The Portuguese government has said it refuses to launch any process to pay reparations for atrocities committed during transatlantic slavery and the colonial era, contrary to previous comments by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, six million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese ships and sold into slavery, mostly in Brazil.
Rebelo de Sousa said Portugal could use several methods to pay reparations, such as canceling the debts of former colonies and providing financing.
In a statement sent to the Portuguese news agency Lusa, the government says it wants to “deepen mutual relations, respect for historical truth and increasingly intense and close cooperation based on the reconciliation of fraternal nations.”
However, it added that it has “no process or program of specifications” for paying reparations, noting that this position was followed by previous governments.
This drew strong criticism from right-wing parties, including the CDS-Tautas party, the junior partner in the Democratic Alliance government coalition.
The Portuguese colonial era lasted more than five centuries, with Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor and some Asian territories under Portuguese rule.
The decolonization of African countries and the end of empire in Africa took place only a few months after Portugal’s “Carnation Revolution” on April 25, 1974, overthrew Europe’s longest fascist dictatorship and ushered in democracy.
