GlendaBancroft at 10:00, 16 March 2026

2026-03-16T10:00:08Z

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{{short description|Portuguese military intelligence officer and law enforcement officer (1920–1993)}}
'''Casimiro Emérito Rosa Teles Jordão Monteiro''' (28 December 1920 – 25 January 1993),<ref name="govapuri">{{cite journal |publisher=[[Institute Menezes Braganza]] |publication-place=[[Goa]], [[India]] |journal=Govapuri |pages=61–65 |volume=10 |issue=4 |year=2016 |first1=P. |last1=Varela Gomes |first2=Paul |last2=Castro |translator=Paul Castro |title=My name is Casimiro Monteiro |editor1-first=Sanjay |editor1-last=Harmalkar |editor2-first=Pundalik Raut |editor2-last=Dessa }}</ref> also known as '''Agente Monteiro''', was a Portuguese [[covert operation]]s [[military intelligence]] officer and [[law enforcement]] officer during the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]] regime. He carried out [[State terrorism|state-sanctioned bombings]] and assassinations in Portugal, [[Mozambique]] and [[Goa]]. His actions were mostly focused against members of independence movements that existed in the [[Portuguese colonial empire]].<ref name="govapuri" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Ana Maria |last=Simões |url=https://sol.sapo.pt/artigo/732445/angoche-o-maior-misterio-da-guerra-colonial |language=Portuguese |date=24 April 2021 |title=Angoche, o maior mistério da guerra colonial |access-date=7 September 2021 |editor1-first=Mário |editor1-last=Ramires |editor2-first=Vítor |editor2-last=Rainho |editor3-first=José |editor3-last=Cabrita Saraiva |editor4-first=Marta F. |editor4-last=Reis |editor5-first=José António |editor5-last=Saraiva |editor6-first=Afonso |editor6-last=de Melo |editor7-first=Felícia |editor7-last=Cabrita |editor8-first=Sónia |editor8-last=Peres Pinto |editor9-first=Joana |editor9-last=Andrade |editor10-first=Laura |editor10-last=Ramires |publisher=Editor Newsplex, S.A./Impressão Sogapal Distribuição VASP |publication-place=[[Porto Salvo]], [[Oeiras, Portugal]] |work=Nascer do SOL |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508214001/https://sol.sapo.pt/artigo/732445/angoche-o-maior-misterio-da-guerra-colonial }}</ref>

As a [[PIDE]] [[Espionage#Agents in espionage|agent]], Monteiro tortured [[Indian people|Indian]]s in Goa (e.g. [[Mohan Ranade]], an Indian independence activist) who were demanding the union of [[Portuguese India]] territories with the recently independent [[India]].<ref name="monteiro" /><ref name="navhindtimes1" /><ref>{{cite web |first=Sanjeev V. |last=Sardesai |date=29 June 2019 |title=The lost gem of Goan freedom -Mohan Ranade |access-date=7 September 2021 |url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2019/06/29/magazines/zest/the-lost-gem-of-goan-freedom-mohan-ranade |work=The Navhind Times |publisher=Navhind Papers & Publications (Dempo Group/Dempo Industries Pvt. Ltd.) |publication-place=[[Goa]], [[India]] |editor1-first=Pramod |editor1-last=Revankar |editor2-first=Arun |editor2-last=Sinha }}</ref> Monteiro is believed to have carried out the high-profile assassinations of [[Humberto Delgado]]<ref name="delgros" /><ref name="tracking" /> and [[Eduardo Mondlane]].<ref name="tracking" /><ref name="govapuri" />

Following the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974, Monteiro lost his job and his [[immunity from prosecution]]. He received [[political asylum]] in [[Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)|apartherid South Africa]] and lived there in poverty as well as obscurity till his death.<ref name="tracking" /><ref name="govapuri" /><ref name="monteiro" />

==Early life==
Monteiro was born on 28 December 1920 in [[Portuguese Goa State|Portuguese Goa]] to a [[Portuguese (people)|Portuguese]] father and his [[Goan Catholic]] wife, an ''aguadeira'' (water supplier) from the city of [[Ponda, Goa|Ponda]].<ref name="navhindtimes1">{{cite web |first=Mário |last=Cabral e Sá |date=28 January 2012 |access-date=29 August 2021 |title=The case of the CM's bungalow |work=The Navhind Times |publisher=Navhind Papers & Publications (Dempo Group/Dempo Industries Pvt. Ltd.) |url-status=dead |publication-place=[[Goa]], [[India]] |editor1-first=Pramod |editor1-last=Revankar |editor2-first=Arun |editor2-last=Sinha |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130218024152/http://www.navhindtimes.in/elections/case-cm-s-bungalow |archive-date=18 February 2013 |url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2012/01/28/magazines/panorama/elections-case-cm-s-bungalow }}</ref> He lived in Portugal for some time before joining [[General Franco]]'s army in the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref name="maillistgoanvo">{{cite mailing list |mailing-list=Goan Voice Newsletter |first=Eddie |last=Fernandes |publication-place=[[London]], United Kingdom of Great Britain |date=23 July 2014 |access-date=29 August 2021 |url=http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/printerfile.php?link=2014-07-23 |publisher=Goan Voice UK |title=Goan Voice Newsletter: Wednesday 23 Jul. 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list |mailing-list=Goan Voice Newsletter |first=Eddie |last=Fernandes |publication-place=[[London]], United Kingdom of Great Britain |publisher=Goan Voice UK |url=http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/printerfile.php?link=2019-01-26 |title=Goan Voice Newsletter: Saturday 26 Jan. 2019 |date=26 January 2019 |access-date=7 September 2021 }}</ref>

After the [[World War II|war]], Monteiro moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked for a butcher whose daughter he married<ref name="navhindtimes1"/> and had a son; although he abandoned his family after the [[Carnation Revolution]] when he lost the protection of the Portuguese government and was forced to flee Portugal to avoid prosecution and extradition to India.<ref name="tracking" />

==Portuguese Goa Era==
In the 1950s, Monteiro joined the Portuguese Colonial Police in Goa, where he interrogated [[Goan liberation movement]] activists.<ref name="resjour" /><ref name="monteiro" /> Much of the brutal torture during interrogations took place at Valpoi Police Station and, eventually, Monteiro became infamous and feared throughout [[Portuguese India]];<ref name="tracking" /> by the closing years of Portuguese rule in India there were even several local theatre songs of the feared Agent Monteiro.<ref name="resjour">{{cite journal |title=Goan freedom struggle and 'Hom-kand' started by Jeevanmukt Maharaj |journal=Research Journey |volume=183 |issue=A |pages=1–8 |last=Madgaonkar |first=Vinay |publisher=Swatidhan Publications |issn=2348-7143 |date=1 April 2019 |url=http://irgu.unigoa.ac.in/drs/bitstream/handle/unigoa/5870/Res_Journey_183%28A%29_2019_1-8.pdf |editor1-first=Dhanraj Totaram |editor1-last=Dhangar |editor2-first=Swati V. |editor2-last=Lawange |publication-place=[[Nashik]], [[India]] }}</ref>

==PIDE agent==
After Goa's annexation by the [[Indian Army]] in 1961, Monteiro was recruited by the [[Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado]] (PIDE), the Portuguese Secret Service.<ref name="delgros">{{cite news |title=A terceira morte do Gen. Delgado |first=Frederico |last=Delgado Rosa |date=3 May 2008 |access-date=29 August 2021 |url=https://www.dn.pt/arquivo/2008/a-terceira-morte-do-gen-delgado-998893.html |publication-place=[[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]] |website=Diário de Notícias |language=Portuguese |editor1-last=de Andradem |editor1-first=Domingos |editor2-last=Tecedeiro |editor2-first=Helen |editor3-last=Sequeira |editor3-first=Pedro |editor4-last=Ferro |editor4-first=Carlos |editor5-last=Cassiano |editor5-first=Artur |editor6-first=Elsa |editor6-last=Rocha |editor7-first=Carlos |editor7-last=Nogueira |editor8-first=Manuel |editor8-last=Molinos |editor9-first=Marcelo |editor9-last=Leite |publisher=Global Media Group (Global Noticias, Media Group, S.A.) |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830000732/https://www.dn.pt/arquivo/2008/a-terceira-morte-do-gen-delgado-998893.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Initially, he participated in a campaign to organise an anti-Indian resistance among Goans code named Plan Gralha. PIDE agents used the Emissona Nacional, radio station which continued to broadcast after 1961, to broadcast stories of Goan non-cooperation with Indian authorities. Plans were made to sabotage port facilities at Mormugao and Bombay. In 1962, a bomb was planted at Vasco Municipal School in March 1962, and another at a different location in October.<ref name="monteiro">{{cite web |first=Lisa |last=Monteiro |date=5 June 2017 |access-date=29 August 2021 |title=When Portugal made one last effort to recapture Goa from India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/when-portugal-made-one-last-effort-to-recapture-goa-from-india/articleshow/58998725.cms |publisher=[[Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.]] ([[The Times Group]]) |publication-place=[[Gurgaon]], [[Haryana]], [[India]] |editor1-first=Jadeep |editor1-last=Bose |website=[[The Times of India]] |issn=0971-8257 |oclc=23379369 |editor2-first=Vineet |editor2-last=Jain |editor2-link=Vineet Jain |editor3-first=V. |editor3-last=Sivaukumar }}</ref> Casimiro was implicated in bomb blasts on June 20, 1964.<ref name="newsp14">{{cite news |volume=21 |issue=157 |page=15 |newspaper=[[The Asian Age]] |department=Books section |publication-place=[[New Delhi]], [[India]] |date=23 July 2014 |via=PressDisplay (PressReader) |title=Goa blasts: Lens on 2 Portuguese (50 Years Ago In Deccan Chronicle) |url=http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=LNDP1YIXVM48&preview=article&linkid=c92b1c46-fe60-4850-ac79-5e0c88aae447 |editor1-first=Aditya |editor1-last=Sinha |editor2-first=Seema |editor2-last=Mustafa |editor2-link=Seema Mustafa |publisher=Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited |language=English |access-date=29 August 2021 }}</ref> The Portuguese government, in an official statement to the UN, later claimed that the attacks were acts of revolt against Indian rule.<ref name="12recdonegoa">{{cite web |archive-date=12 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112013205/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Records-show-colonizers-were-not-done-with-Goa/articleshow/11162999.cms |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Records-show-colonizers-were-not-done-with-Goa/articleshow/11162999.cms |title=Records show colonizers were not done with Goa |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=29 August 2021 |publisher=[[Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.]] ([[The Times Group]]) |publication-place=[[Gurgaon]], [[Haryana]], [[India]] |editor1-first=Jadeep |editor1-last=Bose |website=[[The Times of India]] |issn=0971-8257 |oclc=23379369 |editor2-first=Vineet |editor2-last=Jain |editor2-link=Vineet Jain |editor3-first=V. |editor3-last=Sivaukumar |author=Editorial staff }}</ref>

In 1965, he assassinated General Humberto Delgado in Spain.<ref name="barradot">{{cite web |website=elDiario.es |date=27 March 2015 |access-date=29 August 2021 |first=Mercedes |last=Barrado Timón |publisher=Diario de Prensa Digital S.L. |editor1-first=Ignacio |editor1-last=Escolar |editor2-first=Jual Luis |editor2-last=Sánchez |editor3-first=Toño |editor3-last=Fraguas |editor4-first=Jaime |editor4-last=Sevilla |editor5-first=Marta |editor5-last=Barandela |language=Spanish |editor6-first=Juan |editor6-last=Checa |url=https://www.eldiario.es/extremadura/cultura/humberto-delgado-frederico_1_4308046.html |title="La democracia portuguesa ha dado todos los honores a Humberto Delgado" |publication-place=[[Madrid]], [[Spain]] }}</ref><ref name="casaco">{{cite web |language=Portuguese |website=Expresso |publisher=IMPRESA PUBLISHING S.A. |editor1-first=Francisco |editor1-last=Pinto Balsemão |editor2-first=Francisco Maria |editor2-last=Balsemão |editor3-first=Francisco Pedro |editor3-last=Balsemão |editor4-first=Paulo |editor4-last=de Saldanha |editor5-first=Paulo Miguel |editor5-last=Reis |editor6-first=Nuno Miguel |editor6-last=Conde |editor7-first=Cristina |editor7-last=Vaz Tomé |editor8-first=Ricardo |editor8-last=Costa |editor9-first=João |editor9-last=Vieira Pereira |publication-place=[[Paço de Arcos]], [[Lisbon metropolitan area]], [[Portugal]] |title="Como matámos Humberto Delgado" |url=https://expresso.pt/actualidade/como-matamos-humberto-delgado=f107152 |first=António |last=Rosa Casaco }}</ref> General Delgado was the Opposition Leader against the Salazar government.<ref name="elpais">{{cite news |access-date=29 August 2021 |publication-place=[[Madrid]], [[Spain]] |editor1-first=Joaquín |editor1-last=Estefanía |editor2-last=Mónica Ceberio |editor3-link=Ignacio Polanco |editor3-first=Ignacio |editor3-last=Polanco Moreno |editor4-first=Juan Luis |editor4-last=Cebrián Echarri |editor4-link=Juan Luis Cebrián |publisher=Ediciones El País, S.L. ([[PRISA|Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (PRISA)]]) |issn=1576-3757 |first=Luis |last=Otanduy |title=Los asesinos de Humberto Delgado en libertad |date=25 June 2018 |url=https://www.elpais.com/diario/1980/06/26/internacional/330818403_850215.html |website=[[El País]] |language=Spanish |archive-date=14 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814180214/https://www.elpais.com/diario/1980/06/26/internacional/330818403_850215.html }}</ref> Monteiro, who had shot Delgado and strangled his secretary, was found guilty by the Spanish courts and was sentenced to 19 years ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]''.<ref name="newsp14" /><ref name="casaco" />

In the late 1960s, Monteiro went to [[Portuguese Mozambique]] (as a PIDE agent) to fight FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique), a movement fighting for independence against the internationally recognized Portuguese Government. Most of the Frelimo fighters were based in Tanzania.<ref>{{cite news |first=Vivke |last=Menezes |date=3 September 2018 |access-date=7 September 2021 |publisher=[[Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.]] ([[The Times Group]]) |publication-place=[[Gurgaon]], [[Haryana]], [[India]] |editor1-first=Jadeep |editor1-last=Bose |website=[[The Times of India]] |issn=0971-8257 |oclc=23379369 |editor2-first=Vineet |editor2-last=Jain |editor2-link=Vineet Jain |editor3-first=V. |editor3-last=Sivaukumar |title=Memories of Salazar flooding back again |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/memories-of-salazar-flooding-back-again/articleshow/65649595.cms |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101122810/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/memories-of-salazar-flooding-back-again/articleshow/65649595.cms }}</ref> Monteiro crossed into Tanzania, and using a parcel bomb assassinated [[Eduardo Mondlane]], the founding leader of FRELIMO.<ref name="tracking" /><ref name="govapuri" />

==Later life==
He returned to Portugal, but after the 1974 [[Carnation Revolution]], which overthrew the ''[[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]]'', Monteiro took refuge in the South African Embassy. He later moved to South Africa, where he spent the remainder of his life under the alias 'José Fernandez'. Almost blind and destitute (helped by the South African police), he died in 1993 at [[Richards Bay]], South Africa.<ref name="tracking">{{cite web |title=Tracking Goa's dreaded agent via cyberspace |first=Frederick |last=Noronha |date=29 May 2008 |access-date=29 August 2021 |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/tracking-goa-s-dreaded-agent-via-cyberspace/story-gFKbGMozaw31MkJaXV8b4H.html |website=[[Hindustan Times]] |publisher=[[HT Media]] |publication-place=[[Delhi]], [[India]] |issn=0972-0243 |oclc=231696742 |editor1-first=Sukumar |editor1-last=Ranganathan |editor2-first=Shobhana |editor2-last=Bharia |editor2-link=Shobhana Bhartia }}</ref>

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monteiro, Casimiro}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:Foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (National faction)]]
[[Category:People convicted in absentia]]
[[Category:Portuguese anti-communists]]
[[Category:Portuguese expatriates in Portuguese India]]
[[Category:Portuguese assassins]]
[[Category:Portuguese emigrants to South Africa]]
[[Category:Portuguese expatriates in South Africa]]
[[Category:People from Richards Bay]]
[[Category:Torturers]]
[[Category:War criminals]]
[[Category:Estado Novo (Portugal)]]

Casimiro Monteiro - Revision history

GlendaBancroft at 10:00, 16 March 2026