Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Saturday that Portugal could use several ways to pay reparations for atrocities committed during the colonial era when it was involved in the transatlantic slave trade.
From the 15th to the 19th century, six million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese ships and sold into slavery, primarily to Brazil.
The president said Tuesday that Portugal was responsible for the crimes and suggested reparations were in order. His words drew strong criticism from right-wing parties, including the ruling coalition partner the Democratic Alliance. The head of the far-right Chega party, Andre Ventura, said the president’s behavior was a “betrayal of the country”.
However, according to the president, Lisbon “cannot put the problem under the carpet or in a drawer”. He said the country must take “responsibility for both the bad and the good that has happened in the empire and draw the consequences.”
The head of state said that reparations can have several types, such as debt forgiveness for colonized countries, credit lines, financing or special cooperation programs.
Portuguese colonial empire
The country’s colonial era lasted more than five centuries, and Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor and some territories in Asia fell under Portuguese rule.
The decolonization of African countries and the end of the African empire did not happen until a few months after the “Carnation Revolution” on April 25, 1974, which overthrew the longest-lasting fascist dictatorship in Europe and established democracy. Portugal lost its last overseas territory in 1999, when it handed over – like Great Britain Hong Kong – Macao to China.
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