Arnaldo Santos attended the old Practical Cavalry School, in Santarém, where he lived with joy the decisive moments of the Carnation Revolution, in the early hours of 1974. He witnessed the departure of the EPC military column, led by Salgueiro Maia. His eyes saw the captain of captains speaking at dawn and leaving the barracks to change the course of history.
His life continued in freedom. He would become a Physical Education teacher, in Basic Education, in Torres Novas and Ourém. Municipal duties followed and his honorability led to him being challenged to preside over a list at Caixa Agrícola. He stayed for 25 years, a substantial part of his life. In 1995, after the merger of Caixas de Torres Novas and Riachos with Caixa de Tomar, the city’s living forces convinced him to take over the boat that had become bigger than it had ever been. The president who had preceded him was ill and it was absolutely crucial that someone like him, with a talent for commitment and ambition, could accept the challenge.
A success story. His contribution to Caixa de Crédito Agrícola do Ribatejo was always towards solidity and expansion, with lines of action rooted in the spirit of public service. A profile that also combined an obsession with perfection that never let him rest on the results obtained, although he regrets to those closest to him that he was not able to free up enough financial energy to provide more assistance to the community.
A success story that, however, did not end as he would have liked. In 2019, due to disagreements with the board, he asked to resign from his position at a general meeting. He did it out of conviction and respect for the past, the only way to be able to look to the future. He didn’t want to do what he didn’t want to do, he already had the age, history and status to be the master of his will. And, most importantly, the time has come to meet and spend time with grandchildren with whom he loves to stroll through the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park.
It is all this that he thinks about on his long walks through his vineyard, the product of what he has been and fought for, a vineyard and an olive grove in the parish of Chancelaria. Walks where he thinks about the future anchored by a past in which his father is always present, almost as alive as when he was alive, a father who proudly waits for his son who did what he promised him, to respect and do everything for his land.
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