On his record, General António de Spínola should be the last man in Portugal to lead a campaign for reform and liberalization. For most of his 64 years he has been a stern authoritarian. The son of a top financial adviser to Dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, he was a volunteer fighter on the Franco side in the Spanish Civil War, commanding a detachment of other Portuguese volunteers. A few years later, the Portuguese high command, recognizing his potential, sent him to Nazi Germany for training with the then invincible Wehrmacht. From the German side he watched the siege of...
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