Portugal: Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, symbol of the Carnation Revolution, is dead
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, here at a conference in Lisbon in 2014. AP - Francisco Seco
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Portugal has lost one of the great architects of the Carnation Revolution, which on April 25, 1974, ended 40 years of the Salazarist dictatorship.
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho died this Sunday in Lisbon at the age of 84.
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"Otelo", as the Portuguese call him, died in the military hospital in Lisbon where he was hospitalized, according to local media. His funeral is scheduled for next Wednesday, said the Association April 25, heir to the "movement of captains", specifying that he will be cremated.
"
He has rightly become one of the symbols
" of the Revolution, which "
put an end to the longest dictatorship of the twentieth century in Europe paving the way for democracy
", underlined in a statement the cabinet of the Prime
Minister.
Portuguese Minister, Antonio Costa, who highlighted his “
strategic and operational capacity
” as well as “
his commitment and generosity
”. Defense Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho paid tribute to him for “
his role in the conquest of freedom
”.
Born in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1936, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho decided early on to join the army and pursue a military career. At 19, he joined the Lisbon Academy and quickly returned to the Portuguese colonies. First in Angola from 1961 to 1967, then in Guinea-Bissau before returning in 1973 to Lisbon. It was during these years, in the midst of the colonial war, that this army captain forged very leftist convictions.
On April 25, 1974, it was he who led the military uprising to overthrow power. A lightning coup that, in the space of a morning, put an end to a dictatorial regime in place for more than 40 years. If in the months that followed he gained traction, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was briefly imprisoned in 1975 after the coup d'état of November 25, which put a halt to the revolutionary process. From then on, he became involved in politics. In 1976 then in 1980, he stood for the presidential election, but failed in his two attempts.
Atypical character who supports for example the Irish of the IRA, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was sentenced in 1987 to 15 years in prison for moral complicity in extreme left attacks, before being amnestied in 1996. But that's good his role in the military uprising which will go down in Portuguese history from now on.
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