“Madeira, Portugal, is present in each of these people” — DNOTICIAS.PT
The regional secretary for Equipment and Infrastructures, Pedro Fino, was present at the opening of the Festas do Santíssimo Sacramento, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the United States, on behalf of the Regional Government (GR), as had already been reported by DIÁRIO. On the occasion he stressed how “great” he felt to be present at this party.
“I greet everyone present, especially my fellow Madeirans, at a party that in the end already has a multiethnic expression and, as a result, multicultural”, said Pedro Fino, recalling that, “108 years ago, four Madeirans from Calheta arrived in this land, after a perilous voyage across the Atlantic.”
“They came looking for a life, but without ever forgetting their land, the land they saw, the island of Madeira”, being born that “currently, this is one of the biggest parties that is best held on the American continent”.
The regional secretary emphasized the “courage and resilience” of the four Madeirans.
We always knew how to be much more than an island, in the sense that we learned geographical constraints. We were also a bridge. Warehouse. Open door to the world. Point of confluence of new horizons, new geographies and new challenges. We were, in short, agents of globalization and protagonists of the former, because we were the first participants in the deed of, as the poet says, giving new worlds to the world”
Pedro Fino, Regional Secretary for Equipment and Infrastructure.
On the occasion, he took the opportunity to recall that, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, about 250 thousand people live, but that Madeirans will increase throughout the world “amount to one million people”: “Madeira, Portugal, is present in one of these people” , he stressed.
He also left a word of thanks to the people who welcome the four opportunities made with the USA are a great country, a multicultural nation of ethnic groups, traditions and, therefore, this celebration and a quantity with values: between the Madeiran community and all the people who live, also demonstrates, in a very underlined way, the identity and the inclusive and plural dimension of this great nation”, he defended.
He also made a point of praising “the deep recognition of the Regional Government for the work developed over the years by the Clube do Santíssimo Sacramento and associates”-
It is due to the commitment that this tradition is kept alive”, he said, praising the fact that this festival is already “a milestone for New Bedford”.
Pedro Fino, Regional Secretary for Equipment and Infrastructure.
After the ceremony, which was attended by the mayor of New Bedford, Jon Mitchell, the consul of Portugal in New Bedford, Rogério Lopes, and the president of Clube Madeirense do Santíssimo Sacramento, Larry Jaques, Pedro Fino visited the Madeira Heritage Museum , a space that houses a collection of photographs, documents and other artifacts that tell the story of Madeiran emigration in the country.