Roland wrote: Goa was the jewel that adorned Portugal's seafaring past but it is pretty disgraceful that they were cheap enough not to have any planes to defend the territory, nor any arms or personnel to put up a good fight against Indian forces.
At a certain point in time, Salazar the economics professor might have been the saving grace of a tired Portugal but as far as any diplomatic energy was concerned, he possessed none. He had sufficient knowledge of what India was going to do and yet he had no strategy or foresight to ensure Goa would not fall into Indian hands like a ripe mango. He deserved what he got - a humiliating defeat. ------------ GL responds: >From my corresponding with Goans with facts (not opinions), Goa was an annual >financial loss to Portugal in the 1950s and 1960. So the economics professor >was not going to (follow Roland's advice albeit late) let Goa cause an even >greater (and indefinite) negative balance of payments / costs for an >impoverished Portugal. Salazar and his military junta were squeezed between >financial reality and the need to show the Portuguese populace and their other >colonies that they had the bravado and machismo to "protect and defend" the >Fatherland and its possessions. So while December 18, 1961 was god-send to Salazar, there was the usual political and diplomatic public relations exercise to put on a brave face while thanking God and Nehru for relieving Portugal of its financial burden. Salazar and the junta likely gave a sigh of relief on December 19, 1961; making the poor Portuguese viceroy in Goa the scapegoat for their failure. Goans naturally propound about Goa December 18, 1961 with their own perspectives and with a generous supply of ..... woulda ...... coulda ...... shoulda ...... and these Goans finger-point at everybody else except themselves. What's New! Regards, GL
