Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho

Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique (now Maputo, Mozambique) on 31 August 1936, of Luso-Goan (Portuguese India) ancestry. Named by his theater-minded parents after Shakespeare's Othello, he completed his secondary education at a state school in Lourenço Marques. His father was a civil servant and his mother a railway clerk. He entered the Military Academy in Lisbon in 1955, at the age of nineteen.[1]

A street mural of Otelo, Lisbon, Portugal 1975.

Otelo spent many years in the colonial wars in Africa. He served in Portuguese Angola from 1961 to 1963 as a second lieutenant, and as a captain from 1965 to 1967. He was posted to Portuguese Guinea in 1970 as a captain, under General António de Spínola, in charge of civilian affairs and the propaganda campaign Hearts and Minds.[1]

On 5 November 1960, he married Maria Dina Afonso Alambre with whom he has had two daughters and a son.[1]

In 1970, Otelo attended the funeral of former Portuguese Prime Minister, António de Oliveira Salazar. At the funeral, Otelo was seen weeping over the casket of Salazar.[2]

Portuguese overseas territories in Africa during the Estado Novo regime: Angola and Mozambique were by far the two largest of those territories.

Otelo joined the underground Movement of Armed Forces (Movimento das Forças Armadas - MFA), which carried out a coup d'état in Lisbon on 25 April 1974, in which he played a directing role.[3]

In July 1974, Otelo 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 1975, infighting in the MFA intensified with Otelo representing the left-wing of the movement. A right-wing putsch attempt, led by António de Spínola, 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 Francisco da Costa Gomes and Vasco Gonçalves, formed the Directório (Directorate).[4]

In July 1975, Otelo visited Cuba with a delegation of Portuguese military officers to meet Fidel Castro.[5] Otelo participated in the Cuban 26 of July celebrations with Castro.[6] During this trip, Castro informed Carvalho of his intention to send Cuban troops to Angola, to which Otelo assured Castro that the Portuguese government would have no objection to the involvement of Cuba in Portuguese Angola.[7]

On 25 November 1975, a military radical left-wing coup was attempted, made up of members of the MFA, the Portuguese Army Commandos, and COPCON under the leadership of Otelo. The coup, orchestrated by Otelo, failed to take control of the Portuguese government. As a result of the coup, Otelo was imprisoned, COPCON was disbanded, and António Ramalho Eanes rose to power. As punishment for participation in the coup, Otelo was imprisoned for three months.[8][9]

In 1976, Otelo unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for president against Eanes.[10] Throughout his campaign, Otelo campaigned on a platform promoting socialism, national independence, and popular power.[11] Otelo's support came from the Portuguese working class, specifically in Setúbal and Alentejo. A notable supporter and organizer of Otelo's campaign was Zeca Afonso, a popular Portuguese revolutionary songwriter.[12] Otelo finished second in the election, with 792,760 votes (16.46%).[10]

Political graffiti in support of Otelo's 1980 presidential campaign. The text reads "FUP Otelo - Popular Unity - 1980"

In 1980, Otelo was a candidate in the Portuguese presidential elections. Otelo was nominated for the presidency by the far-left political party he founded, the Força de Unidade Popular (FUP). Otelo's campaign was centered on building socialism in Portugal.[13] Once again, Otelo received support and advice from Portuguese musician Jose Afonso throughout the campaign.[12] Otelo finished third in the elections with 85,896 votes (1.4%).[14] After the election, Otelo confessed that he voted for his rival Eanes in the election, "to avoid the victory of the right-wing candidate Soares Carneiro".[12]

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 terrorist group Popular Forces 25 April (FP-25), a group responsible for a number of robberies and murders in Portugal. His trial was controversial and his allies assumed it to be motivated by revenge. In 1985, he was tried, convicted, and demoted to Lieutenant-colonel for his role in FP-25.[1]

While imprisoned for his involvement with FP-25, Otelo met Maria Filomena Morais and began a bigamous relationship with her and his first wife Maria Dina Afonso Alambre.[1][15]

In 1989, Otelo received amnesty for his participation in FP-25 due to the legal imbroglio related to his case.[16]

Otelo retired from military service and public life in 1989.[16]

Since retiring, Otelo has remained a political activist within his party, Força de Unidade Popular, and Otelo has been featured in multiple documentaries about the Carnation Revolution.

In 2011, during the Portuguese financial crisis when the country was at the end of the Left-wing government of José Socrates and had to request international financial assistance, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho stated that he wouldn't have made the revolution if he had known what the country would become after it.[17] He also stated that the country would need a man as honest as Salazar to deal with the crisis, but from a non-fascist perspective.[18] But later he reversed his position and said that the Carnation Revolution was worth it and that he was proud of his role in it.[19]

Otelo is still an icon for activists of the left in Portugal, but is hated by many right-wingers who consider him a terrorist who tried to seize power in the country in order to become Portugal's Fidel Castro.[20]

In 2006, Otelo was voted the 68th greatest Portuguese in the Os Grandes Portugueses competition.[21]

• Cinco meses mudaram Portugal (1975)
• Contribuiçāo para uma alternativa popular à crise da economia em Portugal: texto de apoio da candidatura à Presidência da República de Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (1976)
• Otelo: o povo é quem mais ordena (1977)
• Memorias de abril (1978)
• Alvorada em abril (1984)

• Centre for Documentation of 25 April: Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho