In recent weeks, an extraordinary phenomenon has been observed in Madeiran politics: everyone has suddenly discovered the Madeiran communities abroad. This is a real competition between political parties to see who reaches the communities first, who takes the most photographs and who manages to issue the most press releases about the visit.
The JPP party decided to start with Jersey, sending a delegation led by Élvio Sousa, the party leader, accompanied by Mariusky Spinola and António Trindade. Sancho Gomes, the regional director of Madeiran Communities, also headed to Jersey. Rui Abreu, the government official responsible for communities, preferred warmer destinations, travelling to La Guaira, in Venezuela, after the events there.
At the centre of this battle is also Carlos Fernandes, a political figure who responds to JPP and comments on issues about Venezuela, Ukraine and Madeiran communities. Paulo Cafôfo, the former secretary for Communities, adopted a different strategy, choosing not to enter the fray and stepping away from the community topic.
A dispute also arose over money transfers to the communities: JPP claims the Regional Government did not transfer funds, while the government insists it did. In the end, the article concludes ironically that nobody really knows who is winning this war, noting that JPP discovered Jersey, Rui discovered La Guaira, Sancho discovered he is not in charge, Carlos discovered opponents everywhere and Cafôfo discovered "arepas."
