In September 2022, Jim Costa was in Ukraine. The member of the House of Representatives, the grandson of Portuguese emigrants from the island of Terceira, in the Azores, reminds the Observer of the scene of destruction he witnessed in Bucha, on the outskirts of kyiv. “It was a good neighborhood. It was attacked and completely burned during the second week of the invasion that began in February 2022. From that visit, the congressman also remembers that the streets and squares of the Ukrainian capital were “empty”.

“One year later,” many things have changed. Jim Costa returned to the Ukrainian capital. “The traffic was normal, the streets were full of people, the shops and restaurants were open and people ate on the terraces,” says the congressman, who was in Lisbon this Monday for the eighth time. Legislator Dialogue, organized by the Luso-American Foundation for Development (FLAD). He highlights that the fact that the United States of America (USA) sent Patriot air defense systems in April 2023 contributed to this peaceful atmosphere in kyiv.

The Democratic congressman has been one of the strongest voices in favor of sending military, financial and humanitarian aid from the United States to Ukraine. Although he does not know how long this war will last, Jim Costa insists that it is important to “support” kyiv. Personally, he even says that “put pressure” on the Biden administration so that the Ukrainians could attack at “long distance”using American weapons, on Russian territory near Kharkiv.

“I would put Putin on the same list as Saddam Hussein,” says Jim Costa

Jim Costa, who has been in Ukraine “for three months in the last 18 months,” is closely monitoring the state of the conflict and guarantees that he will return to the country “in the coming months.” Regarding Vladimir Putin’s latest ceasefire proposal (which, he said, he would be willing to negotiate if Ukrainian troops left the provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhia), the US congressman is categorical: “This is not the basis for an agreement.”

In a context in which more and more Americans question the economic support sent to kyiv, Jim Costa recalls that European support “is already equivalent” to North American support. “Many people in the United States say that it is too far away, that it is a European problem. These people do not understand the threat,” says the congressman, who points out that he maintains contacts with the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, and other Eastern European politicians. “They know what it’s like to live in the Soviet Union.” underlines, praising the commitment of Poland, Romania and the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in supporting Ukraine.

Regarding the Russian president, the congressman, elected from the city of Fresno, located in the state of California, has no doubts. “He is a war criminal. He bombed schools and hospitals. He would put Putin in the same category as Saddam Hussein. [ex-Presidente do Iraque] and other war criminals,” he emphasizes, recalling that, in April 2022, he was “sanctioned by the Kremlin.” “It’s like a medal of honor,” he says ironically, laughing.

The “unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine demonstrated, Jim Costa says, Putin’s “lack of respect for democracy, democratic nations and the rule of law.” The head of state of Russia continues to confront the Ukrainian people “who are fighting for their sovereignty and democracy.” “I think President Biden, with strong European support, really gives Ukraine the support it needs to defend itself.”

Asked about the five-month delay in the House of Representatives in approving the aid package of 60 billion dollars (about 56 billion euros) to Ukraine, Jim Costa reveals his discontent with the Republicans, particularly with the former president and current Republican candidate, Donald Trump, due to his opposition to aid and the lack of consensus on immigration policy, used it as a bargaining chip for the approval of the package.

“We have a problem at the border. We need a new plan. We had a new plan and Trump said he didn’t want it. “I wanted to campaign and use the issue to get elected.”the Democratic congressman denounces, describing this attitude as “scandalous.”

The North American elections are a “historic moment,” highlights Jim Costa

Assuming himself as an eternal student of “World and North American History,” the congressman believes that the upcoming presidential elections — between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump — will be “historical” and will have an “impact on Europe and En everyone.” He often tells the group of students he is speaking to that it will be a “crucial moment in history.”

Recalling the events of recent times, Jim Costa lists “the rise of populism in Europe and the United States of America” and the “attacks on social networks and in podcasts to democratic institutions.” Outside the West we can see, he emphasizes, the “Rise of dictators”whether “in Russia, China, North Korea or Iran.”

It is in this context that the North American presidential elections will be held, in a world that, he highlights, has “changed”, particularly since February 24, 2022, the date on which Russia invaded Ukraine. Jim Costa also remembers the D-Day 80th anniversary ceremonies on June 6 and the last G7 summit, two events in which he believes a “line” was drawn between democracies and autocracies.

Ukraine at the center of the day D. Biden and Macron promised to help Zelensky against those who want to “change borders by force”

That ceremony, he continues, showed “developing nations” that there is a “clear alternative”: a political option based on “human rights and freedoms, which are “enjoyed in Portugal and the United States.” This is what is at stake in these elections and it is ““That is why elections are so important.”reiterates, adding that it is expected that “more good decisions will be made than bad” in the electoral events “in Europe, in the United States and among allies.”

Asked what would happen if Donald Trump is re-elected, Jim Costa goes back to January 6, 2021. That day, while the election results were being certified at the Capitol, pro-Trump protesters invaded the headquarters of the North American legislature. branch. “I was in the galleries when the votes were counted. I was trapped,” he recalls.

In this moment of desperation, when the police were trying to control the protesters, one idea continued to haunt the mind of the congressman, who considers himself a “strong defender of democratic values.”: “How fragile American democracy could be.” This explains what consequences there could be if Donald Trump reaches the White House again.

The grandparents who left the Azores to go to the United States, which continues to be the “land of opportunities”

Throughout the interview, Jim Costa made it a point to show the Observer several photographs in California, where he lives. Despite the distance, he always maintained a connection with Portugal, where his grandparents are from. For example, the congressman showed photographs of four tiles, some of which show Terceira Island.

It was from that island in the Azores that his grandfather left for the United States in 1897. “He had a brother who worked with cows in California. And I told him that, if he worked hard, maybe he would have more opportunities” than if he stayed in the Azores. Now, Jim Costa’s grandfather went to California when he was 15 and didn’t even say anything to “his mother and his father.” “He was afraid they wouldn’t let him out at 15.”

At that time, his grandfather thought that “he could succeed” in the United States and return to the Azores. “I was going to have the life of a king,” says the congressman, laughing, in Portuguese. However, it does not happened; The relative never “saw his parents again” and he stayed in the United States, where he built a life in California.

It was at that time that his grandfather moved to California, marrying a woman also originally from Terceira and who arrived in that North American state in 1906, on a train from Boston. “When I announced that he was going to be a congressman, in 2004, “I decided to announce my campaign at the train station where my grandmother left.”

For Jim Costa, the United States is an “incredible country” that allowed people who “neither had money nor spoke English” to rise, just as his family did. This mystique, the congressman believes, is still present in the United States. “There are opportunities if you know how to work. People who want to be successful can do it.”