The Portuguese community in Venezuela already has around 182 thousand national citizens registered in the consular network.
The Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, traveled to Venezuela from September 1 to 7, to carry out a visit that took in five locations and which once again allowed close contact with the resident Portuguese and Portuguese-descendant communities.
Paulo Cafôfo’s visit is part of a series of initiatives with the diaspora for this mandate, and aims to strengthen ties, bringing Portuguese people living abroad closer to our country and, at the same time, contributing to a current vision of the diaspora.
During this visit, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Social Security, Gabriel Bastos, and the visit included an assessment of the social support provided to the Portuguese community in Venezuela, as well as meetings with associative organizations, businesspeople and other members of the Portuguese community.
On the first day of the visit, Paulo Cafôfo, the first meeting of the Social Council for Venezuela took place, with the installation of the members of this new body, which will have the mission of identifying, evaluating and proposing social support measures, as well as assisting in their implementation.
The visit also aimed to deliver digital equipment and respective content to students teaching Portuguese at the Portuguese Center of Caracas, where 670 pieces of equipment were delivered. According to the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, “interest in learning Portuguese has increased significantly in recent years; in the 2022-2023 school year, 9,526 Portuguese students are enrolled in secondary education in Venezuela.”
Paulo Cafôfo also visited the facilities of the Venezuelan-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of the State of Carabobo, CAVENPORT, which represents Portuguese-Venezuelan businesspeople in this state. At these facilities, the Secretary of State was able to observe “the entrepreneurial spirit of the businesspeople, as well as their sense of unity and contagious energy in contributing to the recovery of the country, which has been hit by a serious economic crisis”. For all this, Paulo Cafôfo awarded the institution with the Plaque of Honour of the Portuguese Communities.
In the context of the awards ceremony, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities presented the gold medal of merit for Portuguese communities to the Portuguese-descendant priest José António da Conceição, considering that “it is a recognition of his social work”, and that he intends with it “to recognize the work of the entire community that came together for a common purpose in building a space where the community meets, particularly on occasions when religious ceremonies are celebrated and pilgrimages are held”.
In recent days, Paulo Cafôfo has been concerned about vulnerable emigrants and has also visited the Geriatric Home in Maracay and the Padre Joaquim Ferreira Home in the Caracas region. Accompanied by Gabriel Bastos and the President of the Social Security Institute, Ana Vasques, he revealed that there is “great concern on the part of the Government to ensure efficient and dignified social protection for the most needy Portuguese people”, and that, due to the serious economic crisis, the country “has several cases of decapitalized elderly people, without the capacity to earn active income”, and therefore, Paulo Cafôfo considers it important to “evaluate what more can be done to ensure better coverage of these institutions for the community”.
Also highlighted during this visit was the presentation of the cooperation protocol of the Lectorate of Portuguese Language at the Central University of Venezuela, which took place on the last day of the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities’ stay in Venezuela.
Sources: Diplomatic Portal, Paulo Cafôfo’s Instagram
