Introduction
Antonio Guterres, former Portuguese Prime Minister. He heads U.N Agency which works to repatriate and assist more than 34 million refugees and displaced people in 110 countries; the agency has twice won the Nobel prize.
Antonio Guterres Biography
He is a Portuguese politician, a former prime minister and president of the socialist international. Thereafter, he became the united nations high commissioner for refugees.
Birth, parentage and education
Antonio Manuel De Oliveira Guterres, was born on 30 April 1949 in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. He is the son of Virgilio Dias Guterres and wife Iida Candida de Oliveira. In childhood, he showed the abilities which later garner him the award for best high school student for the year of 1965. He pursued degrees in physics and electrical engineering. In 1971, he graduated and started an academic career as assistant professor.
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His conjugal life
On new year’s eye that year, at Carnide, Lisbon, he married his first wife, Luisa Amelia Guimaraes e Melo by whom he had two children, Pedro (b.1977) and Mariana (b. 1985) Guimaraes e Melo de Oliveira Guterres.
Career
His political career started in 1972, when he joined the socialist party. After leaving academic life, he became a full-time politician. The carnation revolution of april 25, 1974, put an end to the fascist regime. Promptly, Guterres got involved in the organization of the socialist party, especially the Lisbon section.
Guterres held the following offices
Head of office of the secretary of state of industry (1974 and 1975)
deputy for Lisbon, and later Castelo Branco in the Portuguese national parliament (1976-1995)
during this term, he held several parliamentary commissions
leader of the parliamentary bench of the socialist party, succeeding Jorge Sampaio (1988)
in 1992, he became president of the socialist party and leader of the opposition against Anibal Cavaco Silva’s government. In September, 1992 he was also nominated vice- president of the socialist international.
Following the retirement of Cavaco Silva in 1995, the socialist party won the general election and Guterres became prime minister of Portugal. As his style was based on dialogue and discussion with all sections of society, Guterres became a popular prime minister in the first years of his government. Portugal was enjoying a solid economic welfare spending. The successful staging of expo ’98, which increased Portugal’s visibility in the world.
His wife died of cancer at the royal free hospital in the greater London, London , on 28 January 1998.
He occupied the presidency of the European council from January to July 2000. This second term in government was not as successful however. Internal party conflicts along with an economic recession and the Hintze Ribeiro disaster damaged his authority and popularity.
In 2002, following a disastrous result for the socialist party in the local elections, Guterres resigned.
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 16 February 2007, in NPR interview devoted mainly to the plight of Iraqi refugees, he said that this was the greatest refugee crisis in the middle east since 1948.