Our Autonomy, almost 50 years old, has come to its senses.
The people who make it and those who have the most remarkable ability to influence its path are the ones who steer it.
The Autonomy of the Azores was first proposed with the dream of the much-vaunted “harmonious development,” eliminating the centralism of the three district capitals.
The truth is that today, the smaller islands are saying – some quietly and others more loudly – that they don’t feel much difference from the influences of yesteryear.
Even those who meddle in the championship of the former districts, as is the case with the island of Pico, are quickly sent backward because the usual three are still first.
Pico’s potential has been a hotchpotch in this league of influences, but tradition is still what it was, and the behind-the-scenes games of power and politics still weigh heavily.
Pico has been dramatically damaged by this ‘capitalist’ mentality, as we have seen in many areas of investment, to the detriment of the people and the island’s economy, which is strangled.
What is currently happening with the lack of flights to the island is symptomatic.
While SATA is reinforcing the ‘capital’ islands, some of which don’t need reinforcing (because it has to serve its political clients), Pico, which has been more sought after than some of them, is experiencing a lack of seats for the 4th week in a row, due to the negligence of SATA and the Regional Secretariat for Transport, which ignore the successive records of passengers disembarking on the island and the growing demand, even in these post-summer months.
The height of negligence (and a lot of incompetence) is now accompanied by complaints from the Pico Airport Group, according to which Horta Hospital is sending patients from Pico to spend the night in Faial and catch a plane in Faial to go to São Miguel and Lisbon the next day for their appointments. In some cases, the patient bears the cost of the stay.
“We are doubly penalized for not having a hospital and now forcing people to cross the channel to catch the plane as well, as well as having to pay extra for accommodation, due to the incompetence of the Horta Hospital services, because they don’t book the trips in advance and because of the lack of seats in Pico!” the group denounced.
The Association of Municipalities of Pico, led by social democrat Catarina Manito, protested this week, confirming that there is unease, even among supporters of the government coalition, about SATA’s deafness and the negligence of the Regional Directorate of Transport, which remains asleep in the face of this problem, when it should have ordered the carrier to carry out the extra flights that are necessary.
This is how you strangle an island, because you have the nerve to interfere in the championship of the ‘big ones’, the ones where political influence still rules, to fill their airports with movements that should be distributed to the other islands that benefit less.
This “harmonious development” is ground that has already yielded grapes, even in the land where the most wine is produced, making the “capitals” jealous of the international awards they are winning.
But these awards are only worthwhile for tourism on the big islands so that some can strut their stuff on the international stage… also at the expense of the small ones.

Osvaldo Cabral
Editorial Diário dos Açores 24-11-2024

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers and writers from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the significant opinions on some of the archipelago’s issues.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL)