Word: gon
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...past two months, a bitter division within the Armed Forces Movement had brought government in Portugal to a virtual standstill and the country perilously close to civil war. Focus of the dispute was General Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves, 54, a close ally of Communist Party Boss Alvaro Cunhal and a woolly-minded Marxist ideologue who favored the creation in Portugal of a socialist state along Eastern European lines. Last week in an apparent victory for moderate forces within the M.F.A., Gonçalves fell from power. In the face of virtually open rebellion by non-Communist officers...
Suddenly, late in the week, Gonçalves let go-but not entirely. A communiqué issued from the presidential palace announced that he would be replaced as Premier by Navy Chief of Staff Admiral José Batista Pinheiro de Azevedo, 58, a career officer who has occasionally filled in for President Francisco da Costa Gomes. Gonçalves himself was given the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, which Costa Gomes had held simultaneously with the presidency...
...settlement, it seemed unlikely to prove a solution to the political crisis that has plagued the country for the past two months. For one thing, Pinheiro de Azevedo's politics are somewhat suspect to the moderates; some of his closest aides are staunch Communists. For another, Gonçalves was out but not down. As Chief of Staff, he would still wield considerable power. The switch did not placate the nine moderate military officers, headed by former Foreign Minister Major Ernesto Melo Antunes, who had campaigned for Gonçalves' ouster on the grounds that he was proCommunist...
...Department had a realistic appreciation of Portugal's political situation. Later in Brussels at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he said that it was essential that Portugal remain in NATO. The moderates' strongest objections are thus directed less at the new Premier than at Gonçalves' retention as Chief of Staff. In fact, his removal as Premier, far from avoiding a showdown, might very well hasten...
...several marathon talks throughout the week with Costa Gomes, the chiefs of staff and members of the all-military Revolutionary Council, Gonçalves had exerted every effort to survive. "They may have to march Gonçalves out at the end of a barrel of a gun," said one Western diplomat. "But the alternative would be an uprising in the countryside." In fact, violence continued to erupt in northern and central Portugal, where mobs have wrecked some 50 Communist Party headquarters this summer. When a power failure cut off electricity throughout the country for a day, there were widespread...