George Papadopoulos, feared former Greek leader, dies

The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece -- Former Col. George Papadopoulos, 80, who rose from obscurity to become the feared ringleader of Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship, died Sunday.

Hospital officials said Papadopoulos died of cancer. He had been under medical care for three years for a degenerative muscle disorder. Imprisoned and chronically ill, Papadopoulos had been out of the public eye for years. But his name still stirred intense emotions among Greeks, especially the thousands of leftists and intellectuals who fled into exile during the junta or endured imprisonment and persecution at home. A schoolteacher's son, Papadopoulos was born in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. He served in World War II then fought with nationalist forces that defeated Communist insurgents in Greece's 1946-49 civil war. A short, stocky man with a bristly mustache and rapid-fire oratory, Papadopoulos gained a reputation as a strident anti- Communist with lofty ambitions. Early in his career he joined a secret organization of right-wing junior officers seeking to expand the military's political base. Papadopoulos and his clique of supporters -- commonly called "the colonels" -- seized power in the early hours of April 21, 1967 in a bloodless coup. Papadopoulos emerged as the junta's unchallenged strongman after crushing an attempted counter rebellion led by King Constantine in December 1967. The royal family then fled the country, never to return. The junta quickly imposed an ultra-conservative regime that permitted little political dissent or free expression at a time when much of Western Europe was being transformed by student-led protests and underground movements. The military rulers jailed and tortured opponents and tried to place restrictions on perceived evils such as long hair for men and miniskirts for women. During a 1967 Rolling Stones concert in Athens, lead singer Mick Jagger threw red flowers and was hauled off the stage by authorities who interpreted the color as support for communism. The military takeover initially was greeted with relief by ordinary Greeks tired of political upheavals. Villagers benefited from massive public spending and foreign trade increased. Some businessmen, including shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, prospered during the military rule. But the junta was condemned in the West as paranoid and authoritarian. The United States temporarily banned arms sales to Greece. But a 1971 visit by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was of Greek descent, was viewed as tacit approval of the dictatorship and many junta opponents still curse the United States for apparently encouraging the regime as part of Washington's anti-Communist front line during the Cold War. Last year, the U.S. ambassador, Nicholas Burns, apologized for past American policies and conceded Washington should have "stood more firmly" on the side of democracy.

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