The PAIGC president deplored Portugal’s “accomplice silence” in the face of violations of the rights of the people of Guinea-Bissau by a “totalitarian” regime led by the head of state, which “invests in repressive mechanisms”.
In an interview with the Lusa agency in Lisbon, Domingos Simões Pereira said that “the international community is currently lacking in leadership”, but he especially deplored Portugal’s position.
“Because of the relevance Portugal has to the European Union, to the United Nations and other organizations, its silence is in fact complicit, because it is not limited to silence, there have already been demonstrations of support, there have already been demonstrations of rapprochement. been 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 believed that this silence “is of great concern” to the Guinean community in Portugal, which “follows and sees the Portuguese people as a brotherly people” and has “difficulties in understanding certain signs” rather than offering support. to “try to help overcome these situations”.
The PAIGC leader believes that the Guinean head of state wants totalitarian power and is investing in resources to oppress the people instead of meeting their basic needs.
“At the moment there is a strong investment from the government, that is, from the Guinean government, not in schools, not in hospitals, not in the interest of the Guinean people, but in the mechanisms of repression, in acquiring resources to organize demonstrations. to intimidate the people,” he said.
When asked to give examples of this repression, Simões Pereira said that people are beaten for whatever reason. “This ended up in the daily life of the Guinean citizen. The Guinean citizen is beaten nowadays because, for example, he prayed on a day when he was not allowed to pray”.
The PAIGC leader himself has been prevented from leaving the country several times, as the court orders in this sense stem from political orders from the Guinean regime.
Domingos Simões Pereira also referred to the contradiction of the government’s decisions, such as sending home about 1,000 doctors “because the recruitment process was considered less transparent” and on the other, “it is recruiting more than 10,000 security agents. agents, almost like a parallel army”.
In this sense, he believed that “Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s perception of power is totalitarianism”.
“For him democracy is: he gives orders and the others carry out. And when what is carried out does not seem to coincide with his interests and his orders, he thinks he has the right to call in the security forces and the armed forces. to correct what he thinks is wrong,” he said, referring to the president.
Asked what weapons he plans to use to fight this regime, he said it is necessary to “continue to warn the Guinean people” that their rights are “questioned”.
“It is imperative at this time that the people mobilize, that the people understand the importance of guaranteeing their fundamental rights and freedoms and together we can really put an end to this attempt to uphold society and the rights of the Guinean people. to suffocate,” defended.
Source: DN
