In Mozambique no one speaks freely. “Please don’t put me at risk,” is heard every time the Observer speaks to a Portuguese emigrant in this African country. In recent days, Mozambique has been the scene of revolts, with the population taking to the streets to demonstrate against the electoral results of October 9, alleging electoral fraud and demanding the fall of the party that does not renounce power. To contain the protests, the police have shot at protesters and used tear gas. The revolt has spread to various parts of the country and the points of controversy “gain more and more strength,” says a Portuguese.

In the next few hours, a total cutoff of all communications is expected – the mobile internet having already been cut off – and there are those who are already telling their lives. They do not want to leave Mozambique (at least for the moment), but they ask the Portuguese Government to give the signal that it is aware of the situation and is willing to act if necessary. “We feel a little alone,” they say, as they anxiously await Thursday, the day when Maputo is expected to be the scene of a large demonstration. For now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs guarantees that, if necessary, the plan to deport Portuguese citizens is ready to go ahead.

To contact those who are currently in Mozambique, it is necessary to use WhatsApp. And on the other hand, it will only be possible to receive and answer the call if the person has their cell phone connected to Wi-Fi or has a VPN correctly installed. “I speak because I have a VPN, otherwise I couldn’t do it and I can only do it until I am discovered. They do it to silence people,” says Ana, who emigrated to Mozambique. The name is fictitious; The woman fears retaliation if she speaks openly against the government and Frelimo, the ruling party that claims to have won the last presidential election.

Ana experiences the conflict in Mozambique with different eyes: “I have Portuguese ancestry and was born in Africa. I have a great love for this land, I live it as a Mozambican and not as a Portuguese.” The businesswoman gets emotional talking about the country from which she was expelled in 1975, along with her parents, forcing her to return to Portugal. “Now I stopped being afraid, I post what I want on Facebook. This time I will not flee from here, I will die for Mozambique,” ​​he guarantees.

About fifteen days after the elections in Mozambique, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) gave victory to the Frelimo candidate, Daniel Chapo, in the elections for President of the Republic. The opposition Venâncio Mondlane, supported by Podemos, came in second place, but did not recognize the results. Instead, he called for a general strike and demonstrations for a week (between October 31 and November 7). In recent days, said the president of the Mozambique Medical Association (AMM), at least 16 people have died due to episodes of violence that followed the elections and another 108 have been shot.

Leaving the country is the “safest idea”

“It is not the people who are wrong, nor these demonstrations. It’s the other side. What we are seeing is an angry people, who only want freedom, for the government to fall and for their vote to be validated. These demonstrations show that they do not want war, because if they had not come out with machetes and javelins and destroyed everything,” says Ana. The Portuguese-Mozambican feels “that there will be a turning point and a change if Mondlane manages to fulfill his will to make Mozambique a free country”, but he does not believe “it will be easy”. “Before it gets better, it will get a lot worse… I’m not afraid of the people, I’m afraid of the police, this government and this corruption.”

Despite feeling comfortable in Mozambique and refusing to leave the country, Ana says that the Portuguese she has spoken to “feel completely abandoned by the Portuguese authorities, because there is no news from the embassy.” The complaint is common to some other Portuguese in the country that the Observer heard. One of these people, who has lived in Mozambique for 12 years, says these tensions are unlike any other he has witnessed.

For The Observer, he says that there is a different environment and that “things are gaining momentum.” He considers that the country is reaching the culmination of a situation that was “predictable at least two weeks ago”, since, since the challenge to the electoral results became known, more and more people have joined the protests. In recent nights, in several residential buildings in the city of Maputo, protesters approached the windows to bang on pots, causing an intense sound that echoes throughout the street, a movement that has already been called “panelaço”. Some videos of these moments have been shared on social networks.

“We realize that things are growing and we are somewhat afraid of how it will end,” says one of the Portuguese interviewed by the Observer. This emigrant does not have the idea of ​​returning to Portugal in his plans, but the possibility is not completely ruled out: “The safest idea is to leave, it is something that is always present, but it depends on what happens in the next few days” .

At the moment, he guarantees that he is not “afraid to go out”, but admits that he is “somewhat afraid”. “Fortunately, where we live we can say that it is calm, but here the calm can give a false sense of security. There is fear of uncertainty,” he says.

Doctors marched in Maputo with a request: “Stop killing our people”

Business closed and blackout of communications: how has day-to-day life changed?

Some Portuguese interviewed by the Observer claim that in recent days there have been some changes to their daily routine, although they have still managed to maintain a certain normality.

One of the emigrants – who also requests anonymity – says that she tried to fill her pantry “on time”, preparing for any shortage of products in the supermarkets. In the area where this Portuguese lives, no lack of food has been noticed so far (the only difference that is noticeable is the opening hours). However, this is not the reality throughout the city: there are Portuguese who say that this Tuesday there was already a drop in the number of vegetables available on the shelves.

As for commerce, the majority of establishments are closed (around 90%), says one of the Portuguese interviewed by El Observador. This is essentially due to the fact that there is no transportation that guarantees the movement of employees from their homes to their workplaces, as a result of the levels of participation in the strike.

Another of the most noticeable changes was the cutting of mobile data, and in the coming days the situation is expected to worsen: although there is still no official information, information is circulating that there will be a blackout total, that is, all communications will be turned off. “This is a bit scary,” admits one of the Portuguese, who adds that in recent days he has been working from home.

There is also control over all information transmitted in the media. The Portuguese interviewed by the Observer say that sometimes the news says that a certain road has been reopened. However, not only were the population unaware that this section had been closed, but no details were shared about the reason for the blockade. “In the news the topics are different,” says one of the Portuguese.

MNE: “There is a well-thought-out structure” if it is necessary to expel the Portuguese

Right now, for those in Mozambique, it all comes down to November 7th. “Thursday will be almost like the test of nine. We will see what the reaction will be,” says one of the emigrants interviewed by the Observer. This is a large demonstration planned in Maputo.

It was marked by opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane to mark the end of seven days of strike and is expected to spread through the city’s central avenues. So far it is not known how the Podemos party is organizing the entire party, but the Portuguese in Mozambique are “waiting”. One of them even admits that if tensions rise to the point that they force the army to fight with all its strength against the protesters (starting a civil war), he will not think twice before leaving the country.

“We believe that it will not be necessary to leave, but we must always leave the door open, because there is uncertainty,” says another Portuguese in Mozambique, adding that he trusts that the Portuguese government will intervene if necessary.

On October 30, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an information note on its website recommending that Portuguese people in Mozambique “avoid popular gatherings and maintain additional security precautions”, taking “appropriate precautionary measures”.

Furthermore, there was no other communication, a position that has generated criticism from emigrants in Mozambique: “We feel a little alone here. At this time we do not believe that any evacuation plans are being prepared or considered. Taking measures must be individual and with networks local… It seems like no one thought this could go wrong.”

Questioned by the Observer, the MNE guarantees that “there is always a structure designed for this or other countries to respond to possible evacuation needs, but at this moment they are not justified.” And he adds that, to date, no requests for help have been made by Portuguese residents in Mozambique (or by family members residing in national territory).

Elections in Mozambique. “We will do everything possible” to help dialogue between political forces, stated the Portuguese Foreign Minister

Last Monday, Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel stated that Portugal was “following the situation very closely.” “We have made some contacts through our embassy,” he said, adding the guarantee that the situation in the country was being monitored “with a great desire for things to go well, for the results and electoral records to appear and be published.” ”. .

About two days before the planned demonstration in Maputo, Ana, who has lived in Mozambique for 15 years, refuses to say whether she will participate in the protest: “I don’t want to miss Thursday’s departure, but I have already suffered many reprisals and received many threats. Here we live a whirlwind of emotions. Suicidal emotions: we are capable of giving our body for a cause that is also ours.”

Last Monday, the head of Foreign Affairs of Mozambique met with diplomats to ask for their collaboration to end the demonstrations in the streets of the country. However, so far this has not happened; On the contrary, participation in the protests has maintained and has even shown signs of increasing. At the same time, the Mozambican government continues to give no concrete signs of how it plans to act to calm the tensions of recent weeks.