The Frente de Libertação do Arquipélago da Madeira (), or FLAMA (which could be read as an archaic Portuguese word for "flame", flama), was a right-wing terrorist paramilitary organisation from Madeira, whose main goal was to achieve Madeira's independence from mainland Portugal. History FLAMA carried out around 200 bomb attacks between 1974 and 1976, during the revolutionary period that followed the Portuguese Carnation Revolution (April 25, 1974). The Carnation Revolution effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship (the Estado Novo) to a democracy (the Third Republic), but only after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, Portuguese for Ongoing Revolutionary Process), characterized by social turmoil and power dispute between left and right wing political forces. During this period the new government withdrew from Angola and Mozambique, the last Portuguese colonies on mainland Africa. Some in Madeira thought that their area should be the next to separate. FLAMA's demands were more a right-wing political reaction by some of the regional elites to the left-wing nature of the Revolution and its main actors, than a truly ethnic or nationalist separatist goal. The group is thought to have been made up of young, anti-communist students. A similar group in the Azores Archipelago, called Frente de Libertação dos Açores, established contact in October 1975. After the normalization of the Portuguese political system, early in 1976, and the constitutional grant of autonomy to the Portuguese North Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, the organization slowed down. However, the end of the organization is thought to have taken place in 1978, which was confirmed by one of its most prominent members Daniel Drumont, "The movement ended in 1978, (...) when Portugal was walking towards a communist dictatorship, but now it's extinct". Known members João Batista de Sá João Costa Miranda José Carvalho Daniel Drumond João Costa Miranda and Daniel Drumond are still vocal about FLAMA's recent controversies, trying to dissociated themselves from recent events, but after the end of the organisation in 1978, their names and roles were not known and so no legal prosecution was pursued. Afterwards, the members have recused themselves from the bombings, stating that "there were people who made use of FLAMA's brand". José Carvalho, an outspoken ex-director of FLAMA, recently passed away. Flag The FLAMA flag is composed of a blue-yellow-blue vertical triband, and in the yellow sections there are five small shields.