Word: spinola
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...surface the quest for power centers on General Antonio de Spinola, 64, who is acting as President until the promulgation of a new constitution, and the young left-leaning officers of the A.F.M. which actually led the coup in April. In July, the colonels and majors seemed to gain the upper hand. After the fall of the new government's first provisional Cabinet, they pushed Colonel Vasco Gongalves, 53, up to the post of Premier-against an unwilling Spinola...
...They would just kill and eat each other." Spinola himself had advocated a kind of federation that would give the overseas territories a wide measure of autonomy but keep them under the Portuguese flag...
...recent months, when rebel attacks became increasingly strong and dispirited Portuguese troops in some cases refused to fight any longer, that Portugal recognized that the only solution was the granting of full independence. The government's decision was announced in an emotional address over nationwide television by Spinola. "The moment has come for our overseas territories to take their destinies into their own hands," he told his electrified audience. "This is the historic moment for which Portugal, the African territories and the world have been waiting: peace in Portuguese Africa, finally achieved in justice and freedom...
...Spinola, 64, the announcement climaxed a long struggle of conscience that began in 1968 when, as a brigadier general, he served in Guinea-Bissau as commander and military governor. After returning home to a hero's welcome last year, he wrote a controversial book, Portugal and the Future, in which he argued that there was "no viable military solution" to the problem of the colonies and that continuation of the war would "irremediably compromise the survival" of Portugal. The book became an instant bestseller, and Spinola was fired as deputy chief of the armed forces. A few weeks later...
Ensuring a peaceful and just transition to local rule will be difficult, as Spinola observed. The biggest challenge will be keeping order while political factions and blacks and whites vie for power. The territories, moreover, have almost nothing in common, and will require separate settlements. The probable course in each...