For a tidy sum I could have stayed. Everything is for sale in Angola, including fake residence permits. That was at least what one of Alberto's cousins was telling me when I was staying with his family
in the musseque. A thousand US Dollars and a declaration that my parents had returned for Portugal at independence should be sufficient. All I had to do was make a reasonable case for the fact that I am a Portuguese. Easy, since I spoke the language, right? I've been back home only a couple of days and am already missing Luanda. But nevertheless I politely declined the offer of staying in the Southern African country. Many Angolans feel that there are too many foreigners in their country as it is.
Weekly Angolense – one of the few trustworthy sources of information in Luanda, led by Suzana Mendez, the first female editor in chief of a newspaper in Angola – published an article this week about the police
cracking down on counterfeiters. A hell of a job if you realize that almost everything in Angola is available as a forgery and civil servants are deeply involved in these practices. The economic police started 'Operation Change' to dismantle the counterfeit industry for bank cheques, tax stamps, money, id's, diplomas, passports, working visa and residence permits. The last couple of days 12 people in Luanda have been arrested, 2 computers have been confiscated along with an enormous pile of fake documents, thus Angolense. A good thing I rejected that cousin's kind offer.
For a tidy sum I could have stayed. Everything is for sale in Angola, including fake residence permits. That was at least what one of Alberto's cousins was telling me when I was staying with his family in the musseque. A thousand US Dollars and a declaration that my parents had returned for Portugal at independence should be sufficient. All I had to do was make a reasonable case for the fact that I am a Portuguese. Easy, since I spoke the language, right? I've been back home only a couple of days and am already missing Luanda. But nevertheless I politely declined the offer of staying in the Southern African country. Many Angolans feel that there are too many foreigners in their country as it is.
