At the head of the Cape Verdean government since April 2016, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, 60, made his country one of the great defenders of the mobility agreement between citizens of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries), approved in block summit in July 2021.
“The agreement embodies the concept of community, so that it is not just something for political meetings,” says Silva, who is affiliated with the center-right MpD (Movement for Democracy) party.
In this context, Portugal has just implemented a mega-package that facilitates the granting of work and study visas to citizens of the bloc. In Brazil, Congress approved the agreement in February, but new mobility rules have not yet been announced.
Independent since 1975, Cape Verde collects good results in rankings that assess democratic quality, often appearing ahead of Brazil. The prime minister highlighted in his speech at the Estoril Conferences, an event in which he spoke to Sheet, the constant need for surveillance of the population. “Democracy is not final, we know that.”
Cape Verde appears well positioned in democratic evaluation rankings, with clean elections and alternation of power. A particularly expressive result in Africa. What drives the country to this? An option for democracy. We have adopted a constitutional system that, in fact, controls Powers. We also have strong social control. There are more than 500,000 Cape Verdeans residing and more than 1 million outside the country — a diaspora that also scrutinizes democracy a lot.
We managed to develop important factors, which have to do with good governance and low levels of corruption. This option also derives from a strong commitment by the political parties themselves; the two great parties were in the process of democratization.
Cape Verde was a great supporter of the CPLP mobility agreement. What benefits can it bring? This agreement embodies the concept of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, so that it is not just a community of political meetings or meetings. We are moving towards what was the initial desire of the CPLP. Culture, technology, sport and science circulate through people, we need to have this space for free movement.
Cape Verde has a very large diaspora, with more Cape Verdeans abroad than at home. Could the deal not promote a brain drain? I do not believe. With the liberalization of the economy there was also a rumor that capital would disappear, that people would make transfers abroad. This did not happened. Sometimes the difficulty creates much more of an urge to leave. If people have freedom of movement, they know they can come and go.
Except for brief stops, Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has not officially visited any CPLP country. He also did not attend the last meeting of heads of state. Could this indicate that Brazil is not committed to the bloc? No, Brazil is compromised. It is a signatory of the mobility agreement, was represented at the summits [em 2021, o vice-presidente Hamilton Mourão foi ao encontro]. It is one thing, circumstantially, to have one president or another. The important thing is for the State to be engaged.
How do you evaluate the current relationship between Brazil and Cape Verde? They are good, we have old connections, several cooperation actions. We have an interesting trade, and the investment side is where we can develop even more. We still have few tourists from Brazil in Cape Verde, but there was a period, before the pandemic, when there was some demand due to TACV flights, for the stop-over in Sal [uma das dez ilhas do paÃs] on the way to Europe.
Tourism represents about 25% of Cape Verde’s GDP, which has suffered greatly from the restrictions caused by the pandemic. The Ukrainian War brought new difficulties. How would you describe the economic situation? current? The pandemic had a very strong impact, we had a contraction of 14.8% of GDP in 2020. It affected employment, income and the very increase in poverty. In 2021, we started to recover, we had a growth of 7%, with tourism gaining strength again.
This year, we were faced with this war, inflation. Cape Verde imports 80% of what it consumes in terms of energy and 80% of food products, namely cereals. The war takes place more than 6,500 km away, but it produces serious effects. We are fighting a new battle to be able to mobilize funding from partners and minimize the social and economic impact.
In June, Cape Verde declared a social and economic emergency, initiating some of these measures. Is it possible to measure results? The government has used stabilization and compensation mechanisms to prevent the transmission of inflation to companies and citizens. This has costs and has further impacted public finances and debt itself.
When the economic regulatory agency makes a reduction pronouncement [de preço] of fuels, as there has been, is because the State is compensating a significant part of what could be the increase. In terms of food too. In addition, we work to guarantee some income for families, through jobs and investments mainly in rural areas.
The president of Cape Verde confirmed his presence at the commemoration of the Bicentennial of Brazilian Independence. Jair Bolsonaro also called for acts of supporters and is running for re-election. Do you not fear that there may be political use of Cape Verde’s image? I cannot comment on what might happen. But our president goes to BrasÃlia by invitation, because of an important event in Brazil’s relations with the Portuguese-speaking world. That is our intention and that of others who will be present.
x-ray | José Ulisses Correia e Silva, 60
Graduated in business organization and management at the Technical University of Lisbon, he was a university professor, mayor of Praia (capital of Cape Verde) and Minister of Finance.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
