Africa-Press – Cape verde. The President of the Republic addressed, this Sunday, 06, an acknowledgment to all security forces, fire services and civil protection, health services, public authorities and also civil society, all “deserving of tributes” on National Defense Day. .
In a statement, the Head of State recalls that the date was established in 2009, and that it had its origin in praising the “altruistic and patriotic” way shown by Cape Verdeans in the fight to contain the spread of the Dengue Epidemic.
A similar situation, he said, occurred recently with the covid-19 pandemic, from which it was possible to extract “teachings that should guide our future, in terms of strategies and behaviors”.
Date should be “more comprehensive and fairer”
“One of the lessons is our vulnerability to health crises, with lethal effects comparable to those produced by war. Another lesson has to do with the unconditional surrender of our Armed Forces and other National Defense Institutions in this fight, showing a spirit of mission and dedication on a different battlefield, but with an equally dangerous enemy, as the Covid-19 virus has revealed. ” he observed.
For this reason, José Maria Neves defended that associating the date exclusively with the Armed Forces “is a little reductive”, so, in his view, it should be more comprehensive and fairer.
“The National Police, the Volunteer Firefighters, the Civil Protection Services, the Red Cross, the Health Services, public and private authorities, as well as all civil society, are equally deserving of the tributes when what is on the agenda is Defense National. Whenever circumstances demanded it, they showed an enormous spirit of sacrifice, abnegation and resilience, which allowed us to win these successive battles”, he praised.
“Spirit of the Constitution”
This “djunta mon”, he considered, is the translation, in practice, of the spirit of the Constitution of the Republic, according to which “national defense is the coordinated disposition, integration and action of all the energies and moral and material forces of the Nation, in the face of to any form of threat or aggression, with the aim of permanently guaranteeing the unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Cape Verde”.
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