Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa

Baltasar Leite Rebelo de Sousa (born April 16, 1921 in Lisbon ; † December 1, 2002 ibid) was a Portuguese doctor and politician who was, among other things, High Commissioner and Governor General of the Colony of Mozambique from 1968 to 1970 and Minister of various departments between 1970 and 1974 .

Life

Rebelo de Sousa first completed a degree in medicine . He was involved in the Portuguese Youth (Mocidade Portuguesa) , the youth movement of the New State ( Estado Novo ) founded in the 1930s by Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar . He joined the National Union UN (União Nacional) founded on July 30, 1930 , the unity party of the Estado-Novo , also initiated by Salazar . He also acted as secretary to Marcelo Caetano , who was Colonial Minister between 1945 and 1947. He specialized as a doctor in the areas of tropical medicine and hygiene and worked as a sub-inspector of the Social Medical Service and the Federation of Social Insurance (Federação das Caixas de Previdência) . 1953 Rebelo de Sousa was elected for the first time as a member of the National Assembly ( Assembleia Nacional ) and represented in this first the constituency of Évora and since 1957 the constituency of Braga . He also served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Education (Subsecretário de Estado da Educação Nacional) between 1955 and 1961 . From 1961 to 1968 he was the administrative director of the State Insurance Companies (Companhia de Seguros Império) .

On July 12, 1968, he succeeded Lieutenant General José Augusto da Costa Almeida as High Commissioner and Governor General of the then colony of Mozambique . As with his predecessor, the term of office was shaped by Eduardo Mondlane's struggle for the Marxist-Leninist liberation front Frente da Libertacao de Mocambique ( FRELIMO ) . In 1964 FRELIMO began armed struggle and was soon able to achieve some military successes, which led to massive counter attacks by the Portuguese army. From the beginning there had been internal conflicts within FRELIMO, which escalated after the first military successes of the colonial army and in 1968 led to the murder of leading members of the organization by its own people. In 1969 Mondlane was killed by a letter bomb attack by the Portuguese secret police PIDE ( Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado ) . Nevertheless, FRELIMO was able to set up so-called "Liberated Zones". The Cabora-Bassa dam , which was ultimately defended by up to 20,000 men on the part of the Portuguese against FRELIMO raids, was particularly competitive . Colonial warfare became increasingly brutal and the European public and parts of the Catholic Church distanced themselves from the colonial power. The army massacre of the inhabitants of the village of Wiriyamu Massacre in December 1972 became a symbol of this brutality . Rebelo de Sousa held the functions in Mozambique until 1970 and was then replaced by Eduardo de Arantes e Oliveira , who was Minister for between 1954 and 1967 public works was.

On his return to Portugal Rebelo de Sousa from nunmehrigen Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano on 15 January 1970. Minister for Communities and Social Security was (Ministro the Corporações e Previdência Social) and at the same time as Minister of Health and support (da Saúde e Assistência Ministro) appointed . He held this post until November 7, 1973 and then took over the post of Minister for Overseas Territories (Ministro do Ultramar) as part of a government reshuffle from Joaquim da Silva Cunha . After the fall of the dictatorship and the Caetano government in the course of the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, he went into exile in Brazil and did not return to Portugal until 1991.

His marriage to Maria das Neves Fernandes Duarte in 1942 resulted in three sons, including the eldest son Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , who has been President of Portugal since March 9, 2016 . The second oldest son is the economist and politician António Rebelo de Sousa , who was a member of the Assembleia da República from 1976 to 1980 and again between 1983 and 1985 .

honors and awards

Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa has received several awards and received, among other things, on March 7, 1959, the dignity of Grand Officer of the Military Order of Christ (Ordem Militar de Cristo) , on January 3, 1961 the dignity of Grand Officer and on February 16, 1967 the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ Infanten Dom Henrique (Ordem do Infante D. Henrique) , on July 15, 1967 the title of Grand Officer of the Order for Public Education ( Ordem da Instrução Pública ) and on May 22, 1971 the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ. During his stay in Brazil, he was also awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross.

Web links

Commons : Baltazar Rebelo de Sousa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on the homepage of the Assembleia Nacional
• Entry in rulers.org
• FALECEU BALTAZAR REBELO DE SOUSA . In: CM Jornal from December 2, 2002.
• Rebelo de Sousa: o poder da família . In: Visão of March 3, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mozambique: High commissioners and governors-general (rulers.org)
2. ^ O melhor lugar da vida política de Baltazar Rebelo de Sousa . In: Público of May 3, 2016.
3. ↑ Gov. Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa
4. ↑ GOVERNO CAETANO 2 (January 15, 1970 to November 7, 1973)
5. ↑ GOVERNO CAETANO 3 (November 7, 1973 to April 25, 1974)
6. ↑ Images and texts about the Rebelo de Sousa family ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ As aventuras da família Rebelo de Sousa . In: Sabado of January 27, 2016.