The 2,500 escudos of 1989 (P61) is the top value of the Banco de Cabo Verde series devoted to Amílcar Cabral, and it is also a snapshot of a country that no longer looks quite like this. One of the signatures belongs to Pedro Pires, the first prime minister of the independent republic, who led the government until 1991 and went on to serve as president from 2001 to 2011.

Cabral trained as an agronomist yet is remembered as the leader of the independence struggle of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. He never saw that goal reached: he was assassinated in Conakry in January 1973. His large portrait dominates the face and reappears as the watermark, so the same features show when the note is held to the light.

The back is given to the building of the National People's Assembly and the state emblem. Cape Verde adopted its present flag only on 25 September 1992 and later replaced the emblem as well, so this note preserves the symbols of the first years of independence. The series was printed in London by De La Rue.

For an African or Lusophone collection, the note links two figures who shaped the islands' path. Uncirculated, with no trace of use.