PORTUGAL TOO LATE IN THE DAY PORTUGAL'S ASCETIC DICTATOR ANTONIO DE OLIVEIRA 
SALAZAR MADE ONE OF HIS RARE TV APPEARANCES LAST WEEK (ON 
FILM) TO ANSWER AFRICAN DEMANDS THAT PORTUGAL ABANDON ITS COLONIES . 
HAVING LEARNED NOTHING AND FORGOTTEN NOTHING, SALAZAR TOOK A PREDICTABLE STAND 
: PORTUGAL WILL GO TO WAR RATHER THAN BUDGE IN AFRICA 
. DURING HIS HOUR-AND-A-HALF SPEECH, WITH TIME OUT FOR FORTIFYING SIPS 
OF PORT, SALAZAR APPEARED DECREPIT BUT SOUNDED VIGOROUS . BECAUSE OF 
A WAVE OF " BLACK RACISM, " HE COMPLAINED, PORTUGAL'S " 
CIVILIZING MISSION " IN PORTUGUESE GUINEA, ANGOLA AND MOZAMBIQUE IS IN 
JEOPARDY . ASKED SALAZAR . IS THE LANGUAGE THAT WE TEACH 
THOSE PEOPLE SUPERIOR TO THEIR DIALECTS OR NOT ? DOES THE 
RELIGION PREACHED BY THE MISSIONARIES SURPASS FETISHISM OR NOT ? IS 
NOT BELONGING TO A NATION OF CIVILIZED EXPRESSION AND WORLD PROJECTION 
BETTER THAN NARROW REGIONALISM WITHOUT MEANS FOR DEFENSE OR PROGRESS ? 
" REASONABLE QUESTIONS, TO BE SURE, BUT THEY SIMPLY CAME TOO 
LATE IN THE DAY AS DID SALAZAR'S OFFER TO AFRICANS OF 
" THE CLOSEST AND MOST FRIENDLY COOPERATION, IF THEY FIND IT 
USEFUL . " OTHERWISE, PORTUGAL WOULD DEFEND ITS TERRITORIES " TO 
THE LIMIT OF OUR RESOURCES, IF THEY THINK FIT TO TURN 
THEIR THREATS INTO ACTS OF WAR . " AS FOR THE 
U.N., WHICH TWO WEEKS EARLIER CALLED ANEW FOR CURTAILMENT OF ARMS 
TO PORTUGAL, HE SAW THE " MASSIVE ENTRY " OF AFRO-ASIAN 
STATES AS HAVING DISTORTED THE WORLD ORGANIZATION INTO A THREAT TO 
PEACE . AND IN A BITTER JAB AT HIS NATO PARTNER, 
THE U.S., WHICH HAS BEEN URGING PORTUGAL TO DECOLONIZE, SALAZAR ACCUSED 
WASHINGTON OF COMPETING WITH RUSSIA IN AFRICA, PRINCIPALLY FOR SPHERES OF 
POLITICAL INFLUENCE AND MARKETS . . . . (TRIDOTS) SALAZAR'S OLD 
IBERIAN NEIGHBOR AND AMIGO, SPAIN'S FRANCISCO FRANCO, WAS BENDING SLIGHTLY MORE 
WITH THE WINDS, ANNOUNCED PLANS TO GRANT A MEASURE OF AUTONOMY 
TO SPANISH GUINEA, WHICH IS MADE UP OF THE / PROVINCES 
" OF RIO MUNI, A MARYLAND-SIZED WEST AFRICAN ENCLAVE LYING BETWEEN 
GABON AND CAMEROON, AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS OF FERNANDO PO AND 
ANNOBON . THE COLONY'S 225,000 AFRICANS, WHO HARVEST ITS COFFEE, COCOA 
BEANS AND TIMBER, AND 5,000 EUROPEANS WILL BE ENCOURAGED TO ELECT 
A RUBBER-STAMP PARLIAMENT LOYAL TO EL CAUDILLO . 