Damásio Martins Pereira

(Lisbon, 21-10-1905 – Tarrafal, Santiago Island, Cape Verde, 11-11-1942)

Damásio Martins Pereira was born in Lisbon, where he worked as a general labourer. His prison record, which was opened on his second arrest in 1937, does not include his previous deportation to Timor, which would have been caused by the fact that, due to hunger, he had begged for bread. On 9 April 1937, he was again detained for enquiries in a police station and held incommunicado. On the 27th of that month, he was transferred to the 1st precinct, and on June 2, he was sent to the Prison of Aljube. A few days later, he embarked for the Concentration Camp of Tarrafal, on the Santiago Island, Cape Verde. In the five years he spent there, he was subjected, like the other prisoners, to forced labour, even after falling ill with malaria and “blackwater fever”. Without medication or medical assistance, he only went to the infirmary for the last three days of his life, where he remained until he died at the age of 37.