An ambassador’s postbag usually consists of a few gold-edged invitations to
state occasions – instead, Antonio Santana Carlos is swamped by emotional
letters from the British public about the disappearance of a little girl.
After Madeleine McCann went missing, the onslaught was overwhelmingly
negative. Now, he says, it is mixed – the impassioned camp of
Portuguese-blamers, joined by those who condemn the parents, with a lunatic
fringe unhealthily excited by the case and who think that they know where
the body is. Six months on the mail keeps coming.
Perhaps initially it was some relief for Mr Santana Carlos to come to London
after years of conducting highly sensitive negotiations over the hand-over
of Macau to China. But only six months after he arrived in Britain the
McCann case broke and he was back in a diplomatic minefield.
Some reports in the British press branded the Portuguese police as lazy,
inept, secretive and drunk and, in the hysteria, an impression was created
that the place was a haven for paedophiles. Relaying these reports back to
his home country gave Mr Santana Carlos a heavy heart – they caused uproar
among his fellow citizens.
The drowning of a group of British holidaymakers in the Algarve this week has
added to the tensions. Britain and Portugal have, as he said, “the oldest
alliance in the world” between two states, dating back to 1386, still
flourishing in the form of two million British tourists visiting Portugal
every year. Now things are looking jittery.
Although he appreciates that both countries have a free press, Mr Santana
Carlos is concerned at the hostile tone of some of the coverage of the
Madeleine investigation, with insults bandied back and forth.
“If you like to see Madeleine back then we have to work together and to stop
blaming one or the other . . . to blame the other side does not give
Madeleine back to the parents.”
At a political level, the two countries were as close as ever, he insisted,
but as for public opinion: “I have been approached by people that, of
course, don’t understand why we couldn’t find Madeleine McCann. Some other
people blame the other side. And so there are some mixed feelings but again
I think that we continue to do our utmost to find her.”
Even in the earliest days the intense publicity was causing problems. “The
issue became so hot and so high on the news that, in a way, could be
conducive to get those that have abducted Madeleine McCann perhaps to fear
that they will be prosecuted and they could not escape.”
This isn’t the most diplomatic of remarks, to suggest that the publicity for
the case sought by the parents might have harmed their hopes of a rescue. Mr
Santana Carlos’s conversation is peppered with comments that could, in the
present overwrought mood, make you draw breath. It seems impossible that he
is unaware of the sensitivities. Maybe he is unusually frank, or perhaps
just frustrated?
Take his main message: that Portugal is safe and, in particular, safer than
Britain. It has an exceptionally low crime rate, he says, and Lisbon was
judged the safest capital in the EU in a survey by the UN and Gallup this
year. London was the most dangerous. “You have many more cases of abductions
than Portugal, and nobody talks about that, but this case has come up very,
very high in the news.”
It might be “interesting”, he suggested, “to investigate and show the
statistics”. According to his press attaché, there have been three missing
children in ten years in Portugal. According to a Home Office analyst, there
have been dozens of abductions by strangers in Britain, although most of
those children were found within 24 hours.
The ambassador added: “We are a peaceful country. We don’t have terrorism in
Portugal.”
The British are the second most important tourism market for Portugal, after
visitors from Spain. Although holiday bookings are holding up, it probably
won’t be clear until next year whether the McCann case has hit the industry.
But this week the news was again dominated by tragic reports of British
holidaymakers in the Algarve.
Pictures of rescued children shivering on a beach as they waited to hear that
their parents had died trying to rescue them were beamed on to the front
pages, amid criticism that the dangerous beach had inadequate warning signs,
and only in Portuguese.
“Unfortunately, that beach was very close to a cape,” said the ambassador,
with a rueful shake of the head. “I know it because I’m a sailing man.
Sometimes the seas there can be somewhat rough. Perhaps they were not aware.
That’s very unfortunate. And they tried to rescue their children, and they
died. So very unfortunate.”
He conceded that warning signs might need to be clearer outside of the summer
season, during which all beaches in Portugal are manned by lifeguards.
He dismissed suggestions, hyped up by British newspapers, that the surviving
adults could face criminal prosecution in Portugal. “Some people always like
to explore the negatives. I’m not informed about that, but I don’t think the
Portuguese police will do something like that.” And suddenly he added:
“Regarding Madeleine McCann, even in this country I think that there could
have been some judicial procedure against the parents because they left the
children alone. According to British law, as far as I know, such an
initiative could have been taken.”
His point is that the authorities are sensible enough to gauge when “for human
reasons” prosecution would be inappropriate – and he did immediately add
that the McCann parents were dining “so near by”.
There were, Mr Santana Carlos said, cultural differences that made the
behaviour of the parents hard to justify to the Portuguese. It is far less
common there for children to be left behind while parents go out.
“As Latins, we have the concept of the nuclear family – that the family lives
all together. I think the children in this country are more independent than
they are in Latin countries. That was a cultural problem. Normally, the kids
are always surrounded by the parents, by the family. This is a different
pattern.”
Did the Portuguese find it difficult to understand why the McCanns left the
children alone? “For some people, yes. For those people, in particular, that
live in the countryside who have that concept of the nuclear family.”
It is hard not to sense an implicit note of disapproval of British ways in the
comparison. But he quickly added: “For Portuguese people that live in urban
centres perhaps that is different you know, because their day-to-day lives
are not that easy, and their children have to live somewhat on their own.
But again, what I think is essential is that we have to work together and
stop blaming the other side.”
What could he do to repair the British trust in Portugal, if indeed it had
been damaged? Reassure the British that “we continue to do our utmost to
find her. That is our main objective.”
He respects the McCanns for their resolve. “We shall not lose hope and that’s
something I admire in the McCanns. They are very determined.”
Mr Santana Carlos is going to have to live with them for many months to come.
Would it ever end? “I think the only way out is to find her.”
