People
Fernando Reis
Fernando Luís Barreiros dos Reis
- Born
- 16 November 1950, Arranhó, Arruda dos Vinhos
- Died
- 25 April 1974, Lisbon (probably the Estrela Military Hospital)
A 23-year-old soldier on leave in Lisbon, he was one of the four people killed when the DGS fired on the crowd on Rua António Maria Cardoso, on the night of 25 April 1974.
He was born on 16 November 1950 in Arranhó, in the municipality of Arruda dos Vinhos. At 11 he entered the Casa Pia, where he studied until 1967. In 1974 he was a soldier in the 1st Disciplinary Company of Penamacor, a unit that the Estado Novo (“New State”) used to punish soldiers and opponents accused of indiscipline.1
On 25 April he was reportedly on leave in Lisbon, and he followed the events in the streets. At the end of the day he was among the crowd that, outside the DGS headquarters on Rua António Maria Cardoso, was demanding the surrender of the political police. The agents fired from the windows and killed four people: Fernando Reis, Fernando Giesteira, João Arruda and José Barneto.12 Fernando Reis was 23 and had two children; he is thought to have died at the Estrela Military Hospital. To this day, no one knows who fired.1
On the walks
Places
In the timeline
They crossed paths with him
Fernando Giesteira
1955–1974
An 18-year-old waiter from Trás-os-Montes, he was the youngest of the four civilians killed by DGS gunfire on Rua António Maria Cardoso, at the end of the day on 25 April 1974.
João Arruda
1954–1974
A 20-year-old student from the Azores at the Lisbon Faculty of Letters, he was hit in the head by DGS gunfire at around 20:30 on 25 April 1974 and died at São José Hospital at 00:30 on 26 April.
José Barneto
1935–1974
A 38-year-old clerk and father of four, he was killed by DGS gunfire outside the headquarters of the political police, at the end of the day on 25 April 1974.
Silva Pais
1905–1981
Director of the political police, he warned Marcelo Caetano at 05:00 on 25 April that “the Revolution is out on the streets”. He only surrendered the DGS headquarters on the morning of the 26th, after the agents had killed four people on Rua António Maria Cardoso.
Conceição Matos
b. 1936
A communist activist arrested in 1965 and in 1968, she suffered at the PIDE headquarters some of the cruellest and most humiliating torture methods used on a woman, and never talked. Decades later, she spoke about it publicly to denounce the political police.
Helena Pato
b. 1939
A student leader in the 1962 academic crisis, she was arrested in 1967 and suffered long isolation, beatings and sleep torture in Caxias. She later led the Não Apaguem a Memória (Do Not Erase Memory) movement.
Notes on the sources2
- The place of death: “by all indications” the Estrela Military Hospital, according to the Aljube Museum.
- His place of birth and age: Arranhó, Arruda dos Vinhos, and 23, according to the Aljube Museum; Lisbon and 24, according to the newspaper “O Século” of 28 April 1974, cited by Esquerda.net.
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Sources
- 1Fernando Luís Barreiros dos Reis (biografia). Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 2Esta semana, e sempre, a rua lembra os quatro homens assassinados pela PIDE/DGS. Time Out Lisboa (1/4/2024) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 3Os mortos pela PIDE em 25 de Abril. Esquerda.net — consulted on 2 October 2026