António de Spínola

He was born in Estremoz on 11 April 1910.⁸ A former governor of Guinea, he was chosen, together with Costa Gomes, as a prestigious leader for the Captains’ Movement at the Óbidos meeting on 1 December 1973: Costa Gomes, who received the most votes, would get the Presidency of the Republic; Spínola, the supreme command of the Armed Forces.³ As Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, he published Portugal e o Futuro (Portugal and the Future) on 22 February 1974, which shook relations between the regime and the Armed Forces. Shortly afterwards, he and Costa Gomes were dismissed, on the pretext that they had stayed away from the session in support of the regime at the Palácio de São Bento that became known as the “Rheumatic Brigade” (Brigada do Reumático).²

On 25 April 1974 he declared that he was not involved in the Movement, but was available to take power if the government wanted a peaceful way out.¹⁶ Marcelo Caetano, besieged in the Carmo Barracks, asked him by telephone to come and receive power, and Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho gave him a mandate on behalf of the captains. He reached the Carmo at around 17:45, in a car surrounded by the cheering crowd, and Salgueiro Maia took him to Caetano.¹ On arriving at the Pontinha Command Post, with the members of the government under arrest, he announced: “Gentlemen officers, I must begin by informing you that I have just assumed power at the Carmo Barracks. Now let us get to work”.⁶

In the early hours of the 26th, flanked by the other members of the National Salvation Junta, he read the Junta’s proclamation live from the RTP studios in Lumiar.⁶¹ The Junta appointed him President of the Republic, contrary to what had been agreed with the MFA, which had chosen Costa Gomes.⁶⁴ On 28 April he received Mário Soares, back from exile, at the Palácio da Cova da Moura.¹ He was sworn in on 15 May 1974, at the Palácio de Queluz.⁴

He advocated a controlled democratisation, which was described as “Marcelism without Marcelo” (marcelismo sem Marcelo), and came into conflict with the MFA Coordinating Committee over control of domestic policy and decolonisation.⁴ In the summer of 1974 he appealed in his speeches to the “silent majority”, and did so again on 10 September at the Palácio de Belém, at the ceremony recognising the independence of Guinea-Bissau.⁵⁴ The demonstration of support called for 28 September, in Belém, was in the end called off by him and banned by the MFA; between 27 and 29 September he tried several times to declare a state of siege and to dismiss the prime minister, Vasco Gonçalves. On 30 September he announced his resignation from the Presidency on RTP.⁴

On 11 March 1975, after the failed attack on RAL 1 by troops close to him, he fled by helicopter from Air Base No. 3, at Tancos, with fifteen officers, to the base at Talavera la Real, in Spain.⁹¹⁰ He then founded the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Portugal (MDLP), one of the far-right organisations that, from May 1975, destroyed the offices of left-wing parties and carried out attacks.⁴ He died in Lisbon on 13 August 1996.⁸