The vice-president of the Regional Government of the Azores, Artur Lima, argued today that the Lajes base, on Terceira island, used by the US Air Force, cannot be a “sleeping base, to be woken up only when necessary”.
“It has alreadybeenproven that the Azores are here when needed. Now what we can’t have here and can’t accept is a sleeping base that only wakes up when it’s needed. We don’t want to accept that, nor will we. This is one of the points that the Azores must make clear to the Government of the Republic and the Government of the Republic must make clear, within the scope of its powers, to the US Government and NATO,” he said, speaking to journalists.
Artur Lima was speaking in the town of Lajes, on the island of Terceira, on the sidelines of a conference entitled “Portugal is the Azores — the USA and the Azores in the Cold War (1945-1965)”, given by Tácito Rolim, a professor at the State University of Ceará, in Brazil, who has a doctorate in history.
The initiative was organized as part of the study and work plan for the creation of the Lajes Base Interpretive Centre, developed in collaboration with the Historical Institute of Terceira Island (IHIT), since the end of 2023.
At the opening of the conference, the vice-president of the Azorean executive recalled the US military reduction at the Lajes base in 2015 and the contamination of soils and aquifers, which has required “a demonstration of strength, firmness and dialogue so that the issue is treated with the care it deserves”, while highlighting “some significant steps”.
On the other hand, he argued that although the strategic value of the Lajes base has been questioned, due to technological advances and the growing competition between the US and China, the Azores “will never cease to be a central asset for the West’s defense and security policy”.
“Geopolitics is not static and circumstances evolve and change. What we are currently seeing is a refocusing of attention on the West and, in addition, on the Atlantic, due to the proliferation of military conflicts, whether in Ukraine or the Middle East,” he pointed out.
However, Artur Lima called for the Azores to be given something in return.
“This base is not a museum piece, but a rehabilitated asset for the country, for the US and for NATO, which the Azores should make the most of for its regional and local development. Because let there be no doubt that we want to serve, but we also want to be served with fair and well-deserved compensation,” he said.
For the president, it is necessary to “put the geostrategic importance of the Lajes base on the international agenda” and the interpretive center, which is being planned, can make a contribution.
Artur Lima stressed that this is not just about creating a physical space, but a space “dedicated to research and the scientific production of new knowledge about the geostrategic role of the region”.
In November 2023, the Regional Government signed a protocol with IHIT, worth 40,000 euros, which ran until December 2024, but the work will continue, according to the vice-president.
“This year this part of the study ends, but it will continue throughout 2025 and I assume that by the end of the year the theoretical part will be finished. Then all the theoretical information gathered by the historical institute will be developed and then I hope it will be put into practice and materialized,” he explained.
The scientific committee of the interpretive center will be made up of António José Telo, professor of History at the Military Academy, Luís Andrade, professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Azores, and Tácito Rolim, the speaker at the conference.
The Brazilian historian, who discovered the Azores by chance while researching the Fernando Noronha archipelago, highlighted the importance of the Lajes base in the Cold War, as a “barrier protecting the US east coast from a possible Soviet attack” and in monitoring a US military operation that tested “the explosion of nuclear artifacts in the upper atmosphere”.
