António Alva Rosa Coutinho (14 February 1926 – 2 June 2010) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

admiral, political activist, and participant in the Carnation Revolution.

Biography

Coutinho was born in Lisbon. As an officer of the Portuguese navy, Rosa Coutinho spent most of his career on board — and occasionally, in command of — hydrographic surveying ships. During the 1960s, on patrol in the Zaire River, he was captured by guerrillas of the

National Liberation Front of Angola The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independen ...

and held captive for a few months. During the Carnation Revolution (25 April 1974) he was one of the officers who made up the ''Junta de Salvação Nacional'' (JSN), and was subsequently promoted from captain to vice-admiral. He was not a particularly significant figure in the first few months after the restoration of democracy, but he soon gained prominence as the official in charge of the dismantlement of the

PIDE The International and State Defense Police ( pt, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of th ...

and the Portuguese Legion. At the end of July 1974, after the resignation of the last

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, general Silvino Silvério Marques, Rosa Coutinho succeeded him as president of the Council of Governors of Angola. In September he was confirmed in this position by the National Defense Council, becoming High Commissioner of Angola. He would remain in this position until the signing of the Alvor Agreement (January 1975) between the Portuguese and the three competing liberation movements — the FNLA, the

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...

, and

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...

. His actions in Angola tended to be seen as favorable towards the MPLA. Coutinho defended the territorial integrity of Angola against the

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

-backed

Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda ( pt, Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda, FLEC) is a guerrilla and political movement fighting for the independence of the Angolan province of Cabinda.AlʻAmin Mazrui, Ali. ...

, and openly distributed Portuguese arms and equipment to the MPLA. Rosa Coutinho's role in the Angolan independence process and his subsequent closeness to the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portu ...

earned him the nickname "the Red Admiral" (in

''o almirante vermelho''). In the early part of 1975 he began to advocate the passage of "revolutionary laws" with the aim of radicalizing the political process that had been initiated by the Carnation Revolution. These aspirations came to fruition in March of that year, when he joined the newly formed Revolutionary Council. Notwithstanding his reputation as a radical, he remained loyal to the government during the attempted coup d'état on 25 November 1975. Afterward, he was removed from the Revolutionary Council and relegated to the naval reserve. Though he no longer exerted much influence in politics, he remained involved in the Angolan solidarity movement and continued to campaign in support of Portuguese left-wing parties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa Coutinho, Antonio Alva 1926 births 1960s missing person cases 2010 deaths Formerly missing people Kidnapped Portuguese people People from Lisbon Portuguese admirals Portuguese Communist Party politicians

External links

Rosa Coutinho Governador de Angola Arxivat 2012-06-17 at WebCite a pissarro.home.sapo.pt

Biography

See also

References

External links