Carmen Souza few times, once on a family trip when she was ten and again as an adult in 2010, she grew up speaking Creole and eating Cape Verdean cuisine. While still a child, she began singing gospel music in the church choir. Her parents maintained close ties with the diaspora, and Souza's childhood was filled with the music and culture of Cape Verde, along with that of the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and São Tomé. Souza's father, Antonio, a merchant sailor, insisted she should learn English and German. After spending just one year at college, she left to
Brazil–East Timor relations interacted with Timor-Leste via organizations they are both members of, such as the UN. In fact, since 1999, Brazil has participated in five peace keeping missions in Timor-Leste. Brazil’s involvement in these missions is consistent with its contribution to interventions in Portuguese-speaking states, such as Mozambique and Angola. Increasing the country’s stake in Timore-Leste’s independence allowed Brazil “to actively demonstrate its independent foreign policy, its commitment to self-determination, and its expansion of economic ties with the Global South”. Timor-Leste has received Brazilian presidents twice, once before official statehood and once after. Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso visited the country in