Antonio Macedo; Former Portuguese Socialist Party Leader

Antonio Macedo, 82, a former leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party who retired from politics in 1987 but remained honorary president of the party. Party officials declared a 48-hour halt to campaigning for the European Parliament elections out of respect for Macedo. Leading candidates from the governing Social Democratic Party and the conservative Social and Democratic Center also halted their campaigns in honor of his role in establishing Portuguese democracy. Portuguese President Mario Soares praised him as “a good and generous man . . . who fought for liberty and democracy.” A vigorous opponent of the rightist dictatorship that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974, Macedo was arrested eight times on political charges. He was a founding member of the then-clandestine Socialist Party in the early 1970s, and represented northern Oporto as a deputy after Portugal returned to democracy in 1974. In Oporto on Friday of unreported causes.