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Revision as of 20:06, 29 December 2006
Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho, GCL (pron. IPA ) (31 August 1936 - ) is a Portuguese former military officer who was the chief strategist of the 25 April Revolution.
Biography
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was born in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, Mozambique. Named by his theatre-minded parents (his father was a civil servant and his mother a railway clerk) after Shakespeare's Othello, he had his secondary education at a state school in Maputo. He entered the Military Academy in Lisbon at the age of nineteen.
Carvalho spent many years in the colonial war in Africa. He served in Angola in 1961 - 1963 as a second lieutenant, and as a captain in 1965 - 1967. He was posted to Guinea-Bissau in 1970 as a captain, under General António de Spínola, in charge of civilian affairs and propaganda ('Hearts and Minds').
He joined the underground Movement of Armed Forces (Movimento das Forças Armadas - MFA), which carried out a Coup d'état on 25 April 1974, in which he played a directing role. His part in the bloodless release of the country from the fascist dictatorship was recognised by people of other political viewpoints. Carvalho was part of the Committee of National Salvation that governed the country after the Carnation Revolution, as the upheaval came to be called.
In July 1974 Carvalho was made a Brigadier and placed in command of the special military Command for the Continent COPCON, which was set up to secure order in the country and to promote the revolutionary process. In the course of 1975 infighting in the MFA intensified, Carvalho representing the left-wing of the movement. A right-wing putsch attempt, led by Spinola was thwarted by the timely intervention of COPCON in March 1975. He became part of the Council of the Revolution which was created On 14 March 1975. In May 1975, he was temporarily promoted to General and, together with Costa Gomes and Vasco Gonçalves, formed the Directório (Directorate).
On 25 November 1975, the Portuguese Communist Party and it's armed branch, tried to seize control over the country. Otelo is said to have orchestrated this coup. Some military under Otelo's orders took control of three Air Force bases. The moderate wing of the Army wouldn't allow this coup to work, and launched a counter-revolutonary response against the extreme left. This response worked, and the extreme left rule over the country was finally over. It is also implied that the coup didn't work because Otelo didn't support the military. This is the reason for why the Communists still today hate Otelo. They believe that Portugal didn't became a communist nation because of this.
In 1976 and 1980 Carvalho unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for president against Eanes. In 1982 he was recalled to the army, since it was shown that his discharge had been politically motivated. In 1984 he was arrested and accused of contact with or membership of the group Popular Forces 25 April (FP-25 Abril) (Portuguese:Forças Populares 25 Abril), which allegedly committed assassination attempts in Portugal in the following years. His trial was controversial and his allies assumed it to be motivated by revenge. In 1989 he was amnestied and a resumption of the procedure was struck down because of an obvious lack of evidence. Since then he has been a small-businessmen.
Otelo is known for having said: "We should have gathered some thousands fascists in Campo Pequeno (a bull's fight arena), and eliminate them. That would end the counter-revolution".
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho is still an icon for activists of the left in Portugal, and is hated by many people who consider him a terrorist who tried to seize the country to become Europe's Fidel Castro.
Electoral results
Presidential Elections of 27 June 1976
| Portuguese Presidential Election, 1976 - First Round (June 27) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |||||
| António Ramalho Eanes | 2,967,137 | 60.8% | ||||||
| Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho | 792,760 | 16.2% | ||||||
| Pinheiro de Azevedo | 692,147 | 14.2% | ||||||
| Octávio Pato | 365,586 | 07.5% | ||||||
| Invalid Ballots | 43,242 | 00.9% | ||||||
| Blank Ballots | 20,253 | 00.4% | ||||||
| Total: | 4,881,125 | - | ||||||
- Registed voters: 6,467,480
- Turnout: 75.47%
- (Source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
Presidential Elections of 7 December 1980
| Portuguese Presidential Election, 1980 - First Round (December 7) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Party | Vote | Percent | |||||
| Ramalho Eanes | 3,262,520 | 55.9% | ||||||
| Soares Carneiro | 2,325,481 | 39.8% | ||||||
| Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho | 85,896 | 1.5% | ||||||
| Carlos Galvão de Melo | 48,468 | 0.8% | ||||||
| António Pires Veloso | 45,132 | 0.8% | ||||||
| Aires Rodrigues | 12,745 | 0.2% | ||||||
| Carlos Brito | 0 | 0.0% | ||||||
| Invalid Ballots | 44,014 | 0.8% | ||||||
| Blank Ballots | 16,076 | 0.3% | ||||||
| Total: | 5,840,332 | - | ||||||
- Registered Voters: 6,920,869
- Turnout: 84.39%
- (Source: Portuguese Electoral Commission)
External links
- Centre for Documentation of 25 April: Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho