Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/23/2022
LUDLOW – After a recent trip to Portugal with the Portuguese-American Caucus, state Rep. Jacob Oliveira sat down with Reminder Publishing to discuss the trip and lessons learned from members of the Portuguese government.
Oliviera explained who the caucus is.
“In the Massachusetts House and Senate, there is a Portuguese-American Caucus, which has just around 15 members and I am the only member west of 495 and the first Portuguese-American to actually represent a district in four counties in Western Massachusetts, so it’s pretty exciting to be part of this organization,” he said.
He added this trip was organized by the Luso-American Development Foundation.
“It was created basically to bring together Portugal and the United States and elected officials in the United States through science, technology, education, art, culture and Trans-Atlantic relations,” Oliveira said.
Along with representatives from Massachusetts, Oliveira said representatives from Rhode Island and California also made the trip to Lisbon.
Once in Portugal, Oliveira said he met with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the U.S.’s new Ambassador to Portugal Randi Levine and other members of the Portuguese government.
Oliveira highlighted the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Portugal.
“Portugal was one of the first countries to recognize the United States after signing the Declaration of Independence. Because France had a break in diplomatic relations, Portugal is the longest serving continuous diplomatic relation between the United States and another nation,” he said.
One discussion point Oliveira brought up was the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“Portugal along with the United States is a founding member of NATO so a lot of the conversations we had on the trip were in regard to the situation in Ukraine right now and how Portugal and the United States are pretty much on the same page. It is clear from the discussions we had that that is an area of significant commonality between our two nations,” he said.
Oliveira said Portugal has taken in over 50,000 refugees since the conflict in Ukraine began.
Another topic Oliveira said was discussed was the drug addiction turnaround in Portugal, spearheaded by Portugal’s National Coordinator for Drugs, Drug Addiction and Alcohol Related Problems João Goulão.
“Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Portugal had the highest rate of addiction and death out of any western European nation. This public health crisis lasted from the 1980s and 1990s and then they made a strategic change in the late 90s and early 2000s by decriminalizing all drugs and focusing in on treatment rather than incarceration,” he said.
Under that policy, Oliveira said people are given the option to pay a fine or go into addiction treatment programs, and many choose to enter rehabilitation. Because of the change, Oliveira said Portugal’s drug addiction rates have fallen significantly.
Citing the success of the Portuguese decriminalization model, Oliveira said the plan was to bring Goulão to Massachusetts to meet with legislators about his work.
“Given the addiction levels here in Western Massachusetts and the opioid crisis that impacts us, this is something I think all the members of the delegation that visited from the United States was very, very interested in hearing about,” he said.
During the discussions, Oliveira said he was able to highlight the Gremio Lusitano Portuguese Club’s upcoming 100th anniversary.
“I had the opportunity to mention to the president of Portugal and several other ministers within their parliament that Ludlow is celebrating our 100th anniversary of the Gremio Lusitano Portuguese Club in June and the historical tie that my community – Ludlow – has with mainland Portugal was pretty exciting to be a part of,” he said.
Oliveira said each community in his district, which covers Ludlow, Belchertown, Chicopee and Springfield, have significant Portuguese-American populations.
“It was so exciting to represent my community and to have the opportunity to really highlight an area of Massachusetts with a strong mainland Portuguese population, specifically in Western Massachusetts. I think the Portuguese members of their government and business community were interested to hear that there is a Portuguese community outside of Fall River, New Bedford and the metro-Boston area,” he said. “It was exciting to have that.”