Brazilian president says that “there is no room for racism and xenophobia” between the two countries
The Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, said on Wednesday he spoke to Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro about the need to “deconstruct the lying narrative” that relates Brazilians in Portugal with increased crime.
“I told Prime Minister Montenegro that we need to deconstruct the lying narrative that associates Brazilian migration with the increase in crime in Portugal,” said the Brazilian head of state, at the Planalto Palace, along with the Portuguese Prime Minister, at a press conference .
“We know that there is no room for racism and xenophobia among us,” he said.
The Brazilian head of state also said he had kept with Montenegro “a very frank conversation about how to improve life” of “expatriate communities.”
“In these 200 years, many Portuguese have come to establish and create roots in our country, just as many Brazilians moved to Portugal and constituted ties there,” he said.
Luís Montenegro argued that the Portuguese have no “tendency for xenophobia phenomena” and said there is “zero tolerance” for those who have these behaviors in Portugal.
Interrogated is recognized that there is xenophobia against Brazilians in Portugal, the Portuguese prime minister maintained that this happens “episodically, exceptionally”.
“We have zero tolerance for those who have such a behavior, from the outset, preventing, just doing and assuming an unmistakable position of repression of any temptation in this regard, protecting people who may be more exposed to such a phenomenon,” he added .
Then Luís Montenegro argued that “the Portuguese at their overwhelming majority, even overwhelming, have none, but no tendency for xenophobia phenomena.”
