by a national discussion to take place in the six months prior to the referendum. The end of Salazar's rule in 1968, due to illness, did not prompt any change in the political panorama. The radicalization of the opposition movements started with the younger people who also felt victimized by the continuation of the war. Radicalization (early 1970s) The universities played a key role in the spread of this position. Several magazines and newspapers were created, such as Cadernos Circunstância, Cadernos Necessários, Tempo e Modo, and Polémica that supported this view. The students that participated in this underground opposition faced serious consequences if caught by the PIDE—from immediate arrest to automatic conscription into a combat branch (infantry, marines, etc.) situated in the "hot" warzone (Guinea, Tete Province in Mozambique or eastern Angola). It was in this environment that the Armed Revolutionary Action (Acção Revolucionária Armada – ARA), the armed branch of the Portuguese Communist Party created in the late 1960s, and the Revolutionary Brigades (Brigadas Revolucionárias – BR), a left-wing organization, became a force of resistance against the war, carrying out multiple acts of sabotage and bombing against military targets. The ARA began its military actions in October 1970, keeping them up until August 1972. The major actions were the attack on the Tancos air base that destroyed several helicopters on March 8, 1971, and the attack on the NATO headquarters at Oeiras in October of the same year. The BR, on its side, began armed actions on 7 November 1971, with the sabotage of the NATO base at Pinhal de Armeiro, the last action being carried out 9 April 1974, against the Niassa ship which was preparing to leave Lisboa with troops to be deployed in Portuguese Guinea. The BR acted even in the colonies, placing a bomb in the Military Command of Bissau on 22 February 1974. By the early 1970s, the Portuguese Colonial War raged on, consuming fully 40 percent of Portugal's annual budget. The Portuguese military was overstretched despite mobilizing 7% of the country's total population and there was no political solution or end in sight. While the human losses were relatively small, the war as whole had already entered its second decade. The Portuguese ruling regime of Estado Novo faced criticism from the international community and was becoming increasingly isolated. It had a profound impact on Portugal—thousands of young men avoided conscription by emigrating illegally,