The Left Bloc on Monday, 30th March, delivered a letter to the Prime Minister’s official residence, signed by “around 8,500 people”, urging the Government to ban the United States from using the Lajes Air Base for attacks against Iran.
“What we have brought to the Government today is an open letter, signed by roughly 8,500 people, giving voice to this sense of indignation and demanding that the Government condemn this conflict, and, above all, do so in concrete terms by genuinely prohibiting, not merely rhetorically, the use of Lajes Air Base by US aircraft for this purpose,” said party coordinator José Manuel Pureza, who led the delegation received by the Prime Minister’s diplomatic adviser.
The Left Bloc leader said the letter calls on the administration led by Luís Montenegro to follow Spain’s example, noting that Madrid had this week closed its airspace to all flights involved in the attacks on Iran and refused US access to two military bases.
“It is difficult to understand how the Government, in the face of all this, can adopt a position of clear complicity, materialised in the use of Lajes Air Base in a way that contradicts fundamental principles of international law and even Portuguese law,” Pureza argued. He also referred to a report by SIC television station stating that MQ-9 Reaper military drones, dubbed “killer drones”, were scheduled to arrive at Lajes Air Base later that evening. “The fact that a significant number of US drones are due to land at Lajes today for use in the conflict only deepens the Portuguese Government’s complicity,” he added.
“What is important for the country, and hopefully for the Government as well, to understand is that many people in Portugal view this war with profound indignation and concern, and feel directly affected in their daily lives, in their household budgets, at the supermarket and in housing costs, by the consequences of this conflict,” Pureza continued, adding that he had been informed the letter would be forwarded to Luís Montenegro.
“The facts justify the concern and anger felt by many. After Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said the Portuguese Government had set strict conditions for the use of Lajes Air Base, it later emerged that the base had already been used by US aircraft involved in the war. The Government may neither confirm nor deny it, but the facts speak for themselves,” he concluded.
Source: LUSA
