History threatens to repeat itself, but with what nuances?
In 1993, Cape Verde was resoundingly awakened by denunciations of faroonic spending and excesses at the Cape Verde embassy in Lisbon, under the command of a nicknamed 'Ambassador Estrela'.
Daniel Benoni Rezende Costa was inspector general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, after famous disputes between clarifying and hushing up the scandal, he was appointed to carry out an inspection of the embassy. It was a God help me when the report was produced, amidst attempts to silence and frighten the inspector, quarrels between the then MPD government and the Opposition, and varnishes bursting everywhere, even within the governing party. In 2022/2023, twenty years later, the alleged excesses associated with the Tourism Fund and the Environment Fund threaten to spill over what Daniel Benoni so well described, black and white, in the books "Escândalo e Bênção" and "Os Clarins da Perseguição e Corruption". I would strongly advise the reading/rereading of these two books at a time when Cape Verdean society is strangely witnessing yet another attempt to hide and mask abuses perpetrated in the Cape Verde State machine. The example of Daniel Benoni remains alive and present in the nation's memory.
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