Corsino Fortes's first book "Pão &amp; Fonema" (Bread &amp; Phoneme), which appeared in 1974, made an immediate impact. 1974 was a momentous year for Portugal and its African colonies as it was the year in which the authoritarian Estado Novo regime was overthrown, an act which began the process that led to the decolonisation of the Cape Verde Islands in 1975. Not long after he was the first Cape Verdean ambassador to Portugal for a year. He became the first ever Cape Verdean ambassador to France on August 25, 1976 and served until December 2, 1981 which was succeeded by André Corsino Tolentino.