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Republic of Cape Verde - Politics
 Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires He returned to Africa in the 1950s, and began forming independence movements on the continent. He was instrumental in the formation of the PAIGC or Partido Africano da Independncia da Guin e Cabo Verde (Portuguese: African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde). He also worked to form a liberation party in Angola with Agostinho Neto. Beginning in 1962, Cabral led the PAIGC in a military conflict against the Portuguese imperial forces. The goal of the conflict was to attain independence for both Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde. Over the course of the conflict, the party won land gains, and Cabral was made the de facto leader of many parcels of land in Guinea-Bissau. In 1972, Cabral began to form a People's Assembly in preparation for an independent African nation, but a disgruntled former associate assassinated him in January of 1973 before he could see his work bear fruit. He was assassinated in Conakry. Amilcar Cabral International Airport, Cape Verde's principal international airport at Sal, is named for him. The most informative and balanced account of the Cabral and the PAIGC is "Warriors at Work" by Mustafa Dhada. Amilcar Cabral's political thought and role in the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde is discussed at some length in Chris Marker's film, Sans Soleil.
Economy
Cape Verde is a small nation that lacks resources and has experienced severe droughts as well as water shortages. Agriculture is somewhat stymied by lack of rain, and is restricted to only four islands for most of the year. Most of the nation's GDP is from the services industry. Cape Verde's economy has largely grown since the late 1990s, and it is now considered a country of average human development. Cape Verde has significant cooperation with Portugal at every level of the economy, leading it to link its currency first to the Portuguese escudo, and, in 1999, to the euro. Former Portuguese prime minister Jos Manuel Duro Barroso, now (second semester 2004) president of the European Commission, has promised to help integrate Cape Verde within the European Union sphere of influence via greater cooperation with Portugal. In March 2005, former Portuguese president Mrio Soares launched a petition urging the European Union to start membership talks with Cape Verde. NATURAL RESOURCES: Salt, Basalt rock, limestone, kaolin, fish, clay, gypsum, (natural gas reserves are said to have been found late 2005 in the coastal waters) INDUSTRY: food and beverages, fish processing, shoes and garments, salt mining AGRICULTURE: bananas, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, fish EXPORTS: fuel, shoes, garments, fish, hides
Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, 2004
Demographics
Most inhabitants of Cape Verde are mestios, descendants of the white Portuguese settlers and black African slaves. Mestios’ European ancestors also include Spanish and Italian seamen who were granted land by Portuguese Empire and followed by Portuguese settlers and exiles and Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition. The remainder includes mostly pure blacks and pure whites (most Portuguese stepped out of the country after independence). Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British (English), Arabs and Jews (from Lebanon and Morocco), Chinese (especially from Macau), Americans, and Brazilians (including people of Portuguese and African descent) settlers. All of these have been absorbed into the mestio population. More Cape Verdeans live abroad than in Cape Verde, with significant emigrant Cape Verdean communities in the United States (500,000 Cape Verdians), Portugal (80,000) and Angola (45,000). There are also significant number of Cape Verdeans in So Tom and Prncipe, Senegal, France, Brazil and the Netherlands. Cape Verdean populations also settled Spain, Germany, and other CPLP countries (Brazil and Guinea-Bissau).
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