Welcome, Lusophones!
After being linked from a Portuguese index, this blog has received over 100 Portuguese speaking visitors in one day. While extending a hearty welcome, I must confess that I don't speak Portuguese (even though I live in Rhode Island), but I'm certainly willing to tailor my content to my readership.
This begs the question: should I be profiling António Salazar? Getúlio Vargas? José dos Santos?
5 comments:
In my opinion, yes, you should include Salazar in your dictator list.
Getúlio Vargas should be include, I´m brazilian, anda Getúlio Vargas was a dictator here in Brazil.
Thanks for the link Roger.
Salazar and Franco are some interesing dictators on recent history of Portugal and Spain, and there´s still a lot of their presence on those countries.
Salazar was friend of general Franco(Spain), Mussolini(Italy) and HITLER. The salut in Portugal during the time of Salazar was the same of the nazis - Heil (Viva, in portuguese). The Politic Police - PIDE, kills and torture many people, in Portugal and Colonies.
You MUST include Salazar.
Sure Getúlio Vargas would be an interesting entry. He was a breakthrough dictator (lots of the things he did helped the country advance socially and economically) but was also a sympathizer of fascism (although he cracked down on the Brazilian Integralists before they could think of becoming anything like the Nazis or the Black Shirts). He was hated, mostly by the upper classes and by those he caused to be tortured, but also loved, mostly by the poorest of the poor. He was staunchly anti-communist but helped created state monopolies of oil, ore and transportation. Yes, he was keen on cult of personality (all banknotes and many stamps had his likeness) and was perhaps the only dictator in the world to step down in a low profile (thanks to the fact that most of the upper ranks of the army and the Judiciary were his friends) and to be elected democratically shortly after. He also helped defend democracy (!!!) with his suicide (historians argue that the 1964 coup-d'état would have been in 1954 if he had not shot himself). He is indeed a complex character, a benefactor but a dictator, cruel but condescendent. He is sure to be popular in the forums ...
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