In a request addressed to the Prime Minister, through parliament, the Chega Parliamentary Group questions "what is the motivation of the Portuguese Government in assuming the expenses for the creation of a museum whose name refers to the independence struggle against Portugal".
The memorandum of understanding was signed in Luanda on December 10th between the governments of Portugal and Angola. The São Francisco do Penedo Fortress will be converted into the National Liberation Museum of Angola.
For Chega, this financial support constitutes "an outrage to the history of Portugal and the memory of its ancestors, as well as that of overseas combatants, still so mistreated today for the actions undertaken in defense of national interests".
The party led by André Ventura also accuses the Government of wanting to rewrite History.
In the published document, Chega deputies consider that this political option confronts history, "leaving it at the mercy of a partial and media historical revisionism that is in vogue, but which is far from deserving unanimity and much less from being scientifically correct ".
"With this gesture, in addition to the expenditure of a sum that, within the scope of the Camões Institute's activities, would better serve other purposes more convenient to the interests of our country, Portugal is implicitly assuming the blame for the attempt at overseas colonization which, as a result, "new worlds to the world" showed and of which all of us Portuguese should be proud, since it is inscribed in the books of our History and in our collective memory as the best thing we have undertaken and given to the History of humanity", they argue.
Chega considers that it is "something that cannot be erased and that should be the subject of preservation and pride by the highest dignitaries of those who are the legitimate heirs of this heritage and who are responsible, in the first instance, for defending it".
"If we in Portugal today had rulers equal to those of the five hundred, such nonsense would be avoided", he adds.
The Chega Parliamentary Group also points out that this decision is "absurd and inconsistent", as well as an "attempt to manipulate and politically instrumentalize History, thus seeking for the Government to divert attention from the country's problems".
At the time of signing the memorandum of understanding, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, highlighted the "very special meaning" of the conversion of the fortress into the National Liberation Museum.
"It happens precisely on the verge of starting the year in which the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April is celebrated and a year before the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Angola's independence begins", said Cravinho, highlighting that the importance of remembering that Portuguese freedom has a lot to do with the struggle for the colonial liberation of people in several African countries colonized at the time by Portugal.
"There is a symbiotic relationship here, because these struggles for freedom, for independence, of the African people, including the Angolan people, are a very important stimulus for the fight for freedom in Portugal", said the government official at the time.
According to João Gomes Cravinho, this support is precisely a celebration of what is a joint heritage, which is the freedom of States.
