Luís Lupi

Luís Lupi was a "journalist, spy and businessman". He was the founder of the Portuguese news agency Lusitânia. He was a correspondent for foreign agencies in Portugal and the author of several books on Portugal's former colonies, published between the 1950s and 1970s.

Luís Caldeira Lupi was born on 27 December 1901 in Lisbon. However, he soon moved to the former Lourenço Marques, when he was just two years old, because his father had been appointed Director of Traffic for the Mozambique Railways.

The First World War (1914-18) had already broken out when Luís Lupi returned to Mozambique to work as a surveyor. At the same time, he worked as a correspondent for "The African World", a connection he would maintain until the end of his life. He also wrote articles for "O Africano", "The Lourenço Marques Guardian" and "Moçambique". One of his most controversial articles, on the "magaíça" - the Mozambican labourers who worked in South Africa's gold mines under semi-slavery conditions - was published by Reinaldo Ferreira, known by the pseudonym "Reporter X". As well as several articles, Lupi will be translating, interviewing and adapting Anglophile publications for Reinaldo Ferreira's magazine.

In 1927, he returned to Lisbon. With a short career in journalism, but fluent in English and with contacts in the Anglo-Saxon world, Lupi sought to become an official journalist. He continued working for the Agência Geral das Colónias and the "Jornal Europa", as well as being a correspondent for English agencies and newspapers. This connection with the United Kingdom will also earn him the epithet of "spy" in the future. This reputation was to be emphasised with the outbreak of World War II, a time when the Portuguese capital was divided between Anglophiles and supporters of Germany.

In 1930, he became co-director and later director of the magazine "Portugal Explorador", a monthly edition discussing commercial activity with foreign countries, under the aegis of the Ministries of the Colonies and Foreign Affairs. Lupi signed the masthead of the magazine until April/May 1931. Issue 4 of "Portugal Explorador", the first edition in which Luís Lupi's name appears, praises the work of General Norton de Matos in Angola, revealing Lupi's complicity with one of the main strategists of Portuguese colonialism during the First Republic and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in 1949. The journalist accumulated various positions and, later that year, also became a correspondent for "Comércio da Guiné", the new newspaper published in Bissau.

Shortly after his arrival in Lisbon, Lupi became involved in Freemasonry, which would also mark his political record for several years. Under the symbolic name of Karl Marx, Luís Lupi was initiated into Freemasonry on 14 July 1929, but his connection was short-lived. On 21 November 1931, Lupi was dismissed for alleged non-payment of dues. However, the political police continued to identify him as a Freemason for several years. An admirer of Salazar, he never ceased to have problems with the dictatorship: he was even arrested by the political police in 1936 for having given "inconvenient" information to London.

Lupi collaborated with the Geography Society and spoke about African affairs and international politics. He was also the author of several books on Portugal's former colonies, published in the 1950s and 1970s, as well as his three-volume memoirs (1971/1973). His works include “Achtung! – uma civilização ameaçada” (1936), which was anti-communist; “Portugal tem o dever de salvar África para a Europa” (1951), in which he defended the idea of the then Portuguese provinces as "Afro-European oases"; and the publication of “Quem incendiou o Congo” (1960), about the events in the Belgian Congo at the time of independence, which resulted in victims and refugees who were taken in by Angola.

Marcelo Caetano gave him a subsidy to set up the agency. Lupi accepted support for the revision of telecoms tariffs from the Ministry of the Colonies, and the responsibility for the rest of the costs and risks was left to Lupi. The agency was physically and functionally integrated into the Propaganda Society of Portugal. It was considered that Lusitânia should be "exclusively devoted" to the interests of the nation, independent of the influence of dominant parties or groups, and subject to the influence of Minister Marcelo Caetano, as a member of the government.

After the Revolution of 25 April 1975, Lusitânia and ANI - Agência de Notícias e Informação (a direct competitor of the former, founded by Dutra Faria in 1947) went out of business, as they were linked to the ideals of the Dictatorship. Lusitânia was abolished on 18 November 1974. During the "Verão Quente de 1975", ANOP - Agência Noticiosa Portuguesa (Portuguese News Agency) was created, which in the words of Luís Paixão Martins was "the first agency with national relevance and international prestige".

Lusitânia closed down and Luís Caldeira Lupi, a nationalist who was made Viscount of Baçaim by Pope John XXIII, died in 1977 in Madrid. The Lusitânia agency is still associated with collaboration with the dictatorship, but Lupi never lost his reputation as a conspirator in the face of the dictatorship. Analysing Lupi's life and the agency to which he is closely linked is very important for understanding the history of Portuguese news agencies.

References:

1. Fonseca, W.; Rosa, G.P. (2023) Jornalista, Espião e Empresário. A Vida Aventureira de Luís Lupi nos Corredores do Estado Novo. Lisboa: Âncora Editora.
2. Sales, J. das C.& Mota, S. (2021) As agências de notícias portuguesas/ em Portugal: um contributo para a sua história. Livros ICNOVA, (2). Obtido de https://colecaoicnova.fcsh.unl.pt/index.php/icnova/article/view/18
3. https://www.castroesilva.com/store/sku/1604PG030/viewItem.asp?idProduct=22329&image=3