Cape Verdean minister resigns after controversial appointment linked to Chega – Portugal

Luís Filipe Tavares, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Defense of Cape Verde, resigned after being broadcast a report on the connections of César do Paço (or Caesar de Paço), consul of Cape Verde in Florida, to the Chega party. Paço finances the party and was accused in 1991 of qualified theft.

A SATURDAY revealed Caesar do Paço’s connections to Chega firsthand in February 2020.

According the newspaper A Nação, the report issued by SIC will have led to Tavares’ resignation. Since the beginning of 2021, Paço is consul of Cape Verde. However, before resigning Tavares defended Paço, stressing that the appointment took place in an “absolutely normal” process.

“It is the case of Mr. César do Paço who, I repeat, is a good person, according to the information we have. He was consul of Portugal for many years and I think this controversy has more to do with foreign policy issues in Portugal” , Tavares said of the case.

César do Paço served as honorary consul of Portugal in Palm Coast, Florida, from October 2014 to May 2020.

The Cape Verdean government has also denied any connection between the executive and Chega.

The report also reveals that in the 1990s, the Portuguese court issued an arrest warrant against Caesar do Paço due to the charge of qualified theft, with a view to placing him under the measure of coercion in preventive detention. However, Paço ran away.

PAICV President Janira Hopffer Almada demanded explanations from the Cape Verdean Government about the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who belongs to the MpD party. “The situation seems to be so serious that I want to believe that I will not have understood it well! So, one of Chega’s biggest financiers [partido político português] is Honorary Consul of Cape Verde in Florida, USA “, asked the leader of the African Party of Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), in a message posted today on her official Facebook social account.

“What is the relationship between Cape Verde and the Portuguese extreme right? My people, we are talking about the extreme right. Is a potential financier of the extreme right in Portugal that is representing our country? The situation is too serious”, wrote Janira Hopffer Almada, adding that the Government “owes explanations”.

“And it is not admissible that the Minister of External Relations [Negócios Estrangeiros] limit yourself to saying that you do not know the ‘history’ of the Consul of Cape Verde, because you did not ask for them “, said the PAICV leader.