General Humberto Delgado challenged the right wing regime in Portugal when he run for president in 1958. For that he paid with his own life as he was secretly murdered seven years later by two agents of the secret police.
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"His passage as a Military Attaché and Aeronautic Attaché to the Portuguese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1952 pushed his ideology in a liberal democratic direction, and inspired him to run as the democratic opposition's candidate for the Portuguese presidency in 1958.
According to the testimony of Marshal Costa Gomes, Humberto Delgado decided to run for president because he failed to be appointed director of the NATO Defense College. Humberto Delgado missed the much-desired appointment due to his chronic lack of sense which made him gain the dislike of the British Admiral Sir Michael Maynard Denny, former Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet. According to Costa Gomes´testimonial, Humberto Delgado could not resist joking with the Admiral by constantly pulling the abundant hair the British Admiral had coming out of his ears. The British Admiral detested these jokes from Delgado and vetoed his appointment. Costa Gomes had warned Delgado several times that those bad taste jokes would cost him his much-desired appointment, but Delgado replied that he knew it but he just could not help doing it. Costa Gomes classifies Delgado as a very smart man but with "a screw loose". Episodes like this have earned Delgado the epithet of "General sem juizo" (The senseless general).
As incumbent president Craveiro Lopes had been coerced by Salazar into standing down after only one term, Delgado faced archconservative naval minister Américo Tomás, the regime's candidate, in the 1958 presidential election.
Humberto Delgado decided to launch his candidacy as an independent, taking the traditional opposition by surprise. Among the supporters were figures such as the intellectual António Sérgio, the monarchists Vieira de Almeida and Almeida Braga and the Fascist Francisco Rolão Preto. The Portuguese Communist Party reacted fiercely and did not spare Delgado labeling him as "Fascist" and "General Coca-Cola", in an allusion to the General's pro-Americanism.
Delgado campaigned vigorously, even though he seemingly faced impossible odds. Although opposition candidates had nominally been allowed to run since the 1940s, the electoral system was so heavily rigged in favour of Salazar's National Union that its candidates could not possibly be defeated.
In a famous interview on 10 May 1958, in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked what would be his attitude towards Salazar, Delgado made one of the most famous quotations in Portuguese politics: "Obviamente, demito-o!" ("Obviously, I'll sack him!"). He was well aware that the president's power to remove the prime minister from office was essentially the only check on Salazar's power.
His outspoken attitude earned him the epithet of "General sem Medo" ("Fearless General" or literally "General without fear"). A rally held at Oporto drew a large crowd. However, when he tried to return to Lisbon, the police blocked him and his family from attending a planned rally, then broke up the gathering.
Nevertheless, Delgado was ultimately credited with less than 25% of the votes, with 76.4% in favor of Tomás. Salazar refused to allow opposition representatives to observe the ballot count. Tomás' margin was inflated by massive ballot-box stuffing by the PIDE, leading to speculation that Delgado might have actually won had Salazar allowed an honest election. Nonetheless, Salazar was worried enough that he transferred election of the president to the legislature, which was firmly controlled by the regime. As a result, Delgado was the only opposition presidential candidate during the Estado Novo to stay in the race until election day."
During his elections campaign he visited Coimbra and spoke to the crowd from this balcony in Hotel Astória.
It's an elaborated marker, made in metal, which has written:
"Desta varanda, HUMBERTO DELGADO falou à população de Coimbra em 31 de Maio de 1958"
Which translated as "From this balcony HUMBERTO DELGADO adressed to the population of Coimbra on the 31st May 1958".