The President of the Republic, during a dinner with foreign correspondents in Portugal, on Tuesday night, stated that “we have [Portugal] to pay the costs” of transatlantic slavery and also of colonialism. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s statements are cited today by Reuters.
It is not the first time that Marcelo considers that Portugal, as a colonizing country for centuries, particularly in Africa — where it is responsible for the trafficking of almost 6 million men, women and children —, should apologize for slavery and other colonial crimes.
He did so in 2023, precisely one year ago, in the Assembly of the Republic, during the welcoming session for Brazilian President Lula da Silva. Now, on the eve of celebrating April 25th again, we return to the subject.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa left questions and a certainty: “”Are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there assets that were looted and were not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this”, he concluded, without specifying how such repair would be made.
Recalls Reuters that the idea of paying reparations for transatlantic slavery has gained importance around the world, including efforts to establish a special court on the issue.
The President of the Republic considers that Portugal “assumes full responsibility” for its mistakes, mistakes that had “costs”, he states, referring to the colonial massacres, not only those of war, but others perpetrated over more than four centuries.
Portugal trafficked slaves from Africa to Brazil and the Caribbean more than any European nation, but Portugal’s colonial past, and this is a repeated criticism, is still sometimes referred to as glorious, particularly in teaching.
“Apologizing is the easy part”, concluded Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
