Speaking at the ceremony, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlighted: "the museum that wants to be alive to bear witness to what we do not want the present or the future to be".

An essential task, "especially for the youth of tomorrow to know what they must always reject: there is no possible confusion between oppression and freedom, between dictatorship and democracy", he stressed.

The future is born from the union in the past, said José Maria Neves, Cape Verdean President, who evoked the revolution of 25 April 1974 to recall that "the peoples of Portugal and the colonies were in the same trench" against the Portuguese dictatorship.

"Today the challenges and horizons are new, in an increasingly complicated world situation", pointing out as an example the migratory waves of those fleeing violence and "new prisons", he added, appealing to the reinforcement of "democracy" with humanity.

Democracy requires "permanent care" so that "concentration camps are never spoken of again", he concluded.

The Head of State of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, paid homage, in his speech, "bowing" before the memory of the political prisoners.

In the same way, the Minister of Defence of Angola, representing President João Lourenço, praised all the initiatives that highlight the resistance to the colonial regime.

A group of 22 of them, imprisoned in the second phase of the camp, oppressing anti-colonialists, were present today.

Luís Fonseca, former Cape Verdean ambassador, executive secretary of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) between 2004 and 2008, spoke as a spokesman for the political prisoners.

Former inmate 343 recalled an imprisonment that intended to make the ideals of freedom disappear, but which produced solidarity, thought and even poetry and new songs.

In the same way, he asked for solidarity with Palestine, in an allusion to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, considering that Israel's offensive seems to only present "extermination or exile" as options, in ways similar to the practices of the Portuguese colonial era.

So that there are no more "tarrafais", it is important that new generations visit the former Tarrafal camp, now the Museum of Resistance, which must be preserved and developed.

In the afternoon, the presidents will have a guided tour of the camp and the day's commemorations will end with a concert with Mário Lúcio (Cape Verde), Teresa Salgueiro (Portugal), Paulo Flores (Angola) and Karyna Gomes (Guinea Bissau), with free admission.

More than 500 people were imprisoned in the "death camp".

A total of 36 people did not survive, the majority, 32 dead, were Portuguese who opposed the fascist regime, imprisoned in the first phase of the camp, between 1936 and 1956.

The camp reopened in 1962 with the name Campo de Trabalho de Chão Bom, intended to imprison anti-colonialists from Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde -- at which time two Angolans and two Guineans died.

The liberation of those who opposed the Estado Novo took place a few days after the fascist regime was overthrown with the revolution of 25 April 1974 in Portugal.

Read Also: Marcelo recalls victims of "Portuguese dictatorship" that became "colonial" (Portuguese version)