"If you want to help Angola and the Angolans, take those 500 million euros and invest them in our community in Portugal," said Francisco Viana during a meeting with the Angolan diaspora in Lisbon, promoted by the United Patriotic Front (FPU), a platform that brings together the Democratic Bloc and the political project PRA-JA Servir Angola.
During his speech, the businessman and also leader of the Nova Angola movement strongly criticized Montenegro's official visit, denouncing an alleged collusion with President João Lourenço.
"The Portuguese Prime Minister arrived in Angola all 'pipi', saying he had a surprise", he said.
The surprise was, according to the MP, an increase of 500 million euros in Portugal's current credit line to Angola, which Montenegro announced during this three-day official visit, which ended on Thursday.
According to Francisco Viana, João Lourenço responded that he already knew where he would spend that amount. "Two big hornets [wasps]," he said.
The National Assembly deputy also left a "small warning" to Montenegro: "If you go to Angola to support those who make direct adjustments and are not accountable (...), you run the risk of not being welcome. Be careful, Mr. Prime Minister".
"We don't need vultures in Angola", he said, raising the possibility of holding "Portuguese leaders accountable in the future, so that they are not complicit in what is happening in Angola," an idea that received applause from many of the participants in this meeting, more than 200, who filled the room of a hotel in Lisbon.
The visit was again addressed in the speech by the president of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Adalberto Costa Júnior, who was welcomed at the event with applause and slogans: "Adalberto president", "president Adalberto".
The leader of the "black rooster" movement did not like seeing "a prime minister of a country [Portugal] standing side by side listening to this President" and "remaining silent" when João Lourenço allegedly stated that he already knew where to distribute the amount that Portugal announced to reinforce credit to Angola.
Adalberto Costa Júnior also lamented the exodus of Angolan officials, stating that the number of people leaving the country is constantly increasing and that hundreds are applying for visas to emigrate.
He also accused João Lourenço of facilitating this exodus, particularly when it comes to those who "give the President a hard time", that is, all those who "say what they think".
The room, filled with many Angolans eager to speak, also heard the speech by the coordinator of PRA-JA to serve Angola, Abel Chivukuvuku, for whom it is not only the Angolan people who are desperate, but also the regime.
"Politically, the country has no direction. Economically, it is close to bankruptcy", he said.
And he called on the Angolan diaspora to be vigilant, monitor the situation and participate in the change.
Unable to be present, the president of the Democratic Bloc, Filomeno Vieira Lopes, sent a message that was read by Jorge Silva, in which he reaffirmed the importance of holding local elections, which provide "greater decentralization" and a "fairer distribution of resources".
Filomeno Vieira Lopes also had a word for Angolans living outside Angola, such as in Portugal, where they face several difficulties, namely "in housing, in keeping and finding employment, discrimination and consular difficulties".
This meeting in Lisbon was the first with the Angolan community in Portugal since the creation of the FPU, in 2022.
