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No Escape. The Portuguese now have in action an estimated 8,000 white troops backed by 10,000 loyal black troops drawn from the tribesmen of lower Angola, who cordially hate the northerners who are leading the rebellion. Next month an additional 25,000 troops are expected from Portugal. In the meantime, the frightened authorities have supplied guns to civilians, who sometimes take justice into their own hands. In Luanda, civilian vigilantes raided São Paolo suburb to hunt for "suspected arms," shot down 33 Africans at random. A government spokesman later reported the raid proudly. Fortnight ago in Luanda, a country coffee planter spotted two Africans he believed had been with a rebel band that burned his plantation. He led a pick-up mob of whites down Luanda's main street. The mob literally tore one man limb from limb, pitched the other screaming off a six-story roof to crash through the candy-striped umbrella of a sidewalk cafe. The police casually watched.
Many Portuguese Angolans are appalled by the lawless terror that is overwhelming the province, would gladly leave if they could. But Salazar recently forbade any white male between 18 and 45 to leave Angola, has sharply limited the export of funds out of Angola. At week's end, there were some signs of sanity in Portugal itself. In a public memorandum to Salazar, 61 leading Portuguese demanded drastic changes in the constitution to bring about a more democratic rule in the homeland—as the first step toward solving Portugal's smoldering colonial problems abroad.