Portuguese Imperialism

With all that is being written about Laos and Cambodia and all that has been written about Vietnam, I feel your readers' attention should be drawn to the injustices now being committed in Africa by Portugal and in Portugal itself by one class against another. The following facts speak for themselves.

According to authoritative estimates, including those of the Institute of Strategic Studies, London (in The Military Balance—1968/69), the combined total of Portuguese troops in Africa is about 115, 000—55,000 in Angola, 40,000 in Mozambique and 20,000 in Guinea-Bissau. The total strength of the Portuguese armed forces is over 180,000; the total number of reservists amounts to 500,000—out of a population of nine million.

Military expenditure has increased dramatically since the outbreak of guerilla warfare in 1961; currently it absorbs nearly half of the entire Portuguese budget, leaving aside the further allocations from the budgets of the territories concerned. Defence costs take up 6-8% of the GNP—the highest percentage in Europe, excepting the Soviet Union, whose expenditure includes space and atomic programmes.

Only the undemocratic character of Portuguese rule, censorship and secret police, could explain this state of affairs. While the war economy is actually profitable to certain Portuguese businessmen, foreign investors, and higher ranking Army officers, the burden falls upon the average Portuguese youth. The military effort entails conscription of all males at the age of 21, for periods ranging up to four years—with no provision whatsoever for conscientious objection. The bulk of the Portuguese forces is derived from the peasant class, a third of which is illiterate.