 Rhodesia's Lisbon mission remained open throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, providing a key link between the Rhodesian and Portuguese governments, which remained close. When Rhodesia adopted a republican constitution in 1970, Portugal bowed to British diplomatic pressure and withdrew its consul-general, João de Freitas Cruz, from Salisbury, but the Rhodesian office in Lisbon remained open. With the Carnation Revolution of 1974, Portugal's African policy was suddenly reversed. By contrast to the former authoritarian government, which had been committed to a pluricontinental Portugal, fighting costly wars against independence movements in its African territories to maintain it, the new leftist administration rapidly initiated moves to withdraw from Africa as quickly as possible. Following hurried negotiations between Portugal and the nationalist guerrillas in each territory, both Mozambique and Angola became independent under communist governments in 1975. Lisbon's stance on Rhodesia altered accordingly. The Portuguese government ordered the closure of the Rhodesian mission in April 1975, and simultaneously withdrew its own remaining officials from Rhodesia. The Rhodesian mission in Lisbon formally closed on 1 May 1975.
