ELECTIONS

The name of Cristina Fontes Lima began to be indicated as a possible PAICV candidate in this year’s presidential elections (A Semana).

Jorge Carlos Fonseca, one of the pre-2011 presidential candidates in Cape Verde, said that he remains confident in the victory, despite the defeat of the Movimento para a Democracia (Movement for Democracy) (MpD) in the legislative election of 6th  February (Inforpress).

INTERNATIONAL

The Cape Verdean government has decided to create a consulate in the Angolan city of Benguela, with jurisdiction over the provinces of Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Bié, Moxico, Huila, Namibe, Kunene and Kuando Kubamgo. The consulate is already open to the public, although the consul has yet to be named (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

A Portuguese businessman and two Cape Verdean citizens were sentenced to between eight and eleven years in prison for involvement in the trafficking of 82 kilograms of cocaine to Portugal. The drugs came from Ecuador and arrived in Portugal hidden in a shipment of bananas (A Semana).

BOA VISTA

The island of Boa Vista now has a new ice production facility with a three-ton daily capacity. The private investment, budgeted at 8 million escudos, is aimed at resolving one of the problems that have affected the local fishing community in terms of the conservation of catches (A Semana).

FOGO

Asphalting work on the 13 kilometers of road that connect Saltos and Chã das Caldeiras was concluded. The placing of horizontal and vertical traffic signs will begin next week (A Semana).

SAL

The drive to create the municipality of Santa Maria was taken back up in a meeting of the association founded for the purpose. According to association president Manuel António de Sousa Lobo (better known as Patone), now that the February 6 legislative elections have come and gone, the resumption of work on the dossier, which was submitted to the Cape Verdean parliament in October of last year, must be dealt with urgently (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

Representatives from 15 Portuguese and Cape Verdean civil construction companies interested in participating in the tender for bids launched by the government in December of 2010 for the construction of the Canto da Cagarra dam in Santo Antão’s Garça valley visited the site (A Semana). 

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SAO VICENTE

Cape Verdeans living in France made up the first group of émigrés to disembark on the island of São Vicente for this year’s Carnaval celebrations. The group arrived more than a week before Mardi Gras, and were greeted at the airport by Carnaval music and dancing (A Semana).

ECONOMY

State investment and tourist promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos is joining forces with two chambers of commerce to hold an event aimed at promoting Cape Verde’s economy in France. A total of 15 projects will be selected to promote Cape Verde in the European country (A Semana).

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INVESTMENT

The island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde will be home to a processing factory for hydrated ethanol imported from Brazil, which will then be re-exported to Europe (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Portuguese airport and sir security company ANA announced this week that the work group formed to make an air connection between the Portuguese city of Beja and Cape Verde a reality is “putting the finishing touches on the process.” The beginning of operations is scheduled to take place before the end of the month (A Semana).

FAST FERRY

Liberdadi, the second hydrofoil ordered by Cabo Verde Fast Ferry, will be completed in Dutch ship building company Damen’s facilities in Singapore by April 1. If all goes according to plan, the high-speed passenger ship will arrive in Cape Verde in late May to connect the southern and northern islands (A Semana).

POWER

The international tender for bids for the construction of the single power stations for the islands of Santo Antão, Fogo, São Nicolau and Boa Vista has been launched. The winning proposals are expected to be known by July of this year (A Semana).

TOURISM

Various Cape Verdean businesses and institutions will participate in the Lisbon Tourism Fair (abbreviated with the Portuguese acronym BTL) between February 23 and 27 in the Portuguese capital, according to Cabo Verde Investimentos administrator Eileen Barbosa (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

WINE

Maria Chaves wine will hit the market before the end of this year, according to the main promoter of the project, Father Octávio Fassano (A Semana).

POLITICS

In an interview granted to Portuguese news agency Lusa, Prime Minister José Maria Neves announced that the next government, which will be sworn in in March, will have “many innovations.” Cape Verdeans can expect a renovated cabinet with a few new faces, some of them from the governing PAICV and others independent. “It will be a government open to civil society,” he affirmed (A Semana).

Carlos Veiga will continue at the helm of the MpD and will be the leader of a “firm and determined opposition” both inside and outside parliament. This is one of the conclusions that came out of the meeting of the party’s Political Commission, which took place throughout the day February 10 (A Semana).

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DEFENCE

The governments of Cape Verde and Portugal will meet in March to discuss the construction of a naval area to assist marine and coast guard forces from the entire West African region. Military training and joint participation in international missions are also on the table for the defense-related discussions (A Semana).

SANTIAGO

A vehicle owned by Manel de Baía Verde, the owner of the emblematic Baía Verde hotel in Tarrafal de Santiago, was destroyed after being consumed by flames at approximately 2:00 am this morning, February 15, in front of the hotel itself (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

The government will pave the road leading into Alto Mira valley in the municipality of Porto Novo, on the island of Santo Antão, with cobblestones, responding to demands from the local population, who beginning in April or May of this year will be served by a proper path for vehicles (A Semana).

SAO VICENTE

The Baptista de Sousa Hospital emergency room has just reopened in a new and totally refurbished space, after a year operating in provisional installations in the old hospital annex. The restructuring of the space is part of an investment from the hospital benefited over the course of 2010 (A Semana).

DIASPORA

Various Cape Verdean associations, clubs and non-profit organizations in the United States will meet on February 26 in a general assembly at the Ideal Club in East Bridgewater in order to create a federation of Cape Verdean associations in the country (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the masterplan for the Parque 5 de Julho in Praia, Santiago, a project still (source).

ECONOMY

Cape Verdean exports, imports and re-exports increased in 2010 for 33.1 percent (%), 10.0% and 28.2% respectively, compared to 2009, highlighting Spain in the ranking of the main customers of the archipelago, with 68.3% (Inforpress).

The inflation rate decreased by 0.3 % in January, being 3.1 per cent according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) (Inforpress).

TRANSPORT

The first effects of the fuel price hike are already being felt. The drivers of the minivans used to transport passengers between different cities and towns on the island of Santiago have decided not to wait for the Economic Regulation Agency (ARE) to update fares, and have increased the price they charge between Praia and the rest of the island (A Semana).

The price of the boat ticket between the islands of Santo Antão and São Vicente on the ship Mar d’Canal has dropped from 700 to 300 escudos. The new price table, which will be in effect until March 8, was adopted two months after the ship Sal Rei began operating along the same route and one day after a general fuel price hike in Cape Verde (A Semana).

AVIATION

Various dispatches issued February 11 by TACV Cabo Verde Airlines administrative council president António Neves have resulted in the termination of a number of postings and the transfer of a number of other airline employees. The company is in an uproar (A Semana).

BANKING

Portuguese Finance Ministry inspector Braga Paulo Silva, who is a witness in the BPN trial in Portugal, affirmed in court that the five million US dollars used to reinforce the capital of the now-defunct Banco Insular in Cape Verde were paid by BPN in an operation in which offshore banks connected to Portuguese business group SLN were used to disguise the dealings. The SLN-related offshore banks, for their part, had accounts open in BCP Cayman and Fortis United Kingdom (A Semana).

Banco do Brasil is also viewing possible takeover targets in Africa, with particular focus on Cape Verde and Angola (Reuters).

REAL ESTATE

The Stirling Mortimer Global Property fund has so far been repaid just €3.5m of the €9.8m its lawyers misappropriated from its Cape Verde cell, leaving a €6.3m hole in the Spanish property vehicle (IFA).

British investors and holiday home buyers are still in the market for overseas property, but in lower volumes and with much stricter criteria. Traditional destinations such as France remain popular with holidaymakers and are still attracting significant numbers of British buyers, as are emerging markets which have strong levels of investment and tourism, such as Cape Verde (Propertytalk).

TOURISM

Between two and three thousand tourists are expected to come to Cape Verde between February and September of this year as a direct result of the current unrest in Egypt. Cape Verde is the second most frequent destination, after the Canary Islands, to which European tourists with vacations scheduled for the North African country have been redirected in the wake of the conflicts there (A Semana).

PAICV WINS ABSOLUTE MAJORITY

The Electoral Process Support Department (DGAPE) has determined the 72 legislators who will be sworn in to the next legislature as a result of Sunday’s legislative elections. The PAICV conquered a total of 37 seats, an absolute majority. The MpD took 33 seats, while the UCID continues with two (A Semana).

Interestingly and contrary to the results of the municipal elections two years ago, that saw a landslide towards the MpD, voters now preferred the ruling party above the opposition on Santiago, Sao Vicente and Fogo. Only on Sal island did the MpD gain the upper hand. On all other islands as well as in the diaspora voting districts both parties were each others equals in terms of elected deputies.

Carlos Veiga, said that he won’t resign and despite the defeat on Sunday in the elections, he will take his place in Parliament and he won’t be a candidate in the presidential elections (AW).

The “dignified and responsible way” Carlos Veiga acknowledged the results of Sunday’s legislative elections was the object of praise on the part of Cape Verdean President Pedro Pires, who, in a message to Veiga, congratulated the MpD leader for his “high-minded participation and performance” during the campaign (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s main opposition party conceded defeat in parliamentary elections, but technical problems prevented official results from being published (Reuters Africa).

The African Union (AU) observer mission following the legislative elections in Cape Verde decided that the election was “free, transparent, regular and fair” (AW).

Thousands of Cape Verdeans came to Brockton on Sunday to vote in their country’s governmental elections, causing traffic snarls on Herrod Avenue and North Main Street, police said (Enterprise News).

Voters on Atlantico Weekly’s election poll for Cape Verde  were right in predicting that the ruling PAICV would win this time, with 52% of the vote. The poll is now closed.

INTERNATIONAL

A major cocaine bust in Spain is highlighting the growing drug-trafficking ties between Argentina and Europe and causing headaches for the government of Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. In the most recent case, the plane bound from Buenos Aires to Barcelona stopped over in Cape Verde for refueling. Argentina insisted that the drugs had been loaded there, not in Argentina, but they were proven wrong (New York Times).

Schooner Ernestina then began her third career as a Cape Verdean packet ship traveling across the Atlantic Ocean a dozen times visiting the ports of Providence and New Bedford from the Cape Verdean islands. The schooner was then gifted to the “people of the United States” as a sovereign gift between nations from the newly independent country of Cape Verde, and returned in 1982 (Westport News).

ECONOMY

Cape Verde, Ghana and Senegal are among the best countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which to invest, according to African Development Bank adviser Manuel Delacampagne. Transparency in government and a favorable business climate are among the factors that attract investors most (A Semana).

The on-line version of Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias published an article on February 5, about the “attributes” of Cape Verde. The piece, written by PhD in International Relations Bernardo Pires de Lima, provides an analysis of the political and economic mechanisms that have projected the country in the international arena in the past several years (A Semana).

The price of all petroleum-derived products will increase beginning midnight tonight, February 9. The most significant price hikes, however, according to information provided by the Economic Regulation Agency (ARE), will be seen in diesel, gasoline and kerosene (A Semana).

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AVIATION

The first international flight to leave from Portugal’s Beja airport, which is slated to take place in April, wll have Cape Verde as its destination, to mark the sister-city accord between the Portuguese municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo and São Filipe, on the island of Fogo (A Semana).

Work on the extension of the runway on Fogo, which will gain 300 meters in length, allowing São Filipe to receive slightly larger aircrafts and increase security in the landing and takeoff of the ATRs currently used to fly to the island of Fogo, is expected to be completed by May (A Semana).

CONSTRUCTION

Remodeling work on the Lombo Branco road and on the Ponta do Sol Palace of Justice, on the island of Santo Antão, has been adjudicated to Luís Frazão/Spencer Construções. The projects are budgeted at 167 million escudos and are being financed by the Cape Verdean government (A Semana).

REAL ESTATE

1st Global Financial Corporation announced that its is listed on the Frankfurt Exchange and that the Companies agreement with Conspectus Consultancy Corporation for the Republic of Cape Verde property of Copacabana (pictured) is moving forward (Marketwire).

TELECOMS

Cape Verdean mobile phone company Cabo Verde Móvel is one of the three companies competing for a third generation mobile phone license in the West African archipelago, the Portugal Telecom group, which controls 40 percent of the Cabo Verde Telecom group said in Lisbon (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Cape Verde is exclusive to Thomson and First Choice in the UK for the summer. Next winter, there will be even more flights to both Boa Vista and the exclusive resort of Sal in Cape Verde, from a selection of regional airports, including Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, East Midlands and Bristol. There will be choice of 10 and 11 night durations to this hot destination, offering customers even more choice and flexibility (source).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

PAICV WINS THIRD CONSECUTIVE TERM

Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves convincingly won a third time in office for his PAICV ruling party, with slightly over 50% of total votes cast, gaining an absolute majority in parliament. Capeverdeans apparently chose continuity above the change advocated by the opposition MpD.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves took on the “historic victory” of the PAICV in Cape Verde’s 2011 legislative elections “with humility,” with all indications pointing to an absolute majority for the incumbent governing party. Neves congratulated all Cape Verdeans and political parties for their contribution to the consolidation of democracy in Cape Verde (A Semana).

The leader of the MpD, Carlos Veiga, has publicly acknowledged that his party has lost the February 6 legislative elections. Veiga unequivocally said that he recognized the victory of the PAICV and of his rival, incumbent Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

See also News 24: Cape Verde’s socialist party said it had won an absolute majority in parliamentary polls, extending its 10-year rule of the diverse archipelago of beaches, valleys and volcanic rock.

Cape Verde’s main opposition party conceded defeat in parliamentary elections, but technical problems prevented official results from being published (Reuters Africa).

The President of the European Commission, Durao Barroso, congratulated  the President of the PAICV for the  victory in Sunday’s legislative  elections, considering to be “one more important step” for the consolidation of democracy in Cape Verde (AW).

The African Union (AU) observer mission following the legislative elections in Cape Verde decided that the election was “free, transparent, regular and fair” (AW).

Among diaspora voters, the PAICV took the majority in France (short margin), Lisbon (by more than 3000 votes) and the Americas (with a 2000 votes margin). The others results have yet to be made public (from voters in Senegal, Angola, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, etc) (AW).

Atlantico Weekly will bring you further analyses of Cape Verde’s election results in the next edition (February 11th).

Voters on Atlantico Weekly’s election poll for Cape Verde  were right in predicting that the ruling PAICV would win this time, with 52% of the vote. The poll is now closed.

INTERNATIONAL

Cape Verde currently occupies 118th place out of a total of 169 countries ranked in the Human Development Index list – higher than countries rich in resources such as Angola and Nigeria. According to the 2010 UNDP report, the percentage of the Cape Verdean population living in poverty also went down to 24% (A Semana).

Representatives from five Cape Verdean companies, as well as the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands Chambers of Commerce and the International Cape Verde Trade Fair (FIC), will participate in this year’s edition of the annual Cevisama trade fair in Valencia, Spain (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s Agency for Business Development and Innovation (ADEI) will promote a lecture entitled “The internationalization of small and mid-sized businesses in the global world” on Friday in Praia’s Hotel Trópico (A Semana).

Cape Verde will participate in the Boston Globe Travel Show, which takes place between February 11 and 13, through investment and tourism promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos and TACV Cabo Verde Airlines. The objective, according to Cabo Verde Investimentos administrator Eileen Barbosa, is to promote Cape Verde as a vacation destination among Americans and third- and fourth-generation Cape Verdeans in the United States (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

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AVIATION

The island of Boa Vista was the third most popular destination for charter passengers on flights departing from Portuguese capital Lisbon in 2010, with 25,753 passengers in both directions (A Semana).

FISHING

Authorities from the Xunta de Galicia and two representatives of the Government of Cape Verde held a meeting in order to strengthen cooperation relating to fisheries, the environment and tourism (FIS).

OIL

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.  announced that it expects to report a net loss between $12.0 million and $13.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.  Nevertheless the company plans to launch operations in Cape Verde, strategically located off the coast of Western Africa along major trade routes, in the first quarter. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. is an international marine fuel logistics company that markets and physically supplies refined marine fuel and lubricants to ships in port and at sea (PRNewswire).

SAO VICENTE

São Vicente district court has decided to continue to allow Cláudia Salomão, who is charged with the illegal sale of lands in the São Vicente municipal chamber, to await trial in freedom, with no modification to the condition that her place of residence be registered. The Public Ministry, supposedly based on evidence that she may be planning to flee, had requested that the court prohibit her from leaving the country (A Semana).