Marisa in the Azores: you cannot “naturalize the extreme right”

“You are today for this meeting as Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for the debate [de ontem]”. The repair of the presidential candidate, followed by a laugh, was for Lúcia Moniz, an Azorean singer and actress, the most recent supporter of Marisa Matias who joined the first campaign action on Azorean soil, by videoconference.

For the candidate supported by the Bloco de Esquerda, the political situation, recently formed in the Azores, came to accentuate weaknesses. To journalists, Marisa Matias again defended that she would not give the green light to an executive supported by Chega. “The first time that we have a government depending on the extreme right, the first action is to withdraw support from those who need it most, the majority of those affected are children”, says. The candidate considers that a President of the Republic “must do everything in his power to avoid Government programs that focus on withdrawing social support from the poorest of the poor when his role is to protect them”. For Marisa, you cannot “naturalize the extreme right”.

Regarding the figure of the Representative of the Republic in the Azores, the MEP defends that the functions of the position “must be maintained” so that it remains possible to take possession of the regional government as well as proceed to preventive and successive inspection of the laws in the archipelago. Even so, the candidate recognizes the doubts that raise the maintenance of the figure. It guarantees that there is room for debate that should be conducted by the parties without prejudice to canceling the current functions of the position.

Visit of less than 24 hours in São Miguel

Despite having talked about Marcelo, she barely sat in one of the five available and properly spaced chairs in the “rose of the winds” room in a Ponta Delgada hotel, Marisa declined to comment on the apparent “bewilder” of health authorities in relation to the state health of the opponent and current President. “It is not for me to comment on this issue. In my case, the indications they gave me were that I wouldn’t have to change my behavior in any way other than what was already changed ”, guarantees the candidate.

And Marisa’s visit to the Azores has already taken several turns. On the eve of the visit, at the end of last month, he broke two ribs and had to cancel the trip. This week, it was in doubt again that it was only dissolved after the negative covid-19 test. The candidate supported by the Left Block says that gymnastics in the campaign program, in the middle of a pandemic, is constant. “What I did was adapt to these new times, the priority is to listen to people, roam the country and make sure their voices are heard and that the problems are reported ”, he assures, and that no pandemic can prevent.

In a single day, Marisa Matias visited two islands in the country’s two archipelagos. After having landed in São Miguel, coming from Madeira, around 1 pm on Wednesday, January 13, the candidate only had an agenda at 4 pm with UMAR – Union of Women Alternative and Response and with a representative of the Union Audiovisual in the Azores, which has led aid to culture professionals, stopped for several months.

Marisa also regretted that the Azores are “at the top of violence against women, which is a top that no region wants to be”.

The only two meetings he had in the autonomous region took place at the same hotel, inside doors, there was no street action, on the candidate’s only visit to the archipelago – she should also be the only one of the seven candidates to campaign in the region.

An interview in the television news studios of regional public television, at the end of the day, dictated that the return to Lisbon only happens in the morning of the following day, where campaign actions on the other side of the Atlantic continue.