Global Courant 2023-04-26 08:26:44
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is the first Portuguese leader to apologize for his country’s key role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said his country must take responsibility and apologize for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, marking the first time a Portuguese leader has proposed issuing a national apology.
From the 15th to the 19th century, 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean by Portuguese ships and sold into slavery, mainly to work on plantations in Brazil.
Brazil’s Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida said Rebelo de Sousa had taken an “extremely important” step.
“We continue to suffer the effects of a legacy of slavery in Brazil,” Almeida said in a statement.
“Acknowledging the exploitation of millions of enslaved people for more than 300 years is a step towards a less unequal society.”