A ‘father’ of Portuguese democracy
LISBON, Portugal — Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a conservative Portuguese politician who played a leading role in cementing the country’s democracy after its
1974 Carnation Revolution and later became president of the U.N. General Assembly, has died at 78.
The Portuguese government announced his death last week without providing further details.
Earlier this year, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa described Mr. Freitas do Amaral as
“one of the fathers of Portuguese democracy.”
Mr. Freitas do Amaral was a co-founder and the first leader of the Christian Democratic Party, which was formed barely three months after the Portuguese army coup on April 25, 1974. The coup leaders ousted a four-decade dictatorship and promised to introduce parliamentary democracy, but their ambitions were slowed by political turmoil.
Mr. Freitas do Amaral played a central role in helping to steer Portugal away from its radical course in the post-revolution years, which coincided with the Cold War and triggered fears in Western Europe and the U.S. that the country, a NATO member, might align with Moscow.
Despite his democratic credentials, Mr. Freitas do Amaral was shunned by the party he helped create after he accepted the post of foreign minister in a Socialist Party government in 2005. Christian Democrat officials took down his photograph from a wall in their Lisbon headquarters and mailed it across town to the Socialist Party. Mr. Freitas do Amaral said he was never again invited to a party event.