More than 5,600 call for government action against “toxic” Salazar Museum

More than 5,600 people have already signed a public petition calling for intervention from the Government to prevent the installation of a museum dedicated to the former dictatorship of the Estado Novo and its leader, Salazar, in Santa Comba Dão, Viseu.

The digital document was posted on the Internet two and a half days ago and has already been signed by some well-known Portuguese figures, such as former union leader Carvalho da Silva, political analyst Pedro Adão e Silva, writer Maria Teresa Horta, former University of Lisbon dean José Barata Moura and singer Francisco Fanhais, among others.

The petition, titled “No Salazar Museum!” supports an open letter to the Prime Minister, António Costa, from August 12th, in which 204 former political prisoners demanded action from the PS executive, as well as expressing “the most vehement rejection” for the initiative announced by the local mayor.

According to the petition, the Santa Comba Dão project is “far from being aimed at enlightening the population and especially the younger generations”, and would be “an instrument at the service of the whitewashing of the fascist regime, and a toxic centre for nostalgia of the regime overthrown on the 25th of April 1974”.