UN General Assembly
1961

41. That a small under-developed country like Portugal should have the courage to go against the decisions of the United Nations calls for some comment, at least of which is that no country would be so rash unless it were certain of impunity. This must be for one of two reasons: either the United Nations can impose no sanctions, in which case our delegation considers it essential to revise the Charter; or Portugal relies on some hidden protection, which explains the means available to it for the repression of African nationalism. 42. Portugal, is running the risk of a very rude awakening from its legendary lethargy, because the wind of independence will undoubtedly sweep away all the last vestiges of the conquistadores, from the Cape Verde Islands to Timor and its dependencies, through Principe Island and Mozambique. It is, in this respect, a little behind the other colonial Powers. Having been the first country to possess colonies, it presumably intends to cling to the tatters of a past which it imagines to have been glorious. .