António de Oliveira Salazar served as prime minister of
Portugal from 1932 to 1968; a de facto dictator. On the third of August 1968, 79-year-old
Salazar suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. At first, it was reported he’d fallen
from a chair, but decades later anonymous witnesses admitted he’d fallen in the
bath. For the next few weeks, he seemed to have recovered. Then Salazar claimed
he felt ill and was admitted to Hospital de São José in Lisbon. Two days later,
he fell into a coma. No one expected him to survive, so President Américo Tomás
had him removed from office and replaced by Marcelo José das Neves Alves
Caetano. A month later, Salazar surprised everyone by waking from his coma. No
one had the nerve to tell him he was no longer prime minister. Salazar
continued to “rule” the country from the comfort of his own home until his
death, nearly two years later.
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