The spring of 1974 was torturous. There is a debilitating oil crisis. It follows the Yom Kippur War (October 1973), after the tragedy in Chile (September 1973). The Vietnam War turns into a civil war. General Franco dies. Between the Cold War and détente, the chancelleries are making calculations for the future. Spain is the European issue at the moment. The United States is keen to maintain its military bases there. Germany and France favor the emergence of a new political elite, and Felipe Gonzalez was recently elected leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in exile during the Sorenz Congress. On April 24, there was a surprising development: Günter Guillaume, Willy Brandt's closest collaborator in the Bonn Chancellery, was arrested on charges of spying for the German Democratic Republic.
Portugal, amidst all this noise, who cares? The United States is funding a separatist party in the Azores in hopes of making it their home there. In the Federal Republic of Germany, political institutions help create new democratic parties while East Germany's mission is to support the Communist Party. But in the circumstances, Portugal remains a very small pawn.
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