Portugal pays tribute to the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s Independence, celebrated this September 7. Local media are issuing special commemorations this Wednesday, congratulating Brazil and recalling the bilateral meeting that Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had with President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday night (6), at the headquarters of Itamaraty in Brasília.

Portuguese media had some expectations as to whether Rebelo de Sousa could separate his visit from Bolsonaro’s election use of the Independence Day celebrations and consider him to have passed the first test.

Bolsonaro delayed Rebelo de Sousa by more than an hour for a bilateral meeting, but on his way out, the Portuguese president said the meeting “goed very well” and used around 20 minutes of conversations to tell the story. Summary of life from D. Pedro to Bolsonaro. The Portuguese president assured that he was not talking about politics or his election campaign, only about “how Brazil asserted itself during 200 years of Independence and the projection it has today”.

“I frankly said I had to talk about it,” added Rebelo de Sousa, referring to the weight of Brazilians going to 250,000 immigrants in Portugal, in the Portuguese president’s assessment.

Once again, he said it would be “incomprehensible” not to have Portugal in the celebration of 200 years of Independence, given the historical ties of the fraternal peoples and Brazil’s importance in the Portuguese economy and foreign policy. among the population.

61-year-old investment manager Manuel Luis believes the Portuguese president will know how to protect himself from electoral instrumentalization of his image during his visit to Brazil. “I think Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is a very clever politician, even as an institutionalist, who, in his capacity for maneuver, would not allow himself to be fully instrumentalized by Bolsonaro,” he said. Interview with RFI.

“Furthermore, because he is a deeply democrat, I believe he will find channels to deliver a message that is clearly inconsistent with Bolsonarista thinking,” the manager said.

symbolic presence

After the bilateral meeting, Rebelo de Sousa visited the exhibition “A Fiery heart: the life and legacy of Dom Pedro I” in Itamaraty, where the heart of the emperor who declared the country’s independence was immersed in formaldehyde solution. He advocates this symbolic presence of the emperor in bicentennial commemorations.

But according to historian Maria Antónia Lopes of the University of Coimbra, Portugal’s abandonment of Bolsonaro’s loan request was a mistake. “I think Portugal should never have submitted to a government like Bolsonaro’s, because Bolsonaro betrays everything progressive in D. Pedro’s mentality, when he gave both the 1824 Constitution to Brazil and the 1826 Constitution to Portugal. It is based on that of Brazil.” , said the historian.

“D. Pedro’s ideals are not Bolsonaro’s,” the expert said. The historian from the University of Coimbra also criticizes that political use can be made with the country’s founder a month before the elections: “I don’t think it’s true, it’s not true at all,” he said.

This Wednesday, Rebelo de Sousa watches the military parade on the Esplanada dos Ministérios with the presidents of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. The Brazilian government invited all the leaders of the former Portuguese colonies, now part of the Commonwealth of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, but only three made the trip. Angola and Mozambique sent diplomatic representatives to Brazil.

The page has already turned for the Portuguese president, embarrassing that Bolsonaro canceled a planned lunch with him in Brasília in early July, disturbing Rebelo de Sousa’s meeting with former president Lula in São Paulo. Portugal says it puts historical ties with Brazil above contingent governments, where it has a less significant intensity of relationships. The Portuguese said their bags are ready to return to Brazil in January to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Brazilian president, who will be elected in October.

Speech in Congress

The Portuguese President is in Brazil with the President of the Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva (No. 2 in the State of Portugal) and the Mayor of Coimbra, José Manuel Silva, who has a broad agenda with business leaders in São Paulo.

The highlight of Rebelo de Sousa’s stay, when he plans to strengthen his political capital, will be his speech at the plenary session of the National Assembly tomorrow, at the solemn session celebrating the 200th anniversary of Independence, organized by the National Assembly. Congress. It will be an opportunity for Rebelo de Sousa to summarize the long-term perspectives for bilateral relations and to recall the benefits of waves of migration in both directions.

Brazil is considered an important partner for Portugal, both internationally and locally. In recent years, the Brazilian immigration wave has met the basic investment needs for the Portuguese economy and labor shortages in various sectors.

Portugal celebrates Brazilian culture at Bicentennial events

Since the beginning of the month, many cultural events and discussions with artists, historians are held in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and other Portuguese cities. The program continues until the end of the year.

This Wednesday, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Federal University of Minas Gerais will perform a free concert at the Festival Lisboa na Rua in the Jardim da Torre de Belém, which premiered last night in Porto. Conductor Fabio Mechetti will lead the nearly 80 musicians who will present the influences of Brazilian roots and various styles in orchestral music. Works by Alberto Nepomuceno, Francisco Mignone and Carlos Gomes will be performed, among others.

Also in Lisbon, Espaço Cultural Talante, located inside a bookstore, in a former industrial facility converted into a center for artistic creation and festivity with bars and restaurants, is hosting an event with Brazilian artists. It will be an exhibition of photographs, installations, a reflective reading of Gustavo Colombini’s play “Colônia”, to question whether Brazil has truly gained its independence.

From today the University of Coimbra offers a multidisciplinary program that highlights the age-old connection between the institution and Brazil. And in 1822 he opens an exhibition of historical documents from the Independence period. In the late afternoon, a concert is held in honor of Tom Jobim at the Machado de Castro National Museum.

Far away from the violence that could mark September 7 in Brazil, Portugal aims to glorify Brazilian culture on the 200th anniversary of Independence.