The Portuguese perception of Spanish political evolution, 1957-1968

In the Sixties, the political evolution of Spain began to generate serious qualms in Portugal under Salazar. Three Spanish developments were particularly worrisome: The apertura of the Spanish dictatorship; the appearance of nationalist conflicts on the periphery, and Franco's information policy. The Salazarist bunker was weary that this new political reality could generate similar demands in Portugal, and posited ways to prevent this from occurring across the border. To such individuals, Spanish developments constituted an unacceptable deviation from an authentic authoritarian path. This article studies this evolution from the point of view of Portuguese diplomatic representatives in Spain. By exploring previously unused documentary evidence, this article demonstrates that the Salazarist elite regarded the Spanish dictatorship as similar to the Portuguese one in a few aspects but very different in many others.