The Directorate-General for Defense Resources received 7762 requests for compensation for the provision of military service by former combatants recruited in the former Portuguese colonies, of which only eight are under analysis.
In response to questions posed by the Lusa agency, the Ministry of National Defense states that the “overwhelming majority” of requests from former combatants – whose day is marked on Sunday – concerns former combatants from local recruitment who “do not have career records contributory in Portugal, either in the General Social Security System or in the Caixa Geral de Aposentação, being considered as not covered”, as they do not meet the legal requirements for the attribution of special retirement or retirement supplements.
Of the total requests, "only eight are under analysis, which could lead to the attribution of compensation".
These numbers are contained in a database of the Directorate-General for National Defense Resources, which points out that there may be repeated requests because they were made by the same applicant.
In March, the parliamentary Defense commission considered information from the office of the Minister of National Defence, Helena Carreiras, prepared by the directorate-general, on the follow-up given to a parliamentary resolution (presented by the CDS-PP in the last legislature) which recommended to the Government the study of compensation for former soldiers recruited in the former Portuguese colonies, “without contributory career records”.
At stake are citizens of countries such as Angola, Mozambique or Guinea-Bissau who were at the service of the Portuguese Armed Forces during the colonial war.
The CDS initiative insisted that the government comply with another joint resolution presented by PS, PSD, PCP and CDS, already approved in 2019, with the aim of preparing “a study on how the benefits contained in the Law can be attributed n.º 3/2009” to these former combatants.
This law defines the necessary procedures for attributing benefits arising from periods of military service under special conditions of difficulty or danger.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the law, as well as the Former Combatant Statute (approved in July 2020), do not exclude these former soldiers from the right to special retirement and retirement supplements, however, “the registration of a contributory career in the Portuguese Social Security systems or in the country with which an international agreement has been established”.
This happens because the law does not grant the right to an autonomous benefit only for the provision of military service.
The guardianship emphasizes that the fact of being covered by the Statute of the Former Combatant does not exempt the fulfillment of “the special requirements established by each diploma for the purpose of access to benefits”.
This means that there may be former combatants qualified as such by the Statute, “with the right to the card”, but who will not have access to special retirement or retirement supplements if they do not meet the requirements established by law.
In the information sent to parliament, the Directorate-General for Defense Resources suggests that, if an amendment to current legislation is considered, the benefit to be attributed is the Special Pension Supplement (SEP), “since the application of the remaining benefits provided for legislation would entail even greater burdens”.
However, that entity warns in the text that the General Archive of the Army would have “serious difficulties” in making the respective military service time counts or in certifying the fulfillment of military service, “since it only has a small part of the processes individuals from the universe of these former fighters, which for various reasons were either destroyed or lost”.
The directorate-general also points out that it is not known whether “the payment of any benefit, by the Portuguese Social Security, would be feasible or not, since the universe to be covered has no records in that entity”.
During the colonial war, Portugal recruited thousands of soldiers from local populations and, in several theaters of operations, most of the troops were African soldiers.
After the war, many of these soldiers were left in the territories and several extrajudicial executions by the liberation forces were recorded.
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