The New State, The Dictatorship After Salazar

In September 1968 Salazar was incapacitated by a stroke and succeeded by longtime associate Marcello Caetano, who was named prime minister. Caetano eased police repression and called for limited reforms when he took office. However, he continued most of Salazar’s repressive policies, including the colonial wars in Africa, which by the late 1960s were consuming about 40 percent of the national budget and stalling domestic economic development. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese nationals emigrated to avoid conscription by the military to fight in the colonial wars. Student demonstrations continued, and dissenting voices in the army grew louder.