TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY TO MARGARIDA MARTINS

Thank you for your comment. Answering your letter, I have to point out that the (Bloco de Esquerda) Left Block was indeed leading the trip to Spain, and the Portuguese Communist Party was present in one of the buses. Therefore the reference is to the Bloco de Esquerda and not the PCP.

In my article I simply stated that one of the buses was entered by several police, to quote directly:

“Several policemen entered the buses and confiscated rolls of film from passengers which had registered the incident” With all due respect Ms. Martins, do you really think the international community out there is interested in a detail such as whose bus it was? Or in the general story?

Now, to answer the tone of your letter… “I don’t know who ‘sold’ you the incident” sounds to me rather an insolent way in which to begin a letter. And anyway, how very curious that I finally receive any information from the Portuguese Community Party.

Maybe our readers would be interested to know that Pravda.Ru is starting its Portuguese version this summer. For this reason, Pravda.Ru in Lisbon has been preparing its contacts in political, economic and cultural foundations, parties and institutes all around the Portuguese-speaking world. The response has been fabulous, mainly from Brazil but also from Portugal, where cultural institutions welcomed the idea and promised collaboration.

Regarding politics parties, the Bloco de Esquerda was quick to offer collaboration, sending all their press releases to Pravda.Ru in preparation for the start-up and a healthy dialogue has been maintained. From the Portuguese Communist Party, two meetings were arranged, which were never attended by the PCP. 18 letters, numerous e-mails and an endless quantity of telephone calls did not even merit the courtesy of a reply.

I duly mentioned this in an article which was picked up by the Portuguese press, a fact which led to my interview on television yesterday, in which I reiterated that the PCP has done nothing whatsoever to contribute towards my project. Now we see, and I pointed this out both in my interview and in the article, why the PCP is systematically losing influence and votes.

So Margarida Martins if you really want to tell the world that it was your bus that the Guardia Civil entered, then fine. Stick to the minor details, keep your blinkers on and watch your beloved party run itself into extinction within…some 25 years. Watch this space.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey PRAVDA.Ru