The São Tomé government has increased the old-age pension awarded to survivors of the “Batepa massacre” that took place on February 3, 1953, to 2,500 escudos (about 100 euros), Prime Minister Patrice Groza announced this Friday.
“If we consider that 70 years have passed, and we have been independent for 47 years, we could have done more and better,” Patrice Trovoada admitted at the end of another commemorative event on February 3, in which he recalls the events of 1953, when hundreds of residents of San The Tomea were killed and tortured by the Portuguese colonial regime.
Only nine survivors of the “Batepe Massacre” are currently alive. According to a source from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the amount of pensions awarded to survivors ranged from 600 to 1,000 escudos (about 24 to 41 euros) per month, and some received no amount.
“Let’s see if we can constantly raise the level of pensions, but they have a different problem with housing, sometimes with food. […] They deserve much more, but above all our love,” the prime minister said.
Despite acknowledging that the measures taken by the government are “not enough”, Patrice Trovoada added that each survivor has also been given a “health card that will allow free access to all services” of health care, and given that these services “sometimes have failure,” the government is considering “spreading medical evacuation out of the country.”
On the other hand, the prime minister emphasized that the government wants to invest in “transcription of memory”, in the collection of more audiovisual and photographic evidence, in order to “help revive the memory” of the events of 1953.
“The memory of the people is important, but I also think that 70 years later, forgiveness is important, reconciliation is important, primarily because, as you have seen, there are few physical witnesses left,” added Patrice Trovoada.
On the other hand, the chief executive of Sao Tome stressed that “the future is promising, it is the future of reconciliation, peace, forgiveness, mutual understanding”, including with Portugal, which had Sao Tome and Principe as a colony during Batepa’s time. Massacre.
“To celebrate the fact that we have reconciled with Portugal. We are friends, we are brothers, we are in solidarity and we are in a different era,” he stressed.
The main event on 3 February was held in Fernão Dias, in the district of Lobata (north of Sao Tome), chaired by the head of state of Sao Tome, Carlos Vila Nova.
“The blood they shed brought us freedom. Today we live in a democracy, and we cannot say that although it was not a deliberate act of struggle for independence, it was a reference to an uprising, a struggle, a demonstration against the colonialists,” said Carlos Vila. New star.
The President of Sao Tome believes that it is necessary to “pay tribute to what happened”. [em 1953] and value.”
“I think that February 3 is a noble ceremony, these are heroes, martyrs who gave their lives with great difficulty, with great sacrifice, in very strange and very cruel circumstances, and now we must make the ways of peace, live in democracy, so that we can also somehow pay tribute to those residents of San Tomean who, in one way or another, gave their lives for us, ”he defended.
The central act of celebration on February 3 was preceded by a march from Independence Square in the center of the capital to Fernand Dias in the Lobata district, with the participation of thousands of young people and some members of the government. , namely Minister of Youth and Sports Euridis Medeiros and Minister of Women’s Rights Maria Delgado.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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