Portugal plummets in 2025 Corruption Perception Index, with the worst score ever.

The watchdog Transparency International Portugal (TIP) is challenging declarations by the Ministry of Justice on the assessment of anti-corruption policies in Portugal, and rejects claims that the Anti-Corruption Agenda– one of the government’s flagships – contains a clear anti-corruption strategy.

Instead, the Ministry’s technical report 2020-2024 ‘doesn’t provide any evidence of a structured, methodologically identifiable assessment of the results of an anti-corruption strategy in the past four years.’ TIP states.

Even worse, no proposal, timetable, or implementation process is known for the period 2025-2028. ‘The absence of this new strategy raises doubts about the commitments made and the consistency between political discourse and government action,’ the corruption watchdog declares.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice recently announced that it has finalized 17 of the 42 measures outlined in its National Anti-Corruption Agenda. Judge Rita Alarcão stated in the same press release that progress this far demonstrates that it is possible to act with effectiveness.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is an annual indicator compiled by Transparency International that assesses the perception of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (corrupt) to 100 (clean) in more than 180 countries.

Government corruption is increasing worldwide due to a lack of leadership.
This year, the global average GPI score fell for the first time in over a decade, to just 46 out of 100. The NGO’s report reveals that ‘the vast majority of countries are failing to keep corruption under control’, highlighting that two-thirds of countries score below 50 on the index.

Portugal fell to 46th place, scoring just 56 points out of 100. Cape Verde ranked as the highest-placed nation with 62 points within the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, leaving Brazil (35), Angola(32), and Mozambique (21) far behind.

At the same time, countries scoring above 80 fell from 12 a decade ago to just 5 (i.e. Scandinavia, Singapore), highlighting ‘a worrying trend of democracies showing a deterioration in perceptions of corruption.’ 

Analyzing the results, TIP president José Fontão points to a correlation between rising perceptions of (state) corruption and the growth of populist rhetoric attacking institutions. He called the politicians to end isolated short-term measures, and above all to show more political will to tackle abuses of power and the factors driving this decline, such as the roll-back of democratic checks and balances, and attacks on independent civil society.

It should not be forgotten that the common people are paying the price, as corruption leads to under-funded public hospitals and schools, unbuilt defences against the climate crisis, and withers the hopes and dreams of young people.

Enjoy the week            Aproveite a semana               (pic Publico/Sapo)






Hormuz’ probably derives from the Persian pronunciation of the principal Zoroastrian god Ahuramazda (also known as Ormazd or Horomazes)

The Strait of Hormuz  – 34 km wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman – is in the news every day. The instability in the Middle East and the American and Israeli aggression against the people of Iran have once again placed this strait at the centre of international geopolitics.

A significant proportion of the world’s energy (i.e. oil and gas) passes through here, and any threat to navigation in this strategic waterway proves to have an immediate impact on the global economy.

But few people know that, for over a century (1515-1622), this very strait was under the governance of Portugal, controlling the entrance to the Persian Gulf, one of the world’s most important trade routes.

The Portuguese conquest of Hormuz occurred when the Portuguese admiral and conqueror Afonso de Albuquerque established a fortress – named Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception) – on Hormuz island, thereby giving the Portuguese full control of the trade between India and Europe through the Persian Gulf.

The campaign against Hormuz was a plan of King Manuel I of Portugal to thwart Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing Aden – to block trade through the Red Sea, Hormuz – to block trade through Beirut – and Malaca to control trade with China.

The island of Hormuz was then not ruled by the young king Turan Shah, but by its vizier, Rais Nurredin Fali. After taking Hormuz, Albuquerque adopted the principle of indirect rule: the king was allowed to rule his kingdom as a vassal of the Portuguese Crown, but it was disarmed, and the Portuguese took control of the defence, effectively turning it into a protectorate.

During the 16th century, Hormuz became the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Merchants from many different places gathered in their markets: Persians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, Indians and Europeans. A world of wealth and luxury, best captured in the Arab saying: ‘if the world was a golden ring, Ormuz would be the jewel in it.’
 

With all maritime transport between the Far and Middle-East passing through Hormuz, the total annual revenue – paid in ashrafi gold coins – was enormous, as pearls from the Persian Gulf, Indian spices, Chinese silk and the war-horses trade from Arabia to Goa in India, were heavily taxed. Of all the Portuguese possessions in the Orient, Hormuz became a vital source of income for the Portuguese State of India, part of the Portuguese Empire

Hormuz would remain a Portuguese client-state until its fall to a combined English-Persian force in 1622. Today it is part of the Iranian province of Hormozgan.

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz constitutes a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – neither ratified by Iran and the US – by denying transit in a strait used for international navigation. According to the North-American newspaper The Atlantic, the crisis is the largest in the history of the global oil market.


Happy Easter                Feliz Páscoa                            (pic Sapo/Lusa)     



I don’t write the books, it’s my own hand working independently

“A revolutionary in Portuguese literature
A psychiatrist never considering being anything else than a writer

A writer marked by the colonial war in Angola
A colonial war that brought ‘ghosts’ and ‘death’ to his work

It wasn’t Lobo Antunes who lost the Nobel Prize, the Nobel Prize lost him
Writing as a ‘virus’ and a generation that is ‘passing away
His exhilarating novels forced Portugal to confront its darkest moments.”

António Lobo Antunes – one of the most important voices in modern Portuguese literature who died on the 5th of March at the age of 83 – published 41 books, 32 of which are novels. His books often resist straightforward plot, instead unfolding through overlapping monologues in which multiple voices circle the same events from different angles.

He was the second Portuguese writer – after Fernando Pessoa – to be included in the prestigious Bibliothèque de la Pléiade and several times nominated for the Nobel Prize, which he never received.

His exacting modernistic style provoked a lifelong controversy between him and that other icon of the Portuguese literature – José Saramago – who did win the Nobel Prize in 1998.
However, many in Portugal felt the honour had gone to the wrong writer.

He was trained as a psychiatrist, worked in the Miguel Bombarda hospital in Lisbon and wrote in the evenings. From 1971 to 1973 he served as an army doctor in Angola. His experience during Portugal’s brutal colonial war marked him profoundly and the war’s moral disorientation and emotional wreckage would haunt much of his fiction.

His first novels – Elephant’s Memory and South of Nowhere – both published in 1979 – drew on his experiences as a young doctor navigating the political and personal upheavals of post-revolutionary Portugal, and brought him instant acclaim.

In South of Nowhere (Os Cus de Judas), a veteran addresses his blood-soaked memories to a silent woman in a Lisbon bar, but in fact directed at a Portugal that has all but forgotten its war crimes.

But it was his magnum opus Fado Alexandrino (1983) – capturing the generation’s disillusionment with the colonial war – that confirmed his status as a major literary voice. In novels such as The Inquisitor’s Manuel (1996) and The Splendour of Portugal (1997), he explored the lingering shadows of colonialism, the hypocrisy of the Portuguese elite and the dysfunction of family life.

Act of the Damned (1985) is set in the aftermath of the 1974 Carnation Revolution that saw the end of dictator Salazar’s Estado Novo regime. The book inhabits the minds of a landed aristocratic family as they congregate at the deathbed of its patriarch, keen on their inheritance. Meanwhile, communists are baying for blood, and the family must flee.

Through widely acclaimed internationally and translated into many languages. Lobo Antunes remained relatively little known in the English-speaking world. He is survived by his third wife, his three daughters and his three brothers

Enjoy your week         Aproveite a semana             (pic Publico/Sapo)





qahwa -kaffa – kahve –capha- cafeh – caffé – café – koffie – coffy – coffee

The origin of the word coffee is probably derived from Kaffa, the name of an Ethiopian kingdom in the 15th century. At that time in Yemen a beverage was prepared from a plant of Ethiopian origin, which proved to be useful to keep the Sufi mystics awake for praying at night. The word used for the beverage was qahwah, and considering that the plant came from Kaffa, it is not unreasonable to think that there would be a relationship.

Etymologists, however, are inclined to consider the word being a derivation from a word that meant ‘wine’ in Arabic. A non-alcoholic wine; the perfect solution for Muslims who needed a stimulant but were not allowed to drink alcohol.
Coffee sales were centred in the Yemeni city of Moca and spread from there throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

In the 16th century, the governor of Yemen, Ozdemir Pasha, took the coffee to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, and from then on coffee became popular in Istanbul, and thereafter in the entire Ottoman Empire, under the Turkish Ottoman name kahve.
Cafés were booming in the capital, and the sultan introduced coffee masters in his court. Anyone who wanted to be someone in the Empire had to have at least someone who knew how to prepare good coffee; nowadays called baristas!

From Istanbul, it wasn’t difficult for the beverage to reach Venice, one of the biggest trade centres in the world. There might have been those who thought it a little suspicious for Christians to drink a Muslim beverage but when beverage coming from the depths of Arabia delighted the palate of the Pope, no Christian hesitated to have a coffee, which the Italians called caffè.

The popularity of coffee thereafter spread across the capitals of Europe, and finally arrived in Paris, where it ended up being one of the central elements of the city’s identity under the French name café, the same name also used for the beverage in Portugal, where the first coffee roasters appeared in Lisbon in the 17th century.

But there was – besides the southern route across land via Istanbul – a second northern route through which the habit of drinking coffee spread throughout the continent, in a similar way as tea was introduced in Europe. And once again, Dutch ships were involved, which transported the product directly from Yemen to the UK.

In 1652, the first English coffeeshop was opened in Oxford and soon after coffee shops expanded as popular meeting points in London. Unlike the word café – which came via the South – the word coffee comes from the Dutch word koffie.

The word espresso comes from the machine that, from the mid-20th century onwards, was used to create espresso coffee. Previously, the beverage was prepared in the Turkish way, mixing the ground beans with boiled water. Now, with the machine, the coffee is prepared with hot water passing under pressure over the ground beans and running through a small spout (called bica) into the cup.

In Portugal, the usual word to ask for an espresso is the word café (or bica).
So, whoever asks for café – just like that – is asking for an espresso.

Enjoy the week                                                 Approveite a semana




‘Zé Povinho looks from one side to the other, and stays – as always – the same’

(abbreviation from José) Povinho (‘little people’) is a caricature of the Portuguese everyman, created by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro – journalist, socialist,  publisher of satirical newspapers, and ceramist – in the second half of the 19th century.


The figure became a symbol of the Portuguese working-class people, critiquing in a humorous way the main social, political and economic problems in the Portuguese society.

The cartoon made its first appearance in the newspaper A Laterna Mágica (the Magic Lantern) in 1875. Zé Povinho is often depicted with his mouth open and not intervening, resigning when faced with injustice or corruption and unaware of the big issues in the country. He is an expression of the common, simple man.

He became a popular figure of the Portuguese people in the tri-dimensional ceramic form made by the Bordalo Pinheiro factory in Caldas da Rainha – 75 km north of Lisbon that is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

The Bordalo Pinheiro museum in Lisbon opened an exhibition last week commemorating the anniversary of the creation of the character Zé Povinho by visual artist Bordalo Pinheiro (1846-1905).

The exhibition (until September 6) is entitled TOMA! – referring to the figure’s characteristic gesture of the arm, representing his revolt and insolence – and presents 400 Zés Povinhos created over one and a half century.

The collection brings together pieces by various artists, from its creator to well-known contemporary artists and anonymous potters in the most surprising materials; from glass to magazine covers and textiles.

The museum director, João Alpuim Bothelho, emphasizes that Bordalo Pinheiro’s humour always has a political touch but is not populist and that Zé Povinho is a ‘universal figure’ due to his essence, giving as an example the many foreign visitors who find a parallel figure in their own home countries.

Enjoy your week                   Aproveite a semana               
(pic Lusa/Sapo)

We need a country that is prepared, not surprised’ (President elect)

In spite of the unprecedented floods and landslides as a result of the last two weeks’ train of storms, people turned out in surprising numbers for the presidential elections last Sunday. The former Socialist leader António José Seguro got 67% of the vote – almost twice as many as his rival, Chega leader and far-right populist André Ventura – and more than any other president before him.

Even in areas where voting has been delayed due to the bad weather and lack of conditions to open polling stations – comprising approximately 0.3% of the electorate – Seguro was the most voted candidate.

In less than three weeks, mainland Portugal has been raided by six storms – Ingrid, Joseph, Chandra, Kristin, Leonardo and Marta – which were accompanied by heavy rainfall. The damage caused by the extreme weather already amounts to more than 4 billion euros, and so far 15 people have lost their lives during this national calamity.

But it’s not over yet. The continuing rain and rising river levels – especially of the Tejo, Douro and Mondego –  are leading to extensive flooding and landslides, as a result of the completely saturated soils. These extreme events will occur with greater violence because of the climate crisis, which leads to warmer atmospheres and oceans.

A recent report of the McKinsey Global Institute concluded that a quarter of the country is currently exposed to climate risks – floods, forest fires and drought – and that the government will need to invest double the amount it currently spends on climate resilience.

Although Portugal’s presidency is a largely ceremonial role, it holds some key powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament under certain circumstances, to call snap elections, and to veto legislation.

The longstanding moderate socialist Seguro – who paradoxically has won the support of mainstream politicians on the right wanting to halt the rising populist tide – assured the Portuguese, however, that he has no interest in changing he constitution, in increasing the president’s powers, nor in dissolving the current minority government.

Last May, the far-right Chega party became the second largest parliamentary force, overtaking the Socialists and landing behind the centre-right ruling alliance, which garnered 31.2%.
‘With more than 32% of the vote this month, Chega managed to exceed the government’s share of the vote, reinforcing Ventura’s project to cannibalise the rightwing space in the country.

Keep your feet dry         Mantenha os pés secos (pic Público/Sapo)

We are not a perfect city, but definitely on the right track’ (Guimarães 26)

Guimarães – just 65 km inland from Porto – has been elected European Green Capital 2026, the second Portuguese city to win the title after Lisbon in 2020.  

The European Green Capital Award – organized by the European Commission – recognizes and rewards local efforts to improve the environment and the quality of life in cities. Tangible results include 600,000 euros in financial support, which will be used for sustainable projects.

The town is considered to be the birthplace of Portugal because it was here that Afonso Henriques – the first king of Portugal- was born. Founded in the 10th century, the historic centre became the first capital of Portugal in the 12th century.

Its historic centre is extremely well-preserved and an authentic example of the evolution of a medieval settlement into a modern town. Its rich building typology exemplifies the development of Portuguese architecture from the 15th to the 19th  centuries.

A particular type of construction was developed in the Middle Ages, featuring a ground floor in granite with a timbered-framed structure above. A technique that was later transmitted to the Portuguese colonies in Africa and the New World.

Today this historic city has evolved into a beacon of cultural and environmental excellence, mixing its rich heritage with forward-thinking commitment to sustainability, which was embraced as a cornerstone of its local culture. Innovative businesses are increasingly aligning with the city’s environmentally conscious policies.

Designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2001, Guimarães has since then earned prestigious titles: European Capital of Culture (2012), European City of Sport (2013) and most sustainable municipality in Portugal for three consecutive years. These achievements underscore the city’s innovative spirit despite its modest and relatively young (nearly half under 30 years) population of 157.000 residents.

The municipal ecological footprint initiative serves as a guiding framework, steering Guimarães toward becoming a ‘One-Planet City’ and a member of Zero Waste Europe. Meanwhile, the city has pioneered groundbreaking strategies such as PAYT (Pay-As-You-Throw). Over 95% of its residents assess the air quality as good or very good.

Wander newly created green city oases and artfully repurposed heritage buildings, or stroll along the banks of restored riverbanks, with a fleet of electric buses linking together the historic palaces and futuristic galleries. The British broadcaster BBC recently highlighted this green and confident city as one of the best places to visit in 2026.

The opening ceremony of the European Green Capital 26 took place on the 9th of January, and during the year various events are planned, from the Spring Festival (in March 21-22) and the Green Week Guimarães (in June 4-7) to the National Urban Cleaning Meeting (in September 8-10).

Enjoy the festivities         Aproveite as festividades        (Pic Sapo/Unesco)

He championed navigation but never actually sailed on any voyages himself

Prince Henry of Portugal (1394-1460), better known as Henry the Navigator, was a central figure in the 15th-century Portuguese maritime exploration and regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discovery. He was the third surviving son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, sister of King Henry IV of England.

This royal alliance strengthened ties between Portugal and England, still the world oldest continuous treaty. Prince Henry became a statesman, but his passion was exploration. However, Henry was not an explorer himself but a patron and visionary who financed and organized expeditions. Under his direction, Madeira and the Azores were discovered, and the groundwork laid for future discoveries.  

Prince Henry was 21 when he, his father and his brothers conquered the Moorish port of Ceuta (northern Morocco), a base for Barbary pirates who raided the Portuguese coast and captured their inhabitants to be sold in the African slave trade.

Following this success, Henry began to explore the coast of Africa in order to find the source of the West African Gold trade. At that time, cargo ships were too slow and heavy to undertake such voyages. Under his direction, a much lighter, faster and highly manoeuvrable ship was developed – the caravel.

Both Sagres and Lagos have strong ties to Prince Henry. At Sagres, the windy southwestern tip of Europe – once called ‘o Fim do Mundo’ (the End of the World) – he established his base, where cartographers, astronomers and navigators refined maps and exchanged ideas.

The port of Lagos proved to be convenient for his expeditions. Most of the voyages sent out by Henry consisted of one or two caravels that navigated by following the African coast. Lagos also had its darker side. In 1444, the first cargo of enslaved Africans arrived in Europe’s first slave market.

At the age of 26, he was appointed as the Governor of the Military Order of Christ, the Portuguese successor to the Knights Templar, which had its headquarters at Tomar in central Portugal. Henry’s work was financed through profits from the Order of Christ, which inherited the Templars’ vast wealth. The red cross that adorned Portuguese sails comes from this order.

During Prince Henry’s time, the Portuguese navigators perfected the North Atlantic ‘return from the sea’ (volta do mar), the dependable pattern of trade winds blowing largely from the east near the equator and the returning westerlies in the mid-Atlantic. This was a major step in the history of navigation. Understanding oceanic wind patterns became crucial in enabling the main route between the New World and Europe.

Portuguese mariners who sailed south and southwest toward the Canary Islands and West Africa would afterwards sail far to the northwest – away from continental Portugal and seemingly in the wrong direction – before turning northeast near the Azores islands and finally east to Europe in order to fully utilize the prevailing winds for their journey.

That time, Cape Bojador was the most southern point known to Europeans on the coast of Africa. Although superstitious sailors believed that beyond the cape lay the end of the world, Prince Henry was determined to know the truth. He sent 15 unsuccessful expeditions over a ten-year period before finally succeeding in passing the Cape, circumventing the Muslim land-based gold and slave trade across the western Sahara. This rerouting of trade made Portugal rich.

Henry’s died with doubts as to whether a sea route could be found to the Far East, but his work paid off when Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Subsequently, Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1498, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil in 1500, and Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1521.

All of this stemmed from Prince Henry’s investment in ships, knowledge and charts, which led to the foundation of Portugal’s maritime supremacy.
That’s why he is depicted in the front of the Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos ) located on the edge of the Tagus river in Lisbon.

Happy reading                                                         Boas leituras


‘We hope a presidential candidate who includes everyone, will win’

The year 2025 was marked by setbacks in immigration issues, says Ana Paula Costa – president of the Casa do Brasil (Brazil’s House) in Lisbon – to newspaper Público. ‘We had a very difficult year in terms of narrative, legislation and integration of immigrants, not just for the Brazilian community.

‘Attacks of xenophobia and racism were unfortunately mainly directed to Asians and Roma but of course, the Brazilian community – being the largest in terms of numbers (nearly half a million Brazilians i.e. circa 5% of the Portuguese population) – was also greatly affected by this rhetoric’, she adds.

‘The impact of the rhetoric – in particular by André Ventura, chairman of the far-right party Chega – is direct on public services, on the way people are treated on a daily basis, on their rights and access. Immigration has been highly politicized in public discourse, and in a very negative way.’

In 2022, the Commission for Equality and against Discrimination (CICDR) reported that cases of xenophobia against Brazilians had increased exponentially, with reports of confrontations such as ‘it’s not my problem if you don’t know how to speak Portuguese’, ‘Brazilian women come here to steal our husbands’ and ‘you don’t understand anything, you’re stupid.’

A study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, published in 2024, indicated that five out of ten Portuguese citizens want the Brazilian presence in Portugal to decrease.  

With the presidential elections later this month, Costa hopes that the Portuguese will elect someone who ‘values the rule of law, respects people and includes everyone in his mandate, as this is fundamental for democracy.’

In her assessment, the changes to the Foreigners Act (Lei de Estrangeiros) and the proposed amendments to the Nationality Act (Lei da Nacionalidade) have a clear objective of reducing the influx of immigrants. ‘The centre-right government demonstrates this on the argument of immigrant deregulation and lack of administrative capacity.’

‘But immigration was not deregulated,’ she explains! ‘Since the 1980’s we have had immigrant regulations in Portugal. And from an administrative capacity point of view, what happened is poor public administration, as is reflected in other public services, such as social security, health, housing and education, where there has been no investment over the years to enable people to exercise their rights, such as the right to obtain a valid residence permit in time.   

‘In fact, this is a much bigger issue: there has been no investment whatsoever in the immigration service, and last year this has created huge administrative problems, especially in the transition from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF)to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).’

So, less bureaucracy in public services, more recognition of the importance of immigrants, better regularization of immigration, less hate speech, and more jobs, political awareness, respect for fellow citizens and protection for women.
That’s the 2026 wish list of Brazilians in Portugal.


Happy New Year          Feliz Ano Novo             (Pic Público/Sapo)



‘We cared for her for over 13 years, and she will be hugely missed, but we could not see her living alone any longer’ – Antwerp’s zoo director.

Kariba, a female elephant from the zoo in Antwerp, Belgium will be the first resident to arrive at a new large-scale sanctuary being created on land located in the Alentejo – i.e. in the municipalities of Vila Viçosa and Alandroal.

‘We expect Kariba to arrive early next year,’ revealed Kate Moore, the managing director of the non-profit organization Pangae.
The elephant came from Zimbabwe to Europe, where she lived the last 40 years in various zoos, but will end up living her final years in the sanctuary

Regarding the budget, the director said that – over approximately 10 years – the organization expects to invest 15 million euros.

Pangea was set up to solve a practical problem. Over 600 elephants are living in captivity across Europe. Most EU states have banned the use of elephants in circuses and zoos, yet without sanctuary space, they are hard to implement. Lack of alternatives means that the animals languish alone or in unsuitable conditions for years on end.

‘Elephants are deeply intelligent, sentient and social. Their needs are complex, and when not met, they suffer,’ emphasizes the director.
‘Our mission is to provide lifelong sanctuary with both specialist care and a space to live with dignity and autonomy in the most natural surroundings possible.’  

Miguel Repas, the organization’s technical consultant, explains that the reserve will provide the animals with ‘tranquillity, peace and freedom,’ and therefore will not be open to the public. However, programs for schools are planned, and a so-called ‘discovery centre’ will be created, offering experiences and interactions with elephants

Remembering that the sanctuary’s future guests ‘have never had contact with nature’, the biologist stressed, and that the animals will ‘have to relearn how to live in the wild and socialize’ with other elephants.
The sanctuary will have stables to house the elephants, a central support services area and fences capable to withstand a load of 60 tons.

The two mayors from Vila Viçosa and Alandroal welcome the initiative and the opportunities it brings.‘This is a project the Alentejo can be proud of. Pangea benefits not only elephants but our communities too: new jobs, business for local suppliers and visitors to the region.’

With an estate of 1,000 acres, this will be the first large-scale reserve in Europe for elephants that lived in captivity, with a capacity for up to 30 animals.


Boas Festas                                 Happy Holiday     (pic Luso/Sapo)