Portugal does not intend to pay reparations for its colonial past but does not exclude apologising for some historical acts, the foreign minister said Wednesday.
“There will be no specific process or programme of actions aimed at compensating other states for the Portuguese colonial past,” Paulo Rangel told parliament during a debate on historical reparations.
“But when it is right to apologise, we will do so, like the Wiriyamu massacre,” he said. The statement referred to a village in Mozambique, where some 400 civilians were killed in 1972 during a war of independence.
Former Prime Minister Antonio Costa in 2022 called the killings an “inexcusable act” after the state accepted responsibility.
The question of reparations was raised in April by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, several days before the 50th anniversary of a coup by army leaders that reinstalled democracy and ended 13 years of colonial wars. The change opened the way to the independence of countries such as Angola and Mozambique.
“We are responsibles for what we did there. We must pay the costs,” the president said.
His statements provoked varied reactions, with the far-right Chega party entering a motion in parliament accusing Rebelo de Sousa of treason. It was voted down Wednesday.
“Portugal is not afraid of its history so it will always fight for historical truth”, Rangel said, announcing his intention to establish university research programmes on languages from former colonies such as Tetum, a language of East Timor, or Cape Verdean Creole.
“These languages are a cultural treasure for our common history, they had an enormous influence on the Portuguese language and there has not been enough research about them,” he said.
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