Lula’s speech about slavery referred to the debt with Africa

The Minister of Human Rights, Silvio Almeida, spoke about the statement by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in which he spoke of “gratitude” to Africa “for everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery”. The petista made the statement on a visit to Cape Verde and caused controversy.

But, according to Silvio Almeida, what Lula said was that Brazil owes Africa a debt. The minister’s statements were given to the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.

“What President Lula said was: ‘Brazil owes a debt to Africa and it has to be paid’. And that is why the President has insisted – and I have already spoken to him about this – that the human rights agenda with Africa involves the so-called right to development”, said the minister.

According to the holder of Human Rights, “Lula considers that our relationship with Africa goes far beyond the past, which cannot be forgotten so that its consequences are not repeatedly experienced”.

On Wednesday, Lula’s declaration was as follows: “I want to recover the relationship with the African continent because we Brazilians are formed by the African people. Our culture, our color, our size are the result of miscegenation between Indians, blacks and Europeans. We have a deep gratitude to the African continent for everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery in our country”.

Then, Lula stated that Brazil needs to “pay” Africa for the period of slavery. “We think that the payment method that Brazil can make is the possibility of training so that they have specialization in the various areas that the African continent needs, possibility of industrialization, agriculture”, said the PT.