There is a Portugal that lives outside its borders and, despite the distance, remains more Portuguese than many who inhabit the mainland. This other Portugal is called the diaspora, a living and scattered body that carries with it not only a flag, but the very continuation of the nation. And among the many destinations that have welcomed Portuguese people over the centuries, the United States of America is perhaps the most striking example of the strength, tenacity, and creativity of this people when forced to start over under a different sky.
Emigration to America was never an escape, but an act of courage. Men and women with little in their pockets and much in their souls set sail, taking with them their ancient language, intrinsic faith, strict habits, and a discipline forged in the labor of the fields and the ocean. Upon arrival, they encountered strangeness, mistrust, and hardship. Where many would have retreated, the Portuguese advanced. They resisted. They worked. They built. They succeeded, not through concessions or favors, but through merit, sweat, and persistence.
The Portuguese in America integrate intelligently, but never dilute themselves. They work harder than average, invest beyond their means, create wealth with determination, and rise through their own efforts, without privilege. They adapt to the country that welcomes them, but keep the memory of their homeland intact, as an intimate heritage. They keep cod on the table, the Holy Spirit in their faith, fado in their hearts, and saudade in their blood. Teach future generations that Portugal is not just a place, but a legacy. Live between two worlds, even though your heart remains most loyal to the first.
So here is the inevitable question. Will Portugal be equally loyal to those who have never ceased to be loyal to it? The diaspora continues to send remittances, start businesses, spread culture, defend the language, and raise the Portuguese name overseas. However, how often does the state truly recognize it? How often does it only remember it when it needs a large and convenient vote? It is often celebrated in speeches but ignored in action.
Portugal sometimes forgets that those who left did not abandon it, but only sought air to grow. In America, Portuguese flourishes because it finds reward for merit, freedom for talent, and encouragement for ambition. It did not cease to be Portuguese, it was simply allowed to be greater. It is a living mirror of what the homeland could achieve if it freed the individual from heavy-handed guardianship, useless bureaucracy, and the leveling that so often crushes merit in favor of stagnation.
The diaspora is not a memory kept in an old drawer. It is an active force and living capital. It is the moral, economic, and cultural extension of a nation that has not yet fully understood the value it has spread throughout the world. As long as Portugal treats it as a photograph faded by time, it will lose one of the most powerful instruments of its own projection.
Portuguese in the United States is not a closed chapter, it is a work in progress. It is a free, hard-working, and thriving Portugal, often more vibrant overseas than within its own borders. If the homeland wants a solid future, it will have to recognize that a significant part of its energy lies in other time zones. To ignore this evidence is to voluntarily cripple the very lifeblood of the nation.
César DePaço
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Honorary Consul of Portugal from 2014 to 2020
Founder and CEO of Summit Nutritionals International Inc.
President of the DePaço Foundation
Unwavering supporter of Law Enforcement and Conservative Principles
Source: LusoAmericano