Government is unaware of attacks on Portuguese in Luanda

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) admitted this Monday night to the JN that it was unaware of any case of aggression against Portuguese in Luanda.

The JN received the information that a 50-year-old woman, born in Santarém, was beaten on Saturday in a shopping center in Luanda, on the day that the first two cases of Covid-19 were known in the country, by Angolan citizens who returned from Portugal.

The MNE said that “the Consulate General of Portugal in Luanda contacted the Angolan police authorities who did not report cases of aggression to Portuguese people. Nor did requests for consular support from national citizens related to the aggressions reach the Consulate General.” Even so, continues the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the Consulate will continue to carefully monitor the situation of the Portuguese community in Angola”.

The case was reported to JN by a colleague of the victim, a teacher at the Portuguese School of Luanda where they both work, and who prefers to remain anonymous. The teacher confesses that she is afraid to leave home because she is constantly insulted on the street. “Go away, jump, you brought the disease, go to your house”, they say in the street.

The desire is to leave the country, where he has been since January, and had a flight scheduled for the 28th, but it was canceled. He has already requested urgent repatriation from the Portuguese embassy and has not yet received a response. He complains about the high cost of return flights, “1800 on a TAP flight and 2300 on a Euroatlantick flight”.

To the JN, the MNE refers that “in relation to repatriation flights, TAP is making a flight to Angola feasible and two TAAG flights and one Air France flight have already taken place, thus ensuring that people continue to have the opportunity to leave from the country”. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to monitor the situation and support with all information the Portuguese who intend to return”, he concludes.

On Saturday, a list of names, phone numbers and addresses of citizens from Portugal arriving in Luanda was released on social media in Angola and there are Portuguese people afraid to go out on the street because they are seen as guilty of introducing the disease into the country. The document, which JN had access to, contains information on passengers whose flights land this Monday and Tuesday in Luanda, coming from Lisbon.

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