Agostinho Lourenço

Agostinho Lourenço da Conceição Pereira (September 5, 1886 – August 2, 1964) was a Portuguese soldier, best known for founding and running the Portuguese political police under the Estado Novo.

Lourenço fought in World War I for the British.[1] After the war, he acted briefly as governor of Leiria. He was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for services to the future Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, who was visiting Lisbon in 1931.[2]

In 1933, in the early days of the Salazar regime, Lourenço founded the PVDE, Portugal's security and immigration police. According to Professor Douglas Wheeler, "an analysis of Lourenco's career suggests strongly that British Intelligence Services' influence had an impact on the structure and activity of PVDE". Lourcenço had earned a reputation with British observers, recorded in a confidential print generated at the British embassy, which suggested a "pro-British" bias on his part.[3]

He always kept a good relationship with the MI6, which allowed him in 1956 to become the president of Interpol, which he temained for five years.[4][5]

References
  1. Lochery 2011.
  2. Morton, Andrew Morton (2015). 17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 370. ISBN 978-1455527113. agostinho lourenco duke of windsor portugal.
  3. Wheeler 1983, pp. 1-25.
  4. "Former Head of Interpol Dies". NY Times. Aug 3, 1964. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  5. "Former Presidents". Interpol. Retrieved 18 April 2019.

Sources
  • Bloch, Michael (1985). Operation Willi: The Plot to Kidnap the Duke of Windsor, July 1940. Grove Pr; 1st American ed edition.
  • Lochery, Neill (2011). Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939–1945. PublicAffairs; 1 edition. p. 345. ISBN 978-1586488796.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wheeler, Douglas L. (1983). "In the Service of Order: The Portuguese Political Police and the British, German and Spanish Intelligence, 1932-1945". Journal of Contemporary History. Sage Publications, Ltd. 18 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1177/002200948301800101. JSTOR 260478. S2CID 153719176.


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