Santa Maria

There was continuous opposition to the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar when he consolidated his control of the New State in the Constitution of 1933. Under rigid censorship some of that opposition had been clandestine, but few opponents of the regime had been more vocal than Henrique Galvão. In his book, Santa Maria: My Crusade for Portugal, he savagely attacks the regime, relates the vicissitudes of his career in opposition to it, and describes his experiences as the initiator and leader of the little band of twenty-four "rebels" who seized control of the Santa Maria on January 24, 1961. Henrique Galvão was an army officer, a deputy in the National Assembly, a colonial official in the African provinces, a big-game hunter and naturalist, and a skillful propagandist and author. "Operation Dulcinea," as the project for the rebellious seizure of the Santa Maria was called, was conceived and organized in Venezuela. The objective was to sail secretly toward the west coast of Africa, after gaining control of the vessel, where with the original "rebels" and recruits from the crew of the Santa Maria, he would occupy Fernando Pó, raise native forces, and attack Luanda, the capital of Angola. A government would be established in that city and war would be unleased against the Salazar regime.