Photo reporter Paulino Damião, known as “50”, died of the disease on Thursday morning. The ill-fated person suffered from a chronic illness and, a week ago, he had malaria, which led to several complications. “The father has long suffered from a chronic illness.”
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was unable to make the usual routine consultations, which would worsen his clinical condition ”, says son Luís Damião. “Wednesday, before going to bed, we talked a lot and it seemed to be fine. Unfortunately, around three in the morning on Thursday, he felt bad. He died at home,” he explained.
A retired photojournalist at Edições Novembro EP, Paulino Damião joined the company in 1976, where he remained until the date of his death. He met photography in the 1960s and, at the age of 13, at the time he had been imprisoned by colonial troops in the forests of Nambuangongo, Bengo. Paulino Damião was one of the pioneers in the reproduction of rudimentary and artistic photography in the country, in a dark room, a box-shaped artifact from the 70’s and 80’s.
In his career, the coverage of the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980 stands out. Also included in his historical record is the coverage of President Agostinho Neto’s first visit to Jornal de Angola, in 1976, a date that marked the change of the title Angola Province. Among colleagues, Cinquenta recalled, with nostalgia and satisfaction, the coverage of the visit of the first Pope to Angola, John Paul II, in June 1992, and of Benedict XVI, in March 2009, from whom he claims to have received a medal that he kept as a souvenir.
