Francisco Guterres

President Francisco Lú-Olo Guterres (2017)

Francisco Guterres (born September 7, 1954 in Ossu , Viqueque municipality , Portuguese Timor ), battle name Lú-Olo ( German dove ), is an East Timorese politician. From 2001 to 2012 he was a member of the national parliament . On May 20, 2017, at midnight, Guterres was sworn in as the new President of East Timor .  

Life

Guterres attended the St. Terezinha School of the Salesians Don Bosco in Ossu from 1963 to 1969 . In 1969 he switched to the high school in Dili . In 1973 he came back to Ossu for a year as a supervisor at his former school. In 1974 he continued his studies in Dili.

Lú-Olo in a 2007 election campaign

Guterres joined the independence movement Associação Social Democrática Timorense ASDT in 1974, later FRETILIN . When the Indonesians invaded East Timor in December of the same year, Guterres joined the armed resistance and initially fought in Ossu under the command of Lino Olokassa . Until 1999 Guterres took over various posts and commands for FRETILIN and its military arm FALINTIL . In 1976, after Francisco da Silva was captured, he succeeded him as FRETILIN secretary for the eastern coastal region in Matebian , in 1978 delegated commissioner for the Ponte Leste region and in 1984 national political commissioner. In 1987, the party chairman Xanana Gusmão left FRETILIN to take over the chairmanship of the new umbrella organization for all East Timorese independence parties, the Conselho Nacional de Resistência Mauche CNRM , later the CNRT. The FALINTIL was subordinated to the CNRM and the management of the FRETILIN took over in 1988 a directive committee. Guterres became one of three deputies to Ma'huno Bulerek Karathayano , Secretary of the FRETILIN (CDF) Directive Committee. After the death of Nino Konis Santana in 1998, Guterres took over the post of secretary at the CDF. After the resignation of the Indonesian dictator Suharto , a FRETILIN congress in Sydney in August appointed Guterres as General Coordinator of the Presidential Council of FRETILIN, who replaced the CDF. Guterres now held the highest office in the party. In 1998 Guterres took over the offices of Secretary for Political Affairs and member of the National Political Council and Politico-Military Council at the CNRT. At the beginning of 1999 Guterres hid in a FRETILIN house in Dili. Since the Indonesian army was very active, he went to Uai-Mori . After the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999 , when Guterres cast his vote in Liaruca , Guterres went to the assembly camp for FALINTIL fighters, first in Remexio , then in Aileu , where he stayed until the Indonesians withdrew.

Francisco Guterres (2020)

After the road to independence was clear, Guterres organized the reconstruction of FRETILIN into a democratic party. In May 2000 he took over the chairmanship of the national conference of FRETILIN and on July 15, 2001 he was elected chairman of the party with 89% (re-election in May 2006 and August 20, 2011), two months later as chairman of the Constituent Assembly of East Timor. After the country's final independence on May 20, 2002, when Guterres read the Declaration of the Restoration of the Democratic Republic of East Timor at midnight, it became the National Parliament and Guterres was elected President of Parliament. He held this office until the first session of the new parliament after the elections on June 30, 2007 . His successor was Fernando de Araújo from the Partido Democrático . In 2007 and 2012 Guterres ran again for the National Parliament of East Timor on the first list of FRETILIN. Despite his entry into parliament, he did not take the seat of parliament.

Guterres ran for FRETILIN in the elections for President of the Republic on April 9, 2007. In the first ballot he was able to unite the most votes with 27.89%. In the runoff election on May 9th, however, he lost to the previous Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta with 31% against 69% of the votes. In the 2012 presidential elections on March 17th, Guterres ran again as a candidate for FRETILIN and again took first place without achieving an absolute majority with 28.76%. In the runoff election on April 16, Guterres took on the runner-up Taur Matan Ruak , but lost it significantly.

From 2005 Guterres studied law under a program of the Foundation of Portuguese Universities (FUP) and at the Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e (UNTL). He was admitted to the bar on April 24, 2012.

In 2017, Guterres ran for the third time in the presidential election . This time he was successful. In the first round on March 20, he won the absolute majority of the votes with 57.08%. On May 20, 2017, he replaced Taur Matan Ruak as President of East Timor.

family

President Guterres and his wife Cidália visit Viqueque (2019)

Francisco Guterres is the sixth of eight children of Felix Guterres and Elda da Costa Guterres . Francisco has three brothers and four sisters.

Guterre's first wife, Clotilde Maria de Fatima , was killed on November 15, 1981 at Builo by the Indonesians. Only after East Timor had gained independence, Guterres married his current wife, Cidália Lopes Nobre Mouzinho Guterres , on May 4, 2002 , with whom he has three sons and a daughter.

Others

Guterres is fluent in Portuguese , Makasae and Tetum .

With the presidential decree 56/2006 Guterres received the Ordem da Guerrilha and with the ordinance 20/2009 and the presidential decree 25/2009 the Ordem de Timor-Leste (collar). This was followed by the President's Medal of Merit in 2012 .

See also

• History of East Timor

Web links

Commons : Francisco Guterres  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• East Timor Birth of a nation, Lu Olo's Story

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} biography of Francisco Guterres
2. ↑ Sea Globe: Timor-Leste's new president Francisco Guterres is unlikely to rock the boat , May 19, 2017 , accessed May 20, 2017.
3. ↑ List of FRETILIN MPs 2007 to 2012 ( Memento from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ List of FRETILIN MPs 2012 to 2017 ( Memento from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ANTIL: Ramos-Horta: Lu-Olo e Kalohan têm qualidade para ser Presidente , March 16, 2017  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 19, 2017.  
6. ^ STAE: Preliminary results , accessed on March 22, 2017.
7. ↑ RTP: Francisco Guterres é o novo presidente de Timor-Leste , March 20, 2017 , accessed on March 19, 2017 (CET).