Former PCP leader Vítor Dias died at the age of 80. Party recalls “outstanding intervention”

Former communist leader Vítor Dias, member of the party’s political commission during the leadership of Carlos Carvalhas, died on Wednesday, February 25, at the age of 80, the PCP confirmed to Lusa.

This Thursday (26), the secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCP expressed deep regret at the death of former leader Vitor Dias, remembering his “outstanding intervention” in the party, which he joined in 1973.

“It is with deep regret that the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCP informs that Vítor Dias, aged 80, has passed away, remembering his outstanding intervention in the party’s activity, where he carried out important tasks and responsibilities”, refers to the note.

Vítor Dias was born on September 13, 1945, he was an office employee by profession, and He joined the PCP in 1973, becoming a party official since 1976.

In the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira he directed several cultural and sporting associations and was a leader of the Student Association of the Faculty of Law of Lisbon, between 1966/1967.

“From 1969 onwards, he was part of several structures of the Lisbon CDE, for which he was a candidate in the political battle during the fascist electoral farce of 1973 and leader of the MDP/CDE until 1976”, points out the communist secretariat, in the same note.

On the day of the captains’ coup that overthrew the dictatorship, on April 25, 1974, Vítor Dias had been in prison since the sixth of that month, and only left Caxias two days later, on April 27.

He joined the communist political commission in 1990, after Carlos Carvalhas was chosen as Cunhal’s assistant general secretary. He left the central committee in 2004.

“He was responsible for Central Information and Propaganda work, author of numerous texts in the party’s press and an active participant in the various electoral battles to which the party was called. He was also a member of the Municipal Assembly of Vila Franca de Xira in the first municipal term of 1976/1979”, says the note.

Vítor Dias maintained his collaboration, as a columnist, in several newspapers and wrote, until August 2025, on the blog “O Tempo das Cerejas”.

In his latest posts, one of them was to express support for António Filipe’s presidential candidacy, another to criticize José Luís Carneiro’s opposition style at the head of the PS, but he also shared a song, “Snow Blind”, by Sarah L King.