- António Guterres
Infobox Politician
name = António Guterres
office = 62ndPrime Minister of Portugal
14th since theCarnation revolution
term_start =October 28 ,1995
term_end =April 6 ,2002
predecessor =Aníbal Cavaco Silva
successor =José Manuel Barroso
constituency =
majority =
office2 = President of theSocialist International
term_start2 = 1999
term_end2 = 2005
predecessor2 =Pierre Mauroy
successor2 =George Andreas Papandreou
constituency2 =
majority2 =
office3 =
term_start3 =
term_end3 =
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
constituency3 =
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1949|4|30|mf=y
birth_place =Lisbon
death_date =
death_place =
party = Socialist Party
relations =
spouse = Luísa Amélia Guimarães e Melo (deceased), Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto
children = Pedro Guimarães e Melo Guterres, Mariana Guimarães e Melo Guterres
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
religion =Roman Catholic
website =
footnotes =António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, GCC (pronounced|ɐ̃ˈtɔniu guˈtɛʁɨʃ; born
April 30 ,1949 ) is a Portuguese politician, a former prime minister and President of theSocialist International . Currently he is theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees .António Guterres was born and raised in Portugal's capital,
Lisbon , son of Virgílio Dias Guterres (b. São José,Lisbon ,October 21 ,1913 ) and wife Ilda Cândida de Oliveira (b. Donas,Fundão ,February 12 ,1923 ). As a young child he already showed the abilities which would later garner him the award for Best High School Student for the year of 1965. He continued his studies at IST, where he pursued degrees in physics and electrical engineering. During his college years Guterres was never involved in the student opposition to the fascist regime ofAntónio de Oliveira Salazar . Instead, he dedicated himself to his studies and to meetings of the JUC (Catholic University Students Movement). In 1971 he graduated and started an academic career as Assistant Professor.His political career started in 1972, when he enrolled as a member of the Socialist Party. In that year he married firstly at Carnide,
Lisbon , onDecember 31 , Luísa Amélia Guimarães e Melo, born inPorto ,September 1 ,1946 , by whom he had two children Pedro (b. 1977) and Mariana (b. 1985) Guimarães e Melo de Oliveira Guterres. Shortly thereafter, he quit academic life and became a full-time politician.In the period following theCarnation Revolution ofApril 25 ,1974 which put an end to the fascist regime, Guterres was very involved in the organization of the Socialist Party, especially in the Lisbon section. Guterres became one of the party leaders and held the following offices:* Head of Office of the Secretary of State of Industry (1974 and 1975)
* Deputy forLisbon , and laterCastelo Branco in the Portuguese National Parliament (1976-1995)
**During this term he was responsible for several parliamentary commissions
* Leader of the parliamentary bench of the Socialist Party, succeedingJorge Sampaio (1988)In 1992, he became president of the Socialist Party and leader of the opposition against
Aníbal Cavaco Silva 's government. He was also nominated vice-president of theSocialist International in September of the same year.Following the retirement of Cavaco Silva in 1995, the Socialist Party won the general election and Guterres became Prime Minister of Portugal. With a style markedly different from that of his predecessor, based on dialogue and discussion with all sections of society, Guterres was a popular prime minister in the first years of his government. Portugal was enjoying a solid economic expansion which allowed the Socialists to increase welfare spending. Also important was the successful staging of
Expo´98 , which increased Portugal's visibility in the world.His wife died of
cancer at theRoyal Free Hospital in theGreater London ,London , onJanuary 28 ,1998 .Guterres was re-elected in 1999, and from January to July 2000, he occupied the Presidency of the
European Council . This second term in government was not as successful however. Internal party conflicts along with an economic recession and theHintze Ribeiro disaster damaged his authority and popularity.Meanwhile, he married secondly at the Chappel of Santo Amaro in Alcântara,
Lisbon ,April 9 ,2001 Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto, born onJune 15 ,1960 , by whom he had no children. He has a stepson, natural son of his second wife by José Carlos da Costa Ramos, named Francisco Vaz Pinto da Costa Ramos, born onMay 20 ,1998 .In 2002, following a disastrous result for the Socialist Party in the local elections, Guterres resigned and put an end to the government, stating that "I will resign to prevent the country from falling into a political swamp". Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, until then Minister for Social Security, assumed the Socialist Party leadership, but the general election was lost to the Social Democratic Party of
José Manuel Durão Barroso , the currentPresident of the European Commission . Guterres retired from the Portuguese political and worked as President of theSocialist International until 2005.Work as High Commissioner for Refugees
In May 2005 he was appointed High Commissioner for Refugees by then
Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan . On a 16 February 2007NPR interview devoted mainly to the refugee plight of Iraqi refugees he said that it was the greatest refugee crisis in the Middle East since 1948. Of poorly publicized refugee crises, he cited refugees in theCentral African Republic and theDemocratic Republic of Congo , "nee"Zaire . [ Interview with António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, 16 February 2007, Weekend Edition-Saturday, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7466089 ]Member of the
Club of Madrid [http://www.clubmadrid.org] . [en [http://www.clubmadrid.org The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 66 democratic former heads of state and government.]Ancestors
Ancestors of António Manuel de Oliveira GuterresReferences
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