Portugal’s role in the Titanic sub rescue attempt // Arrests over illegal clam exporting and worker exploitation allegations
Portuguese news in English on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
Portugal’s role in the Titanic sub rescue attempt
A Portuguese engineer was one of the first in the world to learn about the submersible that imploded on the way to the Titanic, Publico reports. The call for help came from an English company that OceanGate — operators of the doomed Titan — had contracted to manage the search operations. They were looking for a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and António Calado from the Mission Structure for the Extension of the Continental shelf had just the thing. The Luso has been used to map the ocean floor more than 200 nautical miles from the Portuguese coast (basically in order to give the government the right to exploit any resources there) and is capable of reaching depths of up to 6000 metres. Calado said he called international agencies and even began worrying he was spreading fake news when they hadn’t heard about the mission. In the end, the Luso was too far to reach the Titan in time but stood in standby in case it was needed for a recovery operation. A Canadian ROV ended up finding a debris field near the Titanic that led rescuers to conclude the Titan had suffered a “catastrophic implosion”, killing all five people aboard.
Arrests over illegal clam exporting and worker exploitation allegations
Police are shocked by the conditions they found in a raid on a group accused of exploiting workers and illegally exporting clams harvested in the Tejo River, Público reports. They expected a “bad situation” but ended up finding 80 migrants living in “rooms” with eight or nine beds, stove burners sitting next to jerrycans, cockroaches and other rubbish. The migrants were paying €270 to €320 a month. In all, 243 migrants, mostly from places like Thailand, Pakistan and India, were allegedly being used to harvest the clams. Police allege the heads of the organisation are among the three Portuguese people arrested in the anti-human-trafficking operation carried out last week. They faced court and were released on a type of conditional bail, Público reports. The migrants were taken to pavilions made available by the Montijo and Alcochete councils but many were able to leave under their own steam. The Alcochete mayor called for action to stamp out the growing problem or find ways to turn the work legal rather than exploitation.
Long wait for questioning over Discoveries Monument graffiti
The Portuguese justice system is known for being slow, and the case against two French people who allegedly graffitied Lisbon’s Discoveries Monument is no exception, Público reports. A year and a half passed between someone spraying “blindly sailing for monney (sic), humanity is drowning in a scarllet (sic) sea” and Portuguese authorities asking their French counterparts to interrogate the suspects. Ten of those months were spent waiting for a 19-page document including the questions to be asked to be translated into French. Police had called for a European arrest warrant to be issued, but the prosecutor in charge ruled that was disproportionate to the alleged crime, which cost €2500 to wash off. They say the graffiti tag Leila Lakel, who was a student in Portugal at the time, was sprayed on the monument and her boyfriend's tag was found in several other places, including on national monuments, aggravating the allegations to the point of possible prison time. The statue was graffitied again last week.
In brief
Authorities announce plan after Portuguese football rocked by human trafficking scandal. SEF is investigating the BSports academy and the now-resigned president of the general assembly of the Portuguese football league on suspicion of human trafficking. Thirty-three foreign minors were taken from the academy as they were “in danger”, the regional prosecutor alleged. (Público)
Three national debates over decolonising museums. Researchers, historians, archeologists and more met at multiple events over the past week to discuss what to do with non-European art and collection. (Público)
Just dozens of fines issued in three years since cigarette butt law introduced. Authorities, who’ve wrapped up 162 processes netting about €16,000 in fines, say the law against dropping butts on the ground is hard to police. (Público)
Two arrested after stowing away on Portugal-flagged ship. The captain called the marine police for help, saying the crew was being subject to serious threats against their lives and the safety of the boat, which had disembarked in Turkey. (Expresso)
Almost 800,000 foreigners live in Portugal and 30% are Brazilian. The number of foreigners jumped 11.9% last year to 781,915. Britons were the second most common foreigners (5.8%), followed by citizens of Cape Verde, India, Italy, Angola, France, Ukraine, Nepal and Guinea-Bissau. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
The biggest exhibition of urban art in Portugal’s history has opened in Lisbon, Público reports. Photojournalist Martha Cooper is one of 18 artists invited to create site-specific works for Urban [R]Evolution, which will be on show at the Cordoaria Nacional until December. Other names include Shepard Fairey, famous for creating the Barack Obama Hope poster and Vhils, Portugal’s most well-known street artist, who played a role in organising the event.