Cape Verde feels pain of strife

The rash of youth violence affecting the Cape Verdean community in Boston is causing problems thousands of miles away, after those accused of being involved are convicted and deported to their West African homeland, the Cape Verdean prime minister said yesterday.

Speaking at a predominantly Cape Verdean church in Roxbury, the prime minister, Jose Maria Neves, asked for the local community's help in bringing an end to feuds between rival groups of youths that a police official says has been tied to at least one slaying and four other shootings in Boston since late June.

''For us, the problem of violence leads to deportation, and deportation has created a new and additional problem for the government of Cape Verde in Cape Verde," Neves told Mayor Thomas M. Menino through an interpreter, as the two met at St. Patrick's Church in Roxbury. ''Our next goal is to work directly with the communities where there are immigrants and try to resolve the problem of violence, so the number of deportations will be decreased, if not totally eliminated."

In 2003, 35 Cape Verdean immigrants were deported for criminal reasons to the former Portuguese colony, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data. The numbers have fluctuated from seven in 1993 to a high of 49 in 1999, to 32 in 2000, 46 in 2001, and 47 in 2002. Non-US citizens can be deported for a range of convictions, from violent acts to drug crimes.

''This is a very good community, a very positive community," Menino told the prime minister, ''but retaliation doesn't get us anywhere." In the church basement, Menino strode before about 150 members of the Cape Verdean congregation and asked for their help in quelling the violence.

''We need you to be responsible also, as we are responsible," he said, gripping a microphone and gesturing at the audience. ''If you know things are going on in the community, please tell the people you trust the most -- your church, your organizations here -- to get to the police about these problems. We can't do it alone."

Boston police have tied at least 11 acts of violence since late June to youth from the Cape Verdean community, according to a police official with knowledge of the investigations. Officers have tracked what they say are brazen acts of gunplay in Boston.

One of the acts was fatal. On June 28, Ismael Canuto, 19, was shot and killed as he sat on his grandmother's porch on Clifton Street. He stumbled into her home, asked for water, and collapsed, relatives said. Police suspect the slaying was retaliation for gunfire the previous week on Hamilton Street. Menino said he was worried about teenagers stashing guns at home.

''Parents, if they know their kids have weapons, they should report it to the police," Menino told Neves, via a translation by Adalberto Teixeira of the Boston Center for Youth and Families.

Police say the violence might spread to Randolph, Fall River, Brockton, and Providence, also home to sizable Cape Verdean communities.

Boston police have pledged to send officers to Dudley Street in Roxbury and Uphams Corner and the Bowdoin Street and Geneva Avenue areas in Dorchester, where feuding youth are known to gather.

Police in Boston and Cape Verde have also agreed to an exchange program to share investigative techniques and build cultural understanding, Menino said.

''It's important, building trust among families and the police," Jose Brito, Cape Verde's ambassador the United States, told Menino yesterday.

''Without this trust, it will be difficult to collect information," Brito said. ''At the same time, we need to educate people, because most of the problems are social problems."

In the church basement, attendees applauded both Menino and Neves.

Neves, 45, was on at least his third visit to Boston, Menino said. An early supporter of Cape Verdean independence from Portugal, which became official 30 years ago, Neves became prime minister in 2001.

After speaking at the church, Neves said, he planned to meet with a number of leaders of local Cape Verdean organizations.

Outside the church, John Carvalho, 32, a security manager from Dorchester who was born in Cape Verde, said he was worried about isolated incidences of violence tarnishing the entire community's reputation.

''There are a lot of good kids out there," Carvalho said.

Others said the police could do more to stop the violence.

''For them to target the kids, they have to go directly to the kids that's doing the violence," said Joseph Santos, 40, a movie theater manager from Dorchester.

''On a hot summer day, any time you walk around any of the streets, you'll see like 20, 25 kids and no cops," Santos said. ''It's going to escalate a lot of murders."