expelled from the Portuguese military, and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy before going into exile.

Humberto Delgado spent much of his exile in Brazil and later in Algeria, as a guest of Ben Bella.

In 1964, he founded the Portuguese National Liberation Front in Rome.

While in exile, he saw that the only solution to end the "Estado Novo" would be by a military coup, while many others advocated a "national uprising" approach.

Delgado and his Brazilian secretary, Arajaryr Moreira de Campos, would be murdered on 13 February 1965, after being attracted to an ambush by the regime's secret police (PIDE) near the border town of Olivenza, when trying to enter Portugal clandestinely. The official version was that he was killed in self defense, but he was not even armed when he was shot, and his secretary was strangled. Their bodies would only be found some two months later, near the Spanish village of Villanueva del Fresno. Portuguese dictator Salazar, who approved the operation, when he found out about the killings, said simply: "Uma maçada" ("Such a boring thing"). He later appeared on national television claiming to be ignorant of the political police's involvement and blaming quarrels between opposition forces for the event.

Some historians claim that Spanish authorities knew about the involvement of the Portuguese secret police and staged the finding of the decomposing corpses by two local boys just not to be involved.

In 1990, Humberto Delgado was posthumously promoted to Marshal of the Portuguese Air Force [http://www.portugal-info.net/people/politicians.htm] - being the only person to hold this rank -, his name was given to an Avenue in Lisbon and his body was moved to the National Pantheon, in Lisbon. The significance of this gesture is that some former Portuguese Presidents are there.

Marriage and offspring

Married to Maria Iva Theriaga Leitão Tavares de Andrade, born around 1910, he had three children: [Rodrigo de Magalhães e Menezes Ortigão de Oliveira - A Família Ramalho Ortigão, Author's Edition, 1st Edition, Porto, 2000]
* Humberto Ivo de Andrade da Silva Delgado, born at São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, on 24 November, 1933, Air Pilot Officer, Commander of the Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (Portuguese Aerial Transportations), married at Alcântara, Lisbon, on December 12, 1958, to Maria da Graça da Silva Basto Muller e Sousa, born at Alcântara, Lisbon, on June 9, 1933, daughter of Dante Mário Muller e Sousa, Consular Functionary, Vice Consul of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Lisbon (son of a German mother) and wife Ester de Carvalho da Silva Basto (second cousin twice removed of Writer Ramalho Ortigão), and had issue:
** Pedro Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, October 11, 1959), married at the Chapel of the Palácio das Necessidades, Lisbon, May 19, 1990 to Luisa Deplazes (b. Chur, Grisons, Switzerland, August 9, 1966), daughter of Christian Alois Deplazes and wife Maria Margaretha Deplazes-Derungs, and had issue:
*** Anna Francesca Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. Geneva, Switzerland, December 9, 2002)
** Gonçalo Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, June 9, 1961), married at the Chapel of the Amoreiras, Lisbon, April 9, 1983, to Maria da Conceição de Campos Henriques de Albuquerque d'Orey (b. Alvalade, Lisbon, August 3, 1963), daughter of Bernardo de Albuquerque d'Orey and first wife Maria Helena de Carvalho de Campos Henriques, of the Barons and Viscounts de Vila Nova de Foz Coa, and had issue:
*** Bernardo d'Orey Delgado (b. São Francisco Xavier, Lisbon, October 11, 1983)
*** Mariana d'Orey Delgado (b. São Francisco Xavier, Lisbon, April 4, 1985)
** Rita Maria Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, September 20, 1963), Licenciate in Law at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon, a Lawyer, married in Alcântara, Lisbon, April 21, 1990 to Pedro de Macedo Vaz Pinto (b. São Sebastião, Setúbal, September 3, 1963), an Entrepreneur, son of Gonçalo Vaz Pinto da Fonseca de Sá Pereira e Castro, an Economist, and wife Luísa Maria de Azevedo Coutinho da Costa Macedo, and had issue:
*** Matilde Delgado Vaz Pinto (b. Alcântara, Lisbon, September 25, 1990)
*** Salvador Delgado Vaz Pinto (b. Alcântara, Lisbon, November 19, 1992)
*** Lourenço Delgado Vaz Pinto (b. Alcântara, Lisbon, June 18, 1996)
** Tiago Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, June 18, 1967), married as her second husband to Filipa Maria Palma Leal Rebelo de Andrade, daughter of Eduardo José Castelões Rebelo de Andrade and wife Maria Teresa Quintino Palma Leal, and had issue:
*** Manuel Maria Rebelo de Andrade Delgado, twin (b. 2001)
*** José Maria Rebelo de Andrade Delgado, twin (b. 2001)
** Joana Maria Muller e Sousa Delgado (b. São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, September 14, 1968 – 1992), unmarried and without issue.
* Iva Humberta de Andrade da Silva Delgado, who always championed for her father, unmarried and without issue.
* Maria Humberta de Andrade da Silva Delgado, unmarried and without issue.

Notes