Chico Monteiro, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Chico Monteiro

Date of Birth: 01-Feb-1918

Place of Birth: Candolim, Goa, India

Date of Death: 30-Oct-1990

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Monsignor Chico Monteiro was born February 1, 1918 in Goa, which at that time was a Portuguese colony.
In 1961, India militarily annexed Goa and issued an edict requiring Goans to pledge allegiance to India and acquire an Indian passport – or, in the alternative, leave Goa and emigrate to Portugal.
“Fr.
Chico”(as he humbly preferred to call himself) made global waves when he refused to leave his homeland or surrender his Portuguese passport, resulting in his arrest and detention.
In his defense at trial, Monteiro echoed what he believed to be the essence of the safeguards enshrined in the Geneva Convention: "I was born in Goa and lived all my life peacefully in Goa".
Monteiro was represented in court by Queen Elizabeth's personal counsel, Edward Gardner (British politician).
After a legal marathon spanning 5 years, Chico Monteiro was finally convicted for his defiance of Indian rule and sentenced by the Supreme Court of India.
He spent a year in solitary confinement in the maximum security jail in Patiala, Punjab, before the Holy See in Rome intervened and obtained his release.
In a quid pro quo, Monteiro was exchanged for Telo Mascarenhas (a political activist who had supported the Indian government against the Portuguese in Goa and who had been deported to Portugal in 1959 and jailed there in the Peniche Fortresspenitentiary).