Salazar was exceptionally traditional and reactionary, even compared to his neighbor and ally Francisco Franco. In Portugal the monarchy was overthrown in October 1910, just over 20 years before he came to power - since he was such a traditionalist I am very confused as to why he didn't restore the monarchy in Portugal. One of the biggest reasons for the nationalist uprising in Spain to begin with was the restoration of the monarchy, we're monarchist feelings just not as strong and Portugal is they were in Spain?
Also, the second question. How did Salazar and Franco interact with the right wing regimes in the former Iberian colonies in South and Central America? I'm especially interested in Salazar's interactions with the Vargas government in Brazil 1930-1945/1951-1954 as well as Franco's relationship with Alfredo Stroessner (Paraguay), Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic) and Juan Peron in Argentina during his first term (1946-55).
Thank you!
So in Salazar's case, traditional and reactionary are contradictory. He was indeed profoundly conservative, but was for the most part far from advocating anything other than "stability and good order" (with him in charge, naturally) above anything else. Since Salazar's "right of rule" came from the formal support of the President of Portugal Óscar Carmona (p.1928-1951), the re-estabilishment of the monarchy was contrary to his interest. Monarchists were (are) by default, against the separation of Church and state, well Salazar, being a devout believer himself, promptly reverted the measures of the "First Portuguese Republic" (1910-1926) and reinstated Catholicism as the official religion of state in 1933 (along with an entirely new constitution), thus solving that issue and, as he saw it, gaining allies to his statesmanship. Just as the reality of Spain as a multi-national state that faced a civil war with several competing ideologies was worlds apart from Portugal, a mostly rural country, Salazar as a dictator of civilian background was far from reactionary when compared to General Franco, both of whom, it seems, despised eachother on a personal level but kept a relationship of convenience.
Source is Filipe Ribeiro de Menezes' Salazar (2010), which is sort of the Portuguese equivalent to Ian Kershaw's Hitler
Salazar intended to diplomatically approach Portugal to Brazil, but did it only later, to garner support when the Portuguese Colonial War broke out, but since I'm not too well versed on the matter I'll refrain from further comment.