António de Spínola António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola , , ( generally referred to as António de Spínola , , though this particular surname never had a particle ) ( April 11 , 1910 in Santo André , Estremoz – August 13 , 1996 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese military officer , conservative politician and author , who was important in the transition to democracy following the Portuguese Carnation Revolution . He was a son of António Sebastião Spínola and first wife Maria Gabriela Alves Ribeiro , both natives of Madeira . Career . Spínola entered the Colégio Militar in 1920 , beginning what would be a very successful military career . By 1928 , Spínola was at Portugal ' s Military Academy , where he stood out as a young and promising cavalry officer . In Anjos , Lisbon , by August 1932 , he married Maria Helena Martin Monteiro de Barros ( January 14 , 1913 – May 23 , 2002 ) , daughter of João de Azevedo Monteiro de Barros and his German wife Gertrud Elisabete Martin . In 1939 , he became adjunct - de - camp of the Guarda Nacional Republicana ( " Republican National Guard " ) . In 1941 he travelled to the German - Russian Front , as an observer , to monitor Wehrmacht movements during the encirclement of Leningrad ( the Portuguese volunteers had been incorporated into the Blue Division ) . In 1961 , guided by António de Oliveira Salazar , he offered himself for voluntary service in Portuguese colonies of West Africa . Between 1961 and 1963 , he held the command of the 345th Cavalry Battalion in Portuguese Angola , distinguishing himself and his unit . At the end of his tenure , he was nominated for , and served as , the Military Governor of Portuguese Guinea from 1968 , and again in 1972 , during the period of the Colonial War , where his administration favoured a policy of respect for ethnic Guineans and the traditional authorities . At the same time , he continued to practice a range of initiatives in the War , from clandestine meetings ( he met secretly with the President of Senegal , Léopold Sédar Senghor , at one point ) to armed incursions to neighbouring states ( such as Operation Green Sea , which saw the assault by Portuguese Army Commandos into Conakry , Guinea ) . In November 1973 , he returned to Lisbon , on the invitation of Salazar ' s successor , Marcello Caetano , to head the Overseas portfolio : which he refused , due to the government ' s intransigence on the Portuguese colonies . A month later , on January 17 , 1974 , he was asked to be the Vice - Chief of the Defence Council of the Armed Forces , on the advise of Francisco da Costa Gomes , a post that he would be removed from in March . Shortly later , he would publish Portugal e o Futuro ( " Portugal and the Future " ) , where he expressed the idea that the only solution to the Colonial Wars was the discontinuation of the conflict . Carnation revolution . On April 25 , 1974 , as a representative in the MFA – Movimento das Forças Armadas ( " Movement of the Armed Forces " ) he received from the President of the Council of Ministers , Marcello Caetano , the rendition of the Government ( which was in refuge in the Carmo Barracks ) . Although General Spínola did not play an important role , Marcelo Caetano insisted he would only surrender power to Spínola . This , ironically , allowed Spínola to assume an important public place as a leader of the revolution , although that was not what the MFA originally intended . The formation of the Junta de Salvação Nacional ( " National Salvation Junta " ) , formed in the days following the Carnation Revolution , allowed Spínola to take on the role of President of the Republic . Spínola met with Mobutu Sese Seko , the President of Zaire , on September 15 , 1974 , on Sal Island in the Portuguese Cape Verde , crafting a plan to empower Holden Roberto of the National Liberation Front of Angola , Jonas Savimbi of UNITA , and Daniel Chipenda leader of the MPLA ' s eastern faction ( a rival MPLA leader Agostinho Neto ) while retaining the façade of national unity ; Mobutu and Spínola wanted to diminish Neto ' s importance and present Chipenda as the MPLA leader ( Mobutu particularly preferring Chipenda to Neto because Chipenda supported autonomy for the Zairean province of Cabinda and Neto did not ) . The group also relied on the immense petroleum reserves of the Angolan exclave , estimated at around 300 million tons , which the Mobutu government required for economic survival . Exile to death . Spínola lasted as the first post - Revolution President from May 15 , 1974 until September 30 of the same year , to be substituted by General Francisco da Costa Gomes . His resignation partly due to what he saw as the profound move to the political left , their effects on the military and the independence of the Portuguese colonies ; discontent over these changes he tried to intervene politically to mitigate the movements of the MFA program . He resigned fifteen days later on September 30 , 1974 , after just four months in power , when he realized he would not be able to block the application of the MFA program . His appeals to the " maioria silenciosa " ( " silent majority " ) , to resist the political radicalization of the left , after the failed of September 28 , 1974 coup , and his tentative involvement in the rightist counter - revolution on March 11 , 1975 ( wherein he fled to Spain , then Brazil ) were clear examples that Spínola had changed his allegiances . In the same year , he presided over the Exército de Libertação de Portugal ( ELP ) , the Liberation Army of Portugal , a paramilitary terrorist group of the extreme - right . As the author Günter Wallraff wrote in his book " Aufdeckung einer Verschwörung – die Spínola - Aktion " , Spínola was always interested in returning to power and eliminating his political adversaries . During Spínola ' s exile to Brazil , he was approached by Wallraff who had infiltrated Spínola ' s group , pretending to be an arms dealer working for Franz - Josef Strauss , a conservative and leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria . Spínola ' s group was the " MDLP – " ( " Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Portugal " ) an anti - communist network of terrorist bombers , responsible for the death of a priest , and whose operatives included Carlos Paixão , Alfredo Vitorino , Valter dos Santos and Alcides Pereira . As their leader , Spínola had met with Wallraff to negotiate the purchase of arms and had supporters in the Alentejo who awaited the word to regain power ( which Wallraff submitted as proof in order to detain Spínola by Swiss authorities ) . But there was never enough proof to charge him or his conspirators in court . But even his extreme swing would not affect his importance in the Carnation Revolution . In 1981 Spínola was promoted to the highest rank in the Army : Field Marshal . His prestige would be rehabilitated officially on February 5 , 1987 , by President Mário Soares , who bestowed on him the " Grã - Cruz da Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada " ( " Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword " ) , for : On August 13 , 1996 , Spínola died at the age of 86 , victim of a pulmonary embolism . In the 2000 film Capitães de Abril , Spínola is played by the actor Ruy de Carvalho . The mayor of the city of Lisbon , António Costa , marked the 100 years since António de Spínola ' s birth in a ceremony attended by President Cavaco Silva , which included the presentation of a plaque and naming of a new avenue in the capital .