Black Volkswagens slipped through Lisbon's twisted streets last week carrying army officers to midnight rendezvous with political allies. Headlights flashed signals in parking garages. To elude detection, shadowy figures flitted from one car to another, then sped away. Some clearly feared for their lives, especially the nine dissident officers who issued the now famous moderate manifesto attacking the ruling troika for dragging Portugal toward a Communist dictatorship. Their leader and the author of the manifesto, former Foreign Minister Ernesto Melo Antunes, was reported to be spending each night in a different place to avoid, in the words of one Western diplomat, "getting snagged by some freelance left-wingers."
The midnight meetings, the clandestine signals, the fears of assassination —were all outgrowths of the crisis that has overtaken Portugal in the past two months. On one side were the moderates, symbolized by Melo Antunes, who favor a gradual, pluralistic approach to socialism. On the other were the well-organized orthodox Communists, who seek to impose total control over the country. For the moment, the political momentum plainly belonged to the moderates. In the north and central regions, Portugal's conservative Roman Catholics staged violent assaults against one local Communist headquarters after another (see color opposite). The attacks were eloquent reminders of the depths of anti-Communist feeling among a majority of Portuguese.
From outside Portugal, the moderate forces also received a powerful boost. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in an otherwise routine speech in Birmingham, expressed sympathy "with those moderate elements who seek to build Portugal by democratic means." Perhaps more important, he warned the Soviet Union, which many believe has been sending millions of dollars to Portugal's Communist Party, not to try to influence events in a country that was "an old friend and ally of ours."
Moderate Group. The Communists and their man in the troika, Premier Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves, were very much on the defensive. Gonçalves was clinging desperately to his position, ignoring demands that he resign. But the cabal of officers intent upon ousting him has generated such impressive support that Gonçalves' days seemed numbered. Melo Antunes' moderate manifesto, with its call for a gradual, pluralistic approach to socialism, had won the backing of a majority in the armed forces —some estimates went as high as 85%. Just about every officer of any consequence in the country had signed the document, and military units with some 70,000 men were reportedly backing the moderate group.
Even aides of President Francisco Costa Gomes acknowledged privately that the Communist-leaning Gonçalves had been irredeemably discredited. In the course of a 2½-hour meeting at Belem Palace, Costa Gomes reportedly asked Socialist Leader Mário Soares for a six weeks' grace period to arrange Gonçalves' resignation and restore political parties to representation in the government. Soares rejected the proposal. Soon afterward, he was backed by 7,000 Socialists who marched on Belem Palace shouting "Vasco must resign!"