Luanda – The Angola minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Jomo Fortunato, said Saturday, in Virginia (USA), that conditions have been created for an open and fraternal dialogue, towards a new Angola, based on an economic openness.
The Cabinet minister, who was speaking at the annual ceremony in honor of the arrival of the first 20 Angolan slaves, said the United States of America has had and will have a preponderant role in this process of Angola's development, in the most varied domains.
In Jomo Fortunato's view, the revision of the historical past is of capital importance for the understanding of contemporary social problems, opening possibilities for the affirmation of political identity and a better understanding of the historical and cultural connections of the three continents - Africa, Europe, and America - that were established across the Atlantic Ocean, with implications for the rest of the world.
"Recent researches open new perspectives on African history and give us a different view on the implications of the demographic dimension, the geographic omnipresence and common cultural origins that enslaved people of Angolan origin shared, often before arriving in the Americas," said the Angolan official.
Jomo Fortunato added that the historical past of the Angolan slaves in America can be transformed into various values, increasing the relations of friendship and cooperation, taking advantage of the bridge of Cultural Diplomacy.
"Slavery, one of the biggest tragedies in history, brought together the destiny of two countries located on distant continents, but close culturally, and our historical complementarity and human potential can be integrated and reused in various development projects in Angola," Fortunato said.
"Angola entered the pages of American history thanks to the tenacious personality, extraordinary capacity for work and unequivocal will of the first slaves, to overcome the many vicissitudes of life, in a context of slavery," said Jomo Fortunato.
The ceremony was attended by the mayor of the city of Hampton, Donnie Ray Tuck, the Angolan ambassador to the US, Francisco do Espírito Santo, and members of the Tucker family (descendants of the first Angolans in the US).
The first Portuguese ships carrying Africans, who had been kidnapped and sold as slaves in the territory that would become Angola, arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, a British colony, in August 1619.
