Rabelados

The Rabelados today constitute a symbol of Cape Verdean resistance. Residing mainly in the municipality of Tarrafal in the north of Santiago island, where the first groups are considered to have emerged in the 1940s, these communities were given the name Rabelados (rebels, in Crioulo) because of their opposition to the introduction of a new system of teaching Catholicism. The principle of independence is a point of pride common to all the rabelados. They want to be independent, particularly in relation to the State. This is why they prefer to earn less in other bread-winning activities than to have the State as their boss. Most dedicate themselves to agriculture, fishing or handicrafts.