Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recognized that Portugal is responsible for the crimes committed during the period of transatlantic slavery and the colonial era and that, therefore, it must pay reparations.
During an event that brought together several foreign correspondents in Lisbon, on Tuesday, the President of the Republic stated, quoted by the Reuters agency, that the country “takes full responsibility” for the mistakes made in the past, which, according to him, “had costs” that must now be paid by Portugal.
“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”, said the head of state.
And there are already reactions from Brazil to the words of the President of the Republic. The Brazilian Minister of Racial Equality says that there is already “a team in contact with the Portuguese Government to talk” about how Portugal can pay the costs of colonization.
In https://twitter.com/GloboNews/status/1783210095620317319 considers that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s statement represents a “leap in the debate and importance of the subject”.
But he also argues that “the declaration needs to be followed by concrete actions as the president himself seems to be there committing to do.”
