Portugal talking about reparations to Brazil is the result of ‘centuries of demands’, says Minister of Racial Equality | Policy

Portugal admitting reparations to Brazil is a ‘leap in the debate’, says minister of racial equality

“This is an important fight for Brazil and also globally,” said the minister. “This declaration needs to be followed by concrete actions as the president himself seems to be committing to do.”

On Tuesday night (23), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of Portugal, stated that his country “assumes full responsibility for the damage caused” to Brazil, such as massacres of indigenous people, the slavery of millions of Africans and looted goods.

“We have to pay the costs (for slavery). Are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there goods that were looted and were not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this”, he declared.

It was the first time that a president of Portugal — who is the country’s head of state — acknowledged guilt. Last year, Rebelo de Sousa said Portugal should apologize for transatlantic slavery and colonialism, but stopped short of offering a full apology.

Portugal was the country that trafficked the most Africans in the colonial era. There were almost 6 million of them, almost half of the total number of people enslaved at the time by European countries.

After the declaration, the Ministry of Racial Equality contacted the Portuguese government to make itself available to help develop reparation actions, according to Anielle.

Anielle also stated that Rebelo de Sousa’s statement came a week after black women’s movements publicly demanded reparations from Portugal from Brazil, during the 3rd United Nations Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, which took place in Switzerland.

At the forum, organizations such as the Marielle Franco Institute, Odara – Instituto da Mulher Negra and Redes da Maré asked for a public commitment of Portugal with the adoption of reparatory measures.

The collectives proposed strategies combating xenophobia and racism against the black population of Portugal, and the inclusion in the official curriculum of the Portuguese education network the impact of colonialism in the Brazilian context, among other things.

To this day, however, the country’s authorities talk little about crime, and schools also barely address Portugal’s role in transatlantic slavery.

President of Portugal says country must pay price for slavery and colonial crimes