The PAIGC president lamented Portugal’s “complicit silence” in the face of the violations of the rights of the people of Guinea-Bissau by a “totalitarian” regime, led by the head of state, which “invests in mechanisms of repression”.
In an interview with the Lusa agency in Lisbon, Domingos Simões Pereira said that currently “the international community lacks leadership”, but above all he regretted Portugal’s position.
“Because of the relevance that Portugal has with the European Union, with the United Nations and other organizations, in fact, its silence is complicit, because it is not limited to being a silence, there have already been demonstrations of support, there have already been demonstrations of rapprochement without being accompanied by an attempt to understand reality”, said the leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC, in opposition).
Domingos Simões Pereira considered that this silence “greatly worries” the Guinean community in Portugal, which “follows and sees the Portuguese people as a brother people” and “has difficulty understanding certain signs” instead of providing support to “try to help overcome these situations.
The PAIGC leader believes that the Guinean head of state wants totalitarian power and invests in means of repressing the people instead of ensuring their basic needs.
“Right now there is a strong investment from the administration, therefore from the Guinean government, not in schools, not in hospitals, not in what is of interest to the Guinean people, but in the mechanisms of repression, in the acquisition media. to control demonstrations, to intimidate people,” he said.
Simões Pereira, when asked to give examples of this repression, mentioned that people are beaten for whatever reason. “This entered the daily life of the Guinean citizen, the Guinean citizen today is beaten because, for example, he prayed on a day that he should not pray.”
The PAIGC leader himself has already been prevented on several occasions from leaving the country, considering that the judicial orders in this regard derive from political orders of the Guinean regime.
Domingos Simões Pereira also referred to the contradiction of the Government’s decisions, such as, on the one hand, sending home some 1,000 doctors “because the hiring process was considered less transparent” and, on the other hand, “hiring more than 10,000 security doctors”. agents, almost like a parallel army”.
In this sense, he considered that “Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s perception of power is one of totalitarianism.”
“For him, democracy is: he commands and the others execute. And when what he is doing to himself does not seem to coincide with his interests and his orders, he believes he has the right to call in the security and defense forces. to correct what he thinks is wrong,” he said, referring to the President.
Asked about what weapons he intends to use to combat this regime, he said that it is necessary to continue “warning the Guinean people” that their rights “are being questioned.”
“It is imperative at this time that people mobilize, that people understand the importance of guaranteeing their fundamental rights and freedoms and together we can really put an end to this attempt to suffocate society and the rights of the Guinean people,” he defended.
Source: TSF
