The story of the Portuguese citizen Jorge Santos, who had previously been the American George Edward Wright, and then of the Guinean José Luís Jorge dos Santos, which I summarized here in a previous chronicle, is as unusual as it is rigorously true. It could have been the script for a film, which would include the fusion of different types of script: detective, adventure, fight for ideals, thriller and romance. On top of that, with a happy ending, both in terms of love for the Portuguese woman he would later marry and justice.
Despite these considerations of mine, there has been no film, until now. The production attempt was unsuccessful. A waste for cinematic art and a loss for cinephiles around the world. It would have been an opportunity for the cinema to portray an example of the observance of Human Rights typical of the Justice system in a country like Portugal in flagrant contrast with the nature of the conservative regime in the United States of America.
In 2011, the FBI discovered him by tracing a phone call he made to his sister, who lived in the USA.
Interestingly, many years after Bissau, I met Jorge Santos again, in Colares, where he lived with his family. Whenever we saw each other, he told me he was looking for clients to paint walls. He made special paintings with colorful effects. After 2011, with his life journey publicly revealed, he told me that he was looking for film producers to reproduce his adventures and audacity.
In this regard, I intend to highlight the fairness of the decisions taken, in Portugal, by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice which, in 2011, did not authorize the extradition of Jorge Santos to the United States, as the FBI intended. Our Constitution is based on pillars that reflect the main values of humanism, such as limiting the statute of limitations for criminal proceedings and the impossibility of extraditing Portuguese citizens.
Now, Jorge Santos’ escape from the prison where, in America, he was serving his sentence, occurred in 1970 and his spectacular escape by hijacking the Delta Airlines plane occurred in 1972. That is, as around 40 years passed, the principle of prescription (and that of national citizenship) was imposed to prevent the FBI from being able to arrest the fugitive George Wright.
I’m glad that happened.
PS – In the absence of a Hollywood production, journalist Sofia Pinto Coelho produced an excellent documentary series for SIC entitled George – the fugitive the FBI won’t forgetwhich was released in November 2024, but which can and should be revisited easily via Google search. Three essential episodes.
Former Director General of Health
franciscogeorge@icloud.com
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