Minister of Culture laments the death of José Manuel Tengarrinha, a "free man" and democrat

Luís Castro Mendes, Minister of Culture, lamented the death of the Algarve's José Manuel Tengarrinha, remembering him as a “free, democratic and progressive man”. 

In a note sent to the newsrooms, the minister recalls Tengarrinha as a “researcher of excellence, in the fields of History and Social Sciences”, as well as the founder of the Portuguese Democratic Movement/Democratic Electoral Commission (MDP/CDE).

For Luís Castro Mendes, José Manuel Tengarrinha deserves “our highest recognition for his antifascist struggle and resistance. Constituent deputy, as a citizen he has always defended his political ideas freely and courageously».

Responsible for training several generations as a teacher and historian, he wrote the first “History of the Portuguese Periodic Press”, originally published in 1965, having considered that “the history of the Portuguese press cannot be observed as an isolated phenomenon and Sui generis, but as one of the aspects (…) of the history of our culture».

Born in Portimão, José Manuel Tengarrinha died this Friday, June 29, in Lisbon, aged 86, victim of a prolonged illness. He was the younger brother of the former communist deputy, anti-fascist resistant and artist Margarida Tengarrinha.