Salgueiro Maia went back to military life, has he had no political ambitions besides freeing the people. He died of cancer in 1992. He stands as the symbol of courage and generosity of those that made the revolution.
The main strategist and leader of the operation was Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, who was a much more divisive figure with his extreme left wing ideas. Later he was associated with the only left wing terrorist group to have blood on their hands (right wing groups had their share after the revolution, too) and eventually served some prison time.
