Carnation revolution

The Baron’s RIP list gets longer every time I look at it. I don’t know how I missed it but Carlos Alberto Pontes (photo), an institution in Reuters Lisbon bureau, passed away last year.

Pontes joined Reuters aged 12 in 1950 as a courier distributing the agency’s news to Portuguese newspapers. He became a reporter and photo journalist covering sports and politics during 58 years with the company.

Any Reuters fireman visiting Lisbon in the 1970s would get a request from Pontes to bring a car spare part. Portugal, ruled by a dictator for 40 years, was among the poorest countries of Europe then and there was a shortage of automotive and home appliance parts.

I was in Portugal a few times during the turbulent period that followed the 1974 Carnation Revolution, travelling on the night train from Madrid to Lisbon. Pontes and I once dashed into a crowded restaurant for a quick lunch at the bar before a press conference. After waiting 20 minutes for the bill Pontes said: “Let’s go.” When I asked who was going to pay for the meal, he said: “O povo” (the people).

Gunshots were fired at one street demonstration and people started running. Pontes took my hand and that of a female BBC reporter and led us to safety in a roadside ditch. 

The Portuguese news agency LUSA, reporting Pontes’s retirement, said he was the "safe guide" of several generations of Reuters correspondents in Lisbon. ■