PORTUGAL: Long Time No See

Aboard a Spanish cruiser, fat Francisco Franco steamed up the Tagus River last week, accompanied by three cruisers and four destroyers. Amid fanfare and foofaraw, he went ashore at Lisbon for a five-day state visit. Along with 200,000 cheering Portuguese, Franco’s wife was on hand to greet him; she had come ahead, by train. Said she: “We arrived radiant and enchanted.”

The Portuguese visit looked like a further Franco effort to cure some of Spain’s ills by wangling Western support and aid. Portugal, a signer of the Atlantic pact, has been agitating for the admission of her good friend & neighbor. But, said Franco, his visit was merely a return call for one paid by President Oscar Carmona to Spain just 20 years ago. Spanish courtesy, it seemed, was slow but sure.