In a video published by the Brazilian press, Brazilian Minister Flávio Dino referred during a ceremony to launch a scholarship program to a video that appeared on social media on Monday “of a Portuguese woman cursing a Brazilian woman at Lisbon airport.”
In the video, which was recorded at an airport in Portugal, it is possible to hear the Portuguese woman say: “Go to your home country, they are invading Portugal,” among other xenophobic statements.
In response, Minister Flávio Dino said: “If that’s the case, aren’t we entitled to reciprocity? Because they invaded Brazil in 1500.”
“And I even agree that they repatriate all the immigrants who are there and return the gold of Ouro Preto with them, and then everything will be fine, we will be equal,” he added.
Brazilian deputy Túlio Gadelha, rapporteur for the Committee on International Migrations and Refugees of the Chamber of Deputies, also said today that he has asked the Brazilian Foreign Ministry to question the Portuguese embassy on the matter.
Speaking to the Metrópoles portal, Túlio Gadelha stated that this case is “a crime, disrespectful to the nation, the culture and Brazilians”.
‘It’s not the first time this has happened, but it happens every time [estas situações] they are disgusting. These recurring cases of xenophobia must stop. We will closely monitor the investigation into this unfortunate incident,” he said.
According to data from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), approximately 400,000 Brazilian citizens live in Portugal and represent approximately 40% of the foreign population, with a higher incidence in the municipalities of Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Porto and Braga.
At the end of 2022, there were 239,744 Brazilians living in the country, representing an increase of approximately 36% in this community this year alone. Since January, almost 153 thousand have received a residence permit.
Speaking to Lusa in October, on the National Day for Combating Violence against Women, Brazil’s Minister of Women’s Affairs stated that the Brazilian government is active, attentive and “supporting the Brazilian community in Portugal”, which is the victim of intolerance and violence, especially against women.
“We know that when a supremacist uprising takes place anywhere in the world, women are among the most vulnerable social groups and it is precisely against them that the first blows of intolerance and violence are struck,” he added.
In the specific case of Portugal, the minister explained, the Brazilian government has “acted in support of the Brazilian community in Portugal,” the largest foreign community in the country and the one that has grown the most in recent years.
This work has been done through international cooperation agreements, including the joint work of Brazilian and Portuguese universities “through the Observatory for the Combating of Racism and Xenophobia in Portugal”.
During the official visit of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Minister of Racial Equality in Brazil, Anielle Franco, and the First Lady, Janja da Silva, met “with Brazilian women in Portugal and heard reports of the increase of cases of xenophobia,” Cida Gonçalves recalls.
These statements to Lusa followed a report from the Brazilian portal UOL in early October, which denounced the increase in cases of xenophobia against Brazilians in Portugal, with several testimonies from residents of the country.
Source: DN
