Marcelo says that the Portuguese are a universal people and that Portugal is “the best country in the world”.

This Wednesday, the President of the Republic called Portugal “the greatest and best country in the world” and called the Portuguese a universal people, a trailblazer who “crossed the oceans” and who knows Africa “from behind”.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke at the Association of the Portuguese Community of Pretoria at the end of the Portugal Day celebrations in South Africa, which began on Monday in Cape Town and also passed through Johannesburg.

The head of state spoke on the stage, where Prime Minister António Costa was also present, and this was the first address he addressed to the Portuguese emigrants and descendants of the Portuguese present in the hall: “We are the biggest and best country in the world. … just because it’s ours, we’re very, very good. At what we are best at, we are even better.”

“We were the first in Europe to cross oceans and touch all continents. The Spaniards came next – they weren’t even Spaniards who didn’t even exist, it was a kingdom within Spain,” he continued.

The President of the Republic noted that Portuguese is “the second most spoken language in the southern hemisphere, the second most spoken digital language, the fifth most spoken language in the world”, while “the Portuguese official language society is the continents bordered by all oceans”.

Referring to African reality, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza reported how he reacts when a head of state “comes to give him history lessons” about what is happening in countries like Mali, the Central African Republic or Ethiopia.

“I say: we have been there for 400 years, well, don’t give me history lessons, because we know inside and out, and backwards,” he said, noting: “Ride the cart.”

The head of state then questioned the opinions that “sometimes even the most powerful American friends in the world” express about Africa: “But how do they think about Africa? What they know about Africa is Liberia, which was a view from an American farm. Plus, they’ve never been to Africa.”

“We were there, we got to know them. And there are Portuguese in every country in the world,” he added.

In this speech, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke only of emigration and not of Portuguese colonialism, praising those who had “the courage to leave, holding one hand in front and the other behind, to live far, far away, to create a new Portugal”. .

“We started very early on leaving the physical territory that was Portugal and went on a journey around the world. That’s how we went. The Portuguese language is universal and there is no such universe where there would be no Portuguese at every point,” he said.

The President of the Republic portrayed the Portuguese emigrants as part of a “very old history”, with a “very defined identity”, who “create Portugal every day”, wherever they are.

“A very strong connection with the roots, but the desire to walk around the world, travel around the world, the ability to adapt to all languages, to all climates, to the most difficult situations, and start, and then stop and start again. “, described.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa thanked the Portuguese living in South Africa and gave special credit to those who “started life” in Angola or Mozambique and “stopped, restarted here in South Africa and with what difficulties”.

“Sometimes it works out better, sometimes worse. But it’s the same all over the world: resistance, clinging to every opportunity, family spirit, ”he believed.

In his opinion, Portuguese people abroad usually work more than many people living in Portugal: “We in Portugal work hard and do a lot, but I tell you that there are many people – not all – in Portugal, in the physical territory, if we worked as hard as our expats work abroad, I tell them that GDP (gross domestic product) has grown even more than the government says it will grow this year, and it is already growing.”