• U.S.

PORTUGAL: Drifting Toward Dictatorship

4 minute read
TIME

After barely 75 days of freedom, Portugal last week looked like a country headed for a return to the half-century of authoritarianism from which it had just emerged. The Prime Minister resigned, frustrated at the government’s inability to reconcile the competing demands of rightists and leftists. The Vice Prime Minister, the Minister of Economic Coordination, the Internal Affairs Minister and the Defense Minister then followed suit. Two days later the President dismissed the remaining ten Ministers and set out to form a new Cabinet. In the streets undisciplined demonstrators demanded greater freedom, wildcat strikers demanded higher wages, and the parties that made up the government coalition competed for power.

The key to Portugal’s uncertain future was the corps of young officers of the Armed Forces Movement, the group that overthrew the Caetano dictatorship on April 25. The A.F.M. appointed old soldier António de Spínola, 60, as Provisional President and established an unlikely coalition government of Communists, socialists, military men, left-center groups and independent technocrats. But the government simply could not govern. Divided, buffeted by an annual 30% inflation rate and demands for price controls and sweeping economic reforms, lacking in political experience and hobbled by an A.F.M. requirement of unanimity on all projects, it could only talk and delay.

For Prime Minister Adelino da Palma Carlos, 69, a moderate law professor appointed by Spínola, conditions were intolerable. The Cabinet he headed was not of his choosing, and he had no authority over it. Among other things, he insisted that the Council of State, which is dominated by the military and acts as the country’s watchdog committee, draw up a constitution and elevate him to something more than a mere “Cabinet coordinator.” The council agreed to let him appoint Ministers but refused him added authority.

Palma Carlos quit, saying: “I cannot come to terms with the situation in which we find ourselves, of disorder in the streets, lack of social discipline and the invasion of public buildings . . . The climate of indiscipline is contrary to my temperament and to my idea of what democracy should be.” The blame, he added, belonged to the Council of State, which Palma Carlos called “a higher body than the provisional government. It has a strong military representation, and they imposed their point of view.”

Spínola had his own troubles and was busy trying to buttress his position. He could preside, make speeches—but not really rule. When Palma Carlos tried to pressure the Council of State into moving the presidential election up from next year to this autumn, presumably with the expectation that Spínola would be elected President, he was rebuffed. Spínola was accused of trying to gather power in his own hands.

Heavily Weighted. For the moment at least, Spínola remains in power, but the civilian phase of the Portuguese revolution seemed to be nearing an end. At week’s end, Spínola named as Portugal’s Premier Colonel Vasco Gonçalves, who will preside over a new military-civilian coalition government. But that was no guarantee of stability, since the young officers of the A.F.M. appear as divided as the civilians. Some officers want to pull out of Portugal’s rebelling colonies completely; some want an authoritarian government while others, particularly from the navy, are left-leaning and may want to move closer to the leftist civilian parties, including the Communists, who have been busily building up their strength throughout the country. Said the aide of one ex-Minister: “The armed forces had all of the power anyway. It is best that they govern in the open directly.”

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com