Portuguese American Journal

Portuguese American Journal

Featured Stories
Honor | Maria João Pires receives 2025 Helena Vaz da Silva European Award Opinion | Prime Minister Luís Montenegro meets President Xi Jinping Book | After the Carnations | By Daniela F. Melo Diplomacy | Prime Minister Luís Montenegro holds phone call with President Donald Trump Diplomacy | Rita Rico takes office as new United States Consul
 

Honor | Maria João Pires receives 2025 Helena Vaz da Silva European Award – Portugal

Pianist Maria João Pires, one of Portugal’s most distinguished cultural figures, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage. Presented annually by Europa Nostra, in collaboration with the Centro Nacional de Cultura and Clube Português de Imprensa, the award recognizes individuals who, […]

Opinion | Prime Minister Luís Montenegro meets President Xi Jinping – China

By Len Port Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday and urged him to use his influence on Russia’s Vladimir Putin to help bring about peace in Ukraine. Luís Montenegro is the first Portuguese government leader to visit Beijing in nearly a decade. His visit came just […]

Book | After the Carnations | By Daniela F. Melo & Paul C. Manuel – Editor’s Note

The Portuguese revolution of April 25, 1974, has drawn much well-deserved scholarly attention: it offers an innovative example of a leftist military-led revolutionary process that unexpectedly resulted in the transition to a West European-style social democracy. Although much of the existing scholarship has logically focused on the emerging political elites and institutions of the period, […]

Diplomacy | Prime Minister Luís Montenegro holds phone call with President Donald Trump – Portugal

Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro held a phone call today with U.S. President Donald Trump, reaffirming Portugal’s commitment to strengthening the long-standing ties between the two nations. During the conversation, both leaders discussed expanding cooperation across economic, political, and cultural areas, underscoring the shared values and strategic partnership that unite Portugal and the United States. […]

Diplomacy | Rita Rico takes office as new United States Consul – Azores

Rita Rico has officially assumed her post as the new United States Consul in the Azores. She replaces Margaret Campbell, who served as Principal Officer for the U.S. Consulate in Ponta Delgada from 2022 to July 2025. She was formally welcomed by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, during […]

Crime: The Madeleine McCann case and the media – By Len Port

01 May 2017

By Len Port, Contributor (*) The most reported and discussed missing person case ever recorded is still not only a highly contentious mystery, but also a personal tragedy that has been turned into a public farce by elements of the media. In the entirely predictable press frenzy surrounding the imminent 10th anniversary of the disappearance, […]

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Posted in Featured, Organizations, People, Portugal, World

Book: ‘Ualalapi: Fragments from the End of Empire’ by Esaú Cossa- Editor’s Note

25 April 2017

Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa first published Ualalapi: Fragments from the End of Empire in Portuguese in 1987. Named one of Africa’s hundred best books of the twentieth century, it reflects on Mozambique’s past and present through interconnected narratives related to the last ruler of the Gaza Empire, Ngungunhane. Defeated by the Portuguese in 1895, Ngungunhane […]

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Posted in Arts&Culture, Books, Featured, Heritage, Mozambique, People, Politics, Portugal, World

Today in History: Portuguese celebrate 43 years of constitutional democracy – Portugal

25 April 2017

Since 1974 “Freedom Day” is celebrated in Portugal — April 25 – as a national holiday to mark the bloodless military coup, supported by the civilian population, bringing democracy and civil liberties to the Portuguese people. After almost five decades of dictatorship (1937-1974), the Carnation Revolution, ended the Estado Novo regime, the longest dictatorship in Europe, […]

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Posted in Angola, Azores, Cape Verde, Community, East Timor, Faial, Featured, Guiné-Bissau, Heritage, Madeira, Mozambique, Organizations, People, Politics, Portugal, World

Santa Maria: Aerospace Airbus to build base to launch satellites into orbit – Azores

20 April 2017

The island of Santa Maria in the Azores is being considered by the aerospace company Airbus as a well-positioned place to build a space base from which rockets will launch small earth satellites into orbit, the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, revealed […]

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Posted in Azores, Featured, Heritage, Organizations, People, Portugal, Santa Maria, Terceira

Book: ‘The Paras: Portugal’s First Elite Force in Africa,1961-1974’ – Editor’s Note

18 April 2017

Portuguese paratroopers or “paras” began as a stepchild of the army and found a home in the Portuguese Air Force in 1955. Initially, the post-World War Two Portuguese Army seemed to have had mixed emotions about the need for elite, special-purpose forces that operated in small units with the attendant flexibility and elevated lethality. Shock […]

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Posted in Angola, Arts&Culture, Books, Featured, Heritage, Portugal

Ciganos: Portuguese Roma in major German photo project – By Len Port

16 April 2017

By Len Port, Contributor (*) Romani families in Portugal recently welcomed into their homes a professional German photographer, Florian Schwarz, to take portraits for a unique exhibition to illustrate the diversity of migrant communities across Europe. Schwarz’s focus on Romani people, more commonly known in English as Gypsies and in Portuguese as Ciganos, was the […]

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Posted in Featured, Heritage, People, Portugal, World