PIDE encyclopedia topics

PVDE

The origins of PIDE can be traced to 1933, the year of the inauguration of the Estado Novo. Under direct orders from Salazar himself, the PVDE (Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado; "State Defense and Surveillance Police") was created, with two main sections:

Social and Political Defense section, which was used to prevent and repress crimes of a political and social nature (see: Censorship)
International Section, which was used to control the entrance of immigrants, to expel undesirable immigrants and to take care of counter-espionage and/or international espionage

In 1936, the prison of Tarrafal was created in the Portuguese colony of Cape Verde. This camp, under the direct control of the PVDE, was the destination for those political prisoners considered dangerous by the regime. Throughout the more than 40 years of the Estado Novo, 32 people lost their lives in Tarrafal, which was known for its severe methods of torture.

Also in 1936, with the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and in 1937 with the attempt against Salazar's life by anarchist militants, the PVDE started focusing its battle against Communism and the underground Portuguese Communist Party. During this pre-World War II period, several Italian and German advisors came to Portugal to help the PVDE to adopt a model similar to the Gestapo.

During the war, the PVDE experienced its most intense period of activity. Lisbon was the European centre of espionage and one of the favourite exile destinations. Writers such as Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond) and other famous personalities such as the Duke of Windsor or the Spanish Royal Family were exiled in Estoril. German spies attempted to buy information on trans-Atlantic shipping to help their submarines fight the Battle of the Atlantic. The Spaniard Juan Pujol Garcia, better known as Codename Garbo, passed on misinformation to the Germans, hoping it would hasten the end of the Franco regime - he was recruited by Britain as a double agent while in Lisbon. Conversely, William Colepaugh, an American traitor, was recruited as an agent by the Germans while his ship was in port in Lisbon - he was subsequently landed by U-boat U-1230 in Maine before being captured. In June 1943, a commercial airliner carrying the actor Leslie Howard was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by the Luftwaffe after taking off from Lisbon, possibly because German spies in Lisbon believed that Prime Minister Winston Churchill was on board.

Several American reports called Lisbon "The Capital of Espionage". However, the PVDE always maintained a neutral stance towards foreign espionage activity, as long as no one intervened in Portuguese internal policies.

PIDE

In 1945, the PVDE was dissolved and replaced by the PIDE. Unlike its predecessor, which sought inspiration in the Gestapo, PIDE followed the Scotland Yard model. As a section of the Polícia Judiciária (Investigation Police), it had full powers to investigate, detain and arrest anyone who was thought to be plotting against the State. It had two main functions:

Administrative functions (which included those related to the migration services)
Criminal repression functions

PIDE is considered by many authors as being one of the most functional and effective secret services in history. Using a wide network of covert cells, which were spread throughout Portugal and its overseas territories, PIDE had infiltrated agents into almost every underground movement, including the Portuguese Communist Party as well as the independence movements in Angola and Mozambique. The PIDE encouraged citizens - the so-called bufos (snitches) - to denounce suspicious activities, through the use of monetary and prestige incentives. This resulted in an extremely effective espionage service which was able to fully control almost every aspect of Portuguese daily life. Thousands of Portuguese were arrested and tortured in PIDE's prisons.

The PIDE intensified its actions during the Portuguese Colonial War. Yves Guérin-Sérac, a former officer of the French Army and founder of the OAS right-wing terrorist group during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), set up "Aginter Press" in Lisbon and participated with the PIDE in covert operations.

DGS

In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS (Direcção Geral de Segurança, "General Security Directorate"). The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights. This resulted in a decrease in the perceived level of violence used by the secret police and a consequent reduction in its effectiveness.

End of PIDE/DGS

The most dramatic moments of the Carnation Revolution occurred near the PIDE/DGS headquarters, in the infamous António Maria Cardoso Street. Unidentified agents opened fire from the top of the building, killing four demonstrators.

This was the last strategic point to be occupied by the insurgents, thus leading to the escape of the agents and the destruction of most of the records. In the days following the revolution, most escaped to Spain or went underground. Some of the archives were reportedly handed over by the Portuguese Communist Party to Soviet agents.

After being sanitized, the corporation continued its operations in the Portuguese colonies under the name of the Military Information Police (Polícia de Informação Militar).

A commission was created for the extinction of the secret police. The remainder of the documents since 1990 are in the Torre do Tombo National Archive. They can be consulted, but the names of agents and informers are not disclosed.

The only PIDE agents who faced trial were those responsible for the death of exiled opposition leader Humberto Delgado. They were trialed in absentia and the case dragged on for several years. None of them ever served time in jail.

Because of the memory of the abuses of the PIDE/DGS in supporting the regime the establishment of a new civilian intelligence agency was delayed for more than a decade. However, following a terrorist attack on the Embassy of Turkey and the assassination of a Palestine Liberation Organization representative at a Socialist International conference in 1983, and a number of domestic terrorist attacks, the Portuguese government became convinced of the need for a new intelligence agency. This led to the establishment of the Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa (SIRP, Intelligence System of the Portuguese Republic) in 1984.

External links

Documentation of PIDE/DGS in the National Archive (in Portuguese)

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Wikipedia

Pita (also called and less commonly known as pitta or pita bread and pronounced "pitta" in Greek) is an often round, brown, wheat flatbread made with yeast.

Similar to other double-layered flat or pocket breads, pita is traditional in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. It is prevalent from North Africa through the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula to India and Afghanistan, coinciding with the spread of the Hellenistic world.

In Greek cuisine, pita may refer to thicker breads made with yeast, for example souvlaki pita. It may also refer to foods using many layers of dough of thickness less than 1mm, usually with many different ingredients in between, forming savoury pies such as tyropita and spanakopita or sweet pies such as baclava.

The Indian flatbread form of roti is sometimes referred to as "Indian pita".

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first mention of the word in English was in 1951, with references to Balkan, Greek, and especially Arab cuisine in the next three decades. The American Heritage Dictionary traces the word's origin to modern Greek for "pie," "cake," or "bread"; Webster's Unabridged Dictionary attributes it to the Hebrew פת (pat), for "loaf" or "morsel". The word pita (as פיתא) exists in the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud, referring to bread in general. In Serbian it means pie in general. Another possible etymology is from a Romanian archaic word for bread, pită. An alternative etymology traces the word to a cognate for pine pitch, which forms flat layers that may resemble pita bread, which in turn may share an etymological origin with pizza (Italian for "pie"). The word spread to Southern Italy as the name of a thin bread. In Northern Italian dialects pita became pizza, now known primarily as the bearer of savoury toppings but essentially still a flat bread. Indeed in some parts of southern Italy, there are pastries called Pita, which are filled with spicy fruit and nuts. Thus confirming the view that the word Pizza and Pita would have been interchangeable had it not been for the ultimate success of the neapolitan pizza in claiming the word!

Origin

Pita is now the western name for the Saudi Arabian bread called khubz (ordinary bread), other breads of Arab, Egyptian, or Syrian origin, or kumaj (a Turkish loanword properly meaning a bread cooked in ashes), all baked in a brick oven. It is slightly leavened wheat bread, flat, either round or oval, and variable in size. The tenth-century Arab cookery book, Kitab al-Tabikh by ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, includes six recipes for khubz, all baked in a tannur, which is like the modern tandoor oven, in its Chapter 13. However, it is safe to assume that its history extends far into antiquity, since flatbreads in general, whether leavened or not, are among the most ancient breads, needing no oven or even utensil for their baking. However the first signs of flat breads occur in and around Amorite Damascus. In the early centuries of our era, the traditional Greek word for a thin flat bread or cake, plakous, had become the name of a thicker cake.

Preparation

For the Greek souvlaki pita: Using wheat flour, water, some yeast and a tint of salt one prepares the dough. After some time, so that the yeast acts, the dough rises. Then this is shaped in a thin layer, in the dimensions and thickness required. This thin dough is then cooked in a stone floor oven, for the traditional Greek recipe, or over a thin, preferably convex, metal sheet over a fire, for the traditional Arab recipe.

For the layered pita: as above, without the usage of yeast, making a very thin layer of dough.

A good tip when heating a pita bread is to sprinkle water on either side. This stops the bread splitting

Eating habits

Pita is used to scoop sauces or dips such as hummus and to wrap kebabs, gyros or falafel in the manner of sandwiches. Most pita breads are baked at high temperatures (700°F or 370°C), causing the flattened rounds of dough to puff up dramatically. When removed from the oven the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened into pockets, creating a space for use in various dishes.

In modern history (in the 1970s) much of pita's popularity in the Western world is due to this pocket. Instead of using pita to scoop foods, the pocket is filled with various ingredients to form a sandwich. These are sometimes called "pita pockets" or "pocket pitas". Certain manufacturers have taken steps in packaging to clarify the difference between pita (which has no pocket, and historically meant "flat") and pita pockets (which have pockets).

In Turkey, pita (called pide, also refers to the pizza-like food) typically has a soft, chewy texture and is pocketless. The pizza-like foods called lahmacun is made with oval-shaped pieces of pide dough that are topped with finely chopped meat and herbs before baking. Pide also refers to another pizza-like food made of pide dough which is topped with different material; there are regional variations in the shape, baking technique, and the topped materials used where it can be said that every region has its own pide.

In Greece, pita is eaten with dips such as tzatziki. Moreover it is part of the quintessential Greek fast food pita-souvlaki and pita-gyros. These types of sandwiches involve the wrapping of souvlaki or gyros with tzatziki, tomatoes, french fries, and condiments into a pita bread.

In the Balkans pita most often refers to a thin filo layered dish often containing cottage cheese, meat or spinach. Throughout much of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Macadeonia, and Croatia pita is a street food that is also referred to as burek. Stuffed pita is part of national cuisine of Bosnia and Herzegovina but it is popular in other parts of ex-Yugoslavia.

In Bulgarian cuisine, pita is served on special occasions. Its preparation and consumption have ritual meaning. For example, on the night before Christmas Eve, (Bulgarian: Бъдни вечер - badni vecher) each housewife prepares a pita and decorates it with symbols to bring fertility to the cattle and a rich harvest from the fields, as well as prosperity to each member of the household. She hides a nickel in it, and it is believed that whoever finds it in their piece will be the healthiest and the wealthiest of the family. Prior to marriage, a bride's future mother-in-law prepares a pita for the newlyweds and sifts the flour seven times, so that the pita will be soft as their future life together. Pita is also prepared when dear guests are expected. A traditional welcome in Bulgaria includes pita and salt or honey. The meaning of this ritual can be found in the expression "to welcome someone with bread and salt" (since bread is an important part of Bulgarian cuisine - and as a Bulgarian proverb says, "no one is bigger than bread", and the salt is the basic ingredient that gives flavour to every meal). This is how the hosts show that the guests are desired and that they wish to share their meal with them.

In Israeli and Palestinian cuisine, it is the custom to eat almost everything in a Pita. Falafel, lamb or chicken shwarma and Kabab, omelets such as shakshouka (eggs and tomatoes) and hummus and other salads in a pita. This pita, however, is slightly thicker and smaller than the Lebanese version, and tends to be a mixture of whole and white wheats. This is not to be mistaken for Khubiz Saj, used to make the famous Palestinian dish Musakhan (and also often used in making shwarma). A pita-based dish unique to Israel is the Sabich, which has also received warm welcome by Israeli Arabs.

Variations

The Lebanese pita, or Kmaj, is similar to the Cyprus pita except that the Lebanese pita is 2" longer in elongation. Agio Basilo pita ('Saint Basil bread', or Vasilopita) is like a cake or tart, with a single layer of sponge cake or bread that is typically circular and flat. While Vasilopita is a Byzantine Christian tradition, similar breads are cooked for winter festivals by other cultures in the region.