Cape Verde. The Facts.

My name is Rui Coelho and I work on behalf of the Cape Verde Initiative (CVI) as the New Business Development Manager.

Personally, I am very well travelled and have seen many countries and cultures along the way. I speak fluent Portuguese, English and Spanish.

My primary job is to sort the "wheat from the chafe" as far as the rumours are concerned regarding the Cape Verde Islands, working as a fact finder with the main aim to build business relations for the Islands both with the foreign public and businesses alike.

In a nutshell, I am here to find the actual answers that everyone needs regarding what is happening, likely to happen, or indeed has happened in the past. From the price of eggs, to the next changes in legislation regarding property purchasing laws.

For those of you that don't know, an example of how the rumours about the Islands can get out of control, and the very reason for this blog, The Cape Verde Oracle.

The most prevalent and recent one to date that we just can’t seem to verify even existed in the first place is the proposed/quoted ban on sale of property or land to foreigners!
The internet seems to be rife with repeated posting and reworking of an article that seems to eminate from property giant Assetz. Assetz posted an article on their news service claiming the following,

Cape Verde - the rumours are untrue

Now with all the will in the world, the original quote from Alexandre Fontes doesn’t seem to exist anywhere on the web, not on Assetz, the newspaper A Semana, Portugal News Online, or anywhere else for that matter! Without throwing any stones here, one has to question if this is not perhaps a rumour that didn’t exist in the first place!

The whole point of The Cape Verde Initiative, my position, the tourist board and the Foreign Affairs department here on the islands is to avoid these kinds of things and ensure that the public are aware of the facts, as opposed to an armchair guide written by someone who has never been there, or promoting something that has a vested interest in rumour mongery.

The response reportedly from the Government to all of this was made public in a radio interview conducted with Fatima Fialho, Cape Verdes’ Minister for Economy in which she is quoted to have said, "The policy of this Government is to promote foreign investment and negotiations with each promoter will continue to be the same. Every time there is an investor proposal, either national or from overseas, it will be analysed."

If you have heard something about Cape Verde that you would like clarified, feel free to post here on the blog itself, or send me an e-mail directly with as much information as you can, and if I don’t know the answer, rest assured I’ll find it!