Strategist of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution Saraiva de Carvalho dies at 86
Lisbon, Jul 25 (EFE).- Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, one of the masterminds behind the Carnation Revolution that paved the way for the Portuguese democracy, died on Sunday at 86 years old.
Saraiva de Carvalho died at Lisbon’s military hospital, where he was admitted a couple of weeks ago, local media reported, without providing details on the cause of death.
He went down in history as the man who designed the plan of military operations that put an end to António de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship on 25 April 1974.
Saraiva de Carvalho, born in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, spent most of his childhood and youth in Africa, where he became one of the heads of military intelligence in Angola.
In 1973, he was sent to Lisbon, and his home became the headquarters where meetings gave shape to the movement.
He was named as head of the Executive Committee of the Armed Forces Movement, the military organization that ended with the dictatorship.
Having been part of the Revolutionary Council, he joined the most radical wing of the Armed Forces Movement and spent three months in prison for his involvement with the leftist uprising of 25 November 1975.
Afterwards, he unsuccessfully ran for the Portuguese presidency in the first two democratic elections in 1976 and 1980.
Two years later, he was jailed again for five years over his links with the Popular Forces 25 April, a left-wing terror organization that carried out a series of deadly attacks in the country, although he denied any wrongdoing. EFE
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