In Cape Verde, Lula thanks “for everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery”

Lula government

The visit to the country was not foreseen in the representative’s agenda

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) thanked, during a speech in Cape Verde, a country located on the northwest coast of Africa, for what “was produced” during slavery in Brazil. The visit to the country was not foreseen in the president’s agenda, but, as the presidential aircraft needed to be refueled, Lula took the opportunity to meet President José Maria Neves after having participated in the summit in Brussels, Belgium.

“We are deeply grateful to the African continent for everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery in our country. We think that the form of payment that a country like Brazil can make is [inaudível] in technology, the possibility of training people so that they have specialization in the areas that the African continent needs, to help in the possibility of industrialization and agriculture”

said Lula.

He even took advantage of the speech to make a veiled criticism of the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

“We want, now, with my return, to recover the good and productive relationship that Brazil had with the countries of the African continent”

said the PT.

“Brazil is very big, it has a lot of possibilities to help the African continent in many areas. If we didn’t have a denialist government, Brazil could have produced a vaccine against Covid-19 and could have helped the African continent. We had a mismanagement, which did not comply with what was essential to take care of human beings. Brazil has returned to democracy”

added Lula.

Slavery was a regime that killed, raped and exploited thousands of black Africans and indigenous people for the construction of colony Brazil. Africans were brought from their countries, in “slave ships”, with the sole purpose of serving as labor, without any remuneration or dignity. The regime only ended in 1888, with the signing of the Lei Áurea.

unplanned stop

After leaving Belgium, where he participated in CELAC, President Lula made an official visit to the city of Praia, capital of Cape Verde, this Wednesday (19). The president had a meeting with the president of the African country, José Maria Neves, before returning to Brasília at the end of the day.

In March, the PT party received the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, at the Itamaraty Palace. The first visit of the Brazilian representative to an African country, however, takes place during a technical stop after the PT’s trip to Brussels. According to the official schedule, Lula stayed less than two hours in Praia.

This is the president’s 15th official trip since he took over as head of the Planalto Palace in January of this year. Since then, Lula has had at least 80 agendas with heads of state and government, in bilateral meetings or by telephone, according to a survey by Metrópoles.

*With information from Metrópoles

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