Jorge Carlos Fonseca

Jorge Carlos Fonseca
Jorge Carlos Fonseca
4th President of Cape Verde
	In office; 9 September 2011 – 9 November 2021
Prime Minister	José Maria Neves; Ulisses Correia e Silva
Preceded by	Pedro Pires
Succeeded by	José Maria Neves
Personal details
Born	20 October 1950 (age 73); Mindelo, Overseas Province of Cabo Verde, Portugal
Political party	Movement for Democracy
Other political; affiliations	Democratic Convergence Party
Spouse(s)	Lígia Fonseca
Alma mater	University of Lisbon

Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca (born 20 October 1950) is a Cape Verdean politician. He was elected President of Cape Verde in 2011. His predecessor was Pedro Pires. Before he was President, Fonseca was Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[2] He left office in 2021.

Early Life[change | change source]

Jorge Carlos Fonseca was born on October 20th, 1950, in Mindelo, Cape Verde, which was then still in the colony of Portuguese Cape Verde. He hailed from a Roman Catholic family of European descent. Fonseca finished his elementary and secondary education at local schools in Mindelo and Paria before then going on to pursue his post-secondary education in Lisbon, Portugal. There, he received a Law degree and a Master's in Legal Sciences from the University of Lisbon. Upon returning to Cape Verde, Fonseca served as Director General of Emigration from 1975 to 1977, and then as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cape Verde from 1977 to 1979.^[3]

Rise to power[change | change source]

Beginning in the early 1980s, Fonseca worked as a law instructor at various universities, including the University of Lisbon, the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Lisbon, and the University of Asia Oriental in Macau. Upon returning to Cape Verde, Fonseca served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1991 and 1993, before then running for presidency in the 2001 Elections. That year, he lost to the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) candidate, Pedro Pires, with Fonseca being affiliated with the PAICV's major rival opposition party, the Movement for Democracy. After the PAICV candidate Pedro Pires served two terms as the President, Fonseca ran for president again in 2011. With the support of his party, he won the presidency in the second round of voting, and in so doing became the 4th President of Cape Verde.