Affairs of State

Scandals have been almost as scarce as effective political opponents during the long dictatorship of Portugal's Premier, Dr. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Though the Portuguese themselves are neither particularly prudish nor incorruptible, Salazar's puritanical regime, with the help of a highly efficient police organization, has always tried to silence even the faintest whisper of vice in high places. Last week, however, Salazar's regime failed in its efforts to squelch the worst public scandal in its 40 years of rule.

The scandal involves a high-society prostitution ring that catered to the top echelon of Lisbon's social, business and political set. Operating almost under Salazar's nose, the girls worked out of a seemingly innocent dress shop on Lisbon's chic Avenida Roma. Many of them were teen-agers and even younger, and, according to Portuguese officials, they performed for their clients most of the tricks and perversions known to pornographic literature.

Breach of Decency. Police had their suspicions about the shop all along, but were unaware of the full nature of the ring or its clients until a frightened 16-year-old prostitute who was arrested provided them with a list of 30 names. Some of the men were then charged with such offenses as pimping, corruption of minors and breach of decency. The list included three counts, a marquis, the son of an ex-king, a hotel owner, a prominent businessman and a former diplomat to the United Nations. The ring's two madams were immediately convicted and sentenced, but the government hesitated in pressing the cases against the men.

With the prosecution thus stalled, the political implications became more apparent. Justice Minister Joao de Matos Antunes Varela, who has often been spoken of as a possible Salazar successor, left his post amid rumors that he had balked at Salazar's orders to halt the proceedings against the high-level defendants. Though none of Salazar's ministers has so far been identified as a patron of the ring, the scandal has given a highly charged issue to what antigovernment forces there are. Dr. Mario Scares, a prominent opposition lawyer, was arrested last week on charges of spreading malicious gossip abroad after accounts of the scandal appeared in France's Jeune Afrique and the London Sunday Telegraph. Salazar's strict censors have prevented the local press from printing a word of the mess, but the fascinating revelations are spreading through Portugal by word of mouth.

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