André Ventura spoke to journalists at the conclusion of the June 10th commemorative ceremony in Lagos, Faro district, commenting on speeches delivered by the president of the celebrations, writer Lídia Jorge, and the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Although the issue of Portugal’s reparations to its former colonies was not addressed in either speech, the president of Chega raised the topic after journalists confronted him with the idea of a multicultural Portuguese populace inherent in the speeches of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Lídia Jorge.
André Ventura began by acknowledging the support he was hearing from the audience, praised the President of the Republic for addressing the issue of former Portuguese combatants, but lamented the lack of discussion on “excessive immigration.”
Subsequently, without referring to Lídia Jorge, he warned about the possibility of political power taking a “dangerous path of saying that the Portuguese are to blame for the slavery that existed in the world.”
“This week I saw Mozambique requesting the return of works of art or any Portuguese wealth. With no offense to anyone, I represent my country, which is Portugal. And Portugal will not return anything,” he stated.
“If Portugal were to return anything to a former province,” according to André Ventura, then they “would have to return the millions that the Portuguese invested in roads, hospitals, schools, and culture.”
“Understand this, we will not return anything to anyone. And any government that tries to make Portugal revisit its history, blaming itself, or returning anything to former colonies, from our side will fall in Parliament the next day, because we have to take pride in our history,” he reinforced.
The president of Chega acknowledged that Portugal “played its role in the world, played its role in the creation of empires, played its role in slavery, just as other nations of the world did.”
“It is another thing to whip ourselves, beat ourselves with a whip on the back, and say we are responsible, we will compensate you, we will assume the blame. No, Portugal does not assume the blame for anything other than having a great history,” he responded.
The President of the Republic described today the Portuguese as a mix of peoples coming from all parts over centuries and argued that no one can claim to be purer or more Portuguese.
Lusa | 13:18 – 10/06/2025
After the ceremony ended, as all institutional representatives had already left the Avenida dos Descobrimentos in Lagos, the president of Chega greeted people for about 20 minutes and commented that “people continue to support Chega.”
“As for the President of the Republic, it seems to me that he honestly wanted to give central importance to the former combatants, but I regret that there was no mention of the excessive immigration we are experiencing.”
“So much has been said about multiculturalism, about the Portuguese centrality, and the politicians still lack the courage to say that there is a problem with immigration in Portugal, and that we have to fight against it,” he added.
