the last book I ever read (The Carnation Revolution: The Day Portugal's Dictatorship Fell, excerpt two)

from The Carnation Revolution: The Day Portugal's Dictatorship Fell by Alex Fernandes:

Galvão’s escape becomes PIDE’s number one priority for several weeks. The nurses at Santa Maria hospital are brutally interrogated, the captain’s family is tailed and even his former lovers are pursued through Lisbon on the chance Galvão might try to reignite an old flame. The fugitive, however, moves quietly between flats in Lisbon, ferried around in secret by a network of loyal friends. A few weeks after his escape, Galvão makes his way into the Argentinian embassy disguised as a delivery man, and formally requests asylum. This causes a diplomatic furore, but one that the Argentinian government is willing to bear. Galvão stays in the small embassy for several weeks; granted access to a typewriter, the old captain spends his hours writing letters and pamphlets that he is convinced will do serious damage to the regime if they are given a proper airing, and distributes them to fellow conspirators throughout Lisbon. As much as Galvão is eloquent and charismatic, he is also somewhat of a fantasist–as well as circulating his pamphlets, Galvão insists that his associates should distribute a collection of his poems (which he claims will galvanise the youth), as well as photos of himself standing at the window of the Argentinian embassy, looking sombre in a suit and tie, accompanied with snippets of text against Salazar. Galvão would happily spend his days fomenting a rebellion against the regime from this small room in the centre of Lisbon, but this is clearly untenable for the Argentinian diplomatic staff. After days of furtive negotiation, the regime allows Galvão to travel to Buenos Aires under Argentinian protection, on the condition that he be prevented from continuing his political work in Argentina. This decision, one arrived at from diplomatic necessity, plagues Salazar–in a conversation with his foreign minister, the now elderly dictator fumes: ‘We’re going to regret this a thousand times. He is much more dangerous than Delgado.’ On 11 May 1959, Henrique Galvão is put on an Argentinian Airlines flight, beginning his 29-hour journey to Buenos Aires. Left behind are his wife, his adopted daughter Beatriz, his pet sparrow and a trail of broken-hearted mistresses. He will never see Portugal again.