Marcelo highlights the “great academic” who was Amílcar Cabral
José Maria Neves and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announce the signing of a letter of intent and a protocol between the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic of Cape Verde and the Civil House of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic
The President of the Republic highlighted this Friday the “great academic” who was Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973), who on Saturday is distinguished with the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Mindelo, with the presence of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa himself.
“Thus paying tribute to someone who was, on the one hand, a great figure, a great personality, humanly speaking”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his visit to the Cape Verdean island of Saint Vincent.
“He was also a great academic, bringing his characteristics to his political struggle: preparation, training, which was shared with many Portuguese in Portugal and which explains the love he had for Portugal, for the Portuguese language, not confusing Portugal, the people Portuguese, the Portuguese language, with a political regime like a colonial situation. And, on the other hand, making his life an action on the ground, the academic at the service of the people. Therefore, I could not miss it”, he added.
The historic leader of the struggle for the independence of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, Amílcar Cabral, will be distinguished Saturday, by the University of Mindelo, with the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa in a ceremony with the Cape Verdean and Portuguese Presidents. The Saturday ceremony is also part of the 20th anniversary of the University of Mindelo and precedes the 50th anniversary of the death of Amílcar Cabral (2023) and the centenary of his birth (2024).
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa explained that he was invited in the “double capacity”, as President of the Republic and university professor.
“This posthumous invitation for Amílcar Cabral’s Honoris Causa doctorate is very honorable”, he added.
According to the program made available by the Presidency of the Republic of Cape Verde, the ceremony is scheduled for the island of São Vicente, at 10:00 am (11:00 am in Lisbon) on Saturday, and will be presided over by the Cape Verdean head of state, José Maria Neves, and will be attended by the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who more than a year later returned to Cape Verde.
“I missed you so much. There were years when I spent many times here, I asked here for the 10th of June, in 2019, and then, suddenly, the pandemic came. Two years off. Fortunately there is a return and I’m missing you , which is very good”, added the Portuguese head of state.
Founder of the then African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which in Cape Verde gave way to the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), and leader of the independence movements in both countries, Amílcar Cabral was born on 12 September 1924 and was assassinated on January 20, 1973 in Conakry.
According to the Presidency of the Republic of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves will receive the Portuguese counterpart at the People’s Palace, in Mindelo, on Saturday at 19:00 local time (20:00 in Lisbon), ending the visit on Sunday.
Before that, the two heads of state will visit an exhibition on the life and work of Amílcar Cabral at the Mindelo Cultural Center and will unveil, still on Saturday afternoon, a plaque alluding to the aerial crossing of the South Atlantic.
José Maria Neves and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will also sign a letter of intent and a protocol between the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic of Cape Verde and the Civil House of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic.
On Saturday night, the two heads of state will attend at the Mindelo Cultural Center a special presentation by the Theater Group of the Portuguese Cultural Center of Mindelo, with the play “A Peste Branca”, an adaptation of the work “Ensaio sobre a Lucidez”, by José Saramago, with dramaturgy by Caplan Neves and staging by João Branco.