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Portuguese general (1915–2004) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaúlza de Oliveira de Arriaga, OA, GCC, OC, OIH (18 January 1915 – 2 February 2004) was a Portuguese general, writer, professor and politician. He was Secretary of State (junior minister) of the Air Force between 1953 and 1955 and commander of the Terrestrial Forces in Mozambique from 1969 until 1974 during the Mozambican War of Independence.
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Kaúlza de Oliveira de Arriaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 18 January 1915 Porto, Portugal |
| Died | 2 February 2004 (aged 89) Lisbon, Portugal |
| Allegiance |  Portugal |
| Service | Portuguese Army |
| Years of service | 1935–1974 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles / wars | Mozambican War of Independence |
| Awards | Officer of the Order of Aviz Grand Officer of the Order of Military Merit of Brazil Legion of Merit of the United States of America Grand Cross and Grand Officer of the Order of Christ Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur of France Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry and the Medal of Aeronautical Merit of the Portuguese Air Force Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre |
He was a son of Manuel dos Santos Lima de Arriaga Nunes (1885-1940), a sculptor and son of a medical doctor from Pico Island, Azores, and his Portuguese Brazilian wife, Felicidade Eugénia Martins de Oliveira (1894-1987), daughter and granddaughter of goldsmiths. The couple married in Porto on 20 June 1914.[1]
Arriaga completed a degree in mathematics and engineering at the University of Porto and then volunteered for the Portuguese Army on 1 November 1935. Taking a military and civil engineering course in the Military Academy which he graduated from in 1939, he was later assigned to the general staff of the Portuguese Institute of Military Studies. Here he petitioned for reforms to the conscription system, as well as training and the integration of paratroopers into the Portuguese Air Force.
Arriaga commanded, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the Portuguese forces in Mozambique from 1969 until 1974, taking over from General António Augusto dos Santos and organizing the Operation Nó Górdio ("Gordian Knot Operation") in 1970. This operation was the largest and most expensive military operation performed by the Portuguese Armed Forces during the entire Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974).
Arriaga was a major political figure in the Estado Novo regime before the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 in Lisbon, holding a number of public positions such as Head of the Ministry of Defense Cabinet, Secretary of State for Aeronautics, Professor of the Institute of High Military Studies, President of the Nuclear Energy Joint Commission and Executive President of the oil company Angol SA. In 1977 he founded MIRN, a right-wing political party, and was its chairman until the party's extinction after the 1980 Portuguese legislative election.
He died from Alzheimer's disease in 2004, in Lisbon.
Arriaga received a number of awards and citations during his career, including:
Officer of the Order of Aviz
Grand Officer of the Order of Military Merit of Brazil
Commander of the Legion of Merit of the United States of America
Grand Cross of the Order of Christ
Grand Officer of the Order of Christ
Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur of France
Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry (Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique)
Commander of the Order of the Holy SepulchreArriaga married in Reguengos de Monsaraz, at the Chapel of o Monte de São Mamede, on 19 May 1955 Maria do Carmo Fernandes Formigal (b. 1932), Dame Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, daughter of Mário Formigal (1899-1954), a landowner and son of another, and his wife (m. 1922) Maria Adelaide Rosado Fernandes (1903-1981), of a family of farmers and landowners in Évora, Alto Alentejo, by whom he had five children, including the second wife of former prime minister Pedro Santana Lopes.[2]
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