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Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho (31 August 1936 - ) is a Portuguese former military officer who was the chief strategist of the 25 April Revolution.

He 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, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho 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 Antonio da Spinola, in charge of civilian affairs and propaganda ('Hearts and Minds')].

He joined the underground Armed forces Movement, the MFA, which carried out a coup d’etat 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.

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. A right-wing putch attempt, led by Spinola was thwarted, by the timely intervention of COPCON in March 1975. In the course of 1975 infighting in the MFA intensified, Carvalho representing the left-wing of the movement. In May 1975, he was temporarily promoted to General.

On 25 November 1975 a military putsch under António Ramalho Eanes started a counter-revolution which, however, did not take the country back to fascism. Demoted to Major Carvalho was was arrested on charges of abuse of power. Released after forty-four days in prison, he was again arrested in October I976. After twenty days in jail, he was released and suspended from duty.

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 FP-25, 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 Saraiva de Carvalho is still a reference point for activists of left in Portugal.

Electoral results

Presidential Elections of 27 June 1976

• Registed voters: 6,467,480
• Turnout: 75.47%

• (Source: Portuguese Electoral Comission)

Presidential Elections of 7 December 1980

• Registered Voters: 6,920,869
• Turnout: 84.39%

• (Source: Portuguese Electoral Comission)

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