Aleco Joannides

Aleco Joannides was a cosmopolitan and generous friend. When I arrived in Lisbon in 1974 to cover the Portuguese revolution, Aleco, just visiting, took me to meet his “good friend” Mario Soares, just returned from exile to become Portuguese foreign minister.

In the sumptuous baroque palace which was the Foreign Ministry, we arrived in a large ante-room heaving with anxious ambassadors seeking urgent audiences on behalf of their alarmed governments. Mario walked through them all to his “good friend” Aleco, took us into his office, and for the next hour we chatted amiably about how newly-liberated Portuguese newspapers were treating his Socialist Party.

It was an invaluable introduction. Later Aleco discreetly made available his London home for secret meetings between Portuguese government representatives and (if I remember correctly) African guerrilla movements. Things did indeed “look up” with Aleco. ■