Portal da Açorianidade

The President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, started this Thursday an official visit to the United States of America with a meeting with the current governor of the State of Massachusetts, Karyn Polito, and also established a dialogue with “prestigious politicians of Portuguese descent” from that state. At the Massachusetts State House, José Manuel Bolieiro and the Azorean committee were hosted by Senator Michael Rodrigues, a third generation Luso-american. “A visit from the President of the Government of the Azores always requires a direct relation with the fellow citizens of Portuguese and Azorean origin and with their successful stories in culture, economics and politics”, declared the President of the Government to the journalists, at a meeting where António Cabral, born on the island of Pico and a member of the House of Representatives, was also present. For the President of the Government, it is essential to have a “strategic proximity” between the region and the politicians elected in the United States with a view to the “full integration of Azoreans” in that country. The “successful integration” of these political leaders was praised by José Manuel Bolieiro, proof of the “full integration” of these “good friends” into the American society. José Manuel Bolieiro is the guest of honour of this year’s Great Feast of the Holy Ghost of New England, where he will participate at the event’s opening this afternoon, at Kennedy Park, in the city of Fall River. Before that, the Azorean committee proceeds to the University of Massachusetts – Lowell: José Manuel Bolieiro accompanied by the Regional Directors for the Communities and for External Cooperation counts with the presence of the Rector of the University of the Azores, Susana Mira Leal, and the President of the General Council of the University of the Azores, Elias Pereira. The purpose to bring the representatives of the University of the Azores to the United States, says the President, is to seek a “larger institutional proximity” with this North-American academy, namely in what concerns investigation or the exchange of teachers and students. These working days in the United States will also include, besides the attendance to the Festivities, the presentation of the Bellis Azórica publishing project, for the US edition of emblematic works of the Azorean literature, and a visit to the exhibition dedicated to the painter Domingos Rebelo in New Bedford.