Maria Madalena Brites Boavida is an

East Timorese East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wester ...

politician, a member of

FRETILIN The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliame ...

, and a former Minister of Planning and Finance in the National Parliament of East Timor.

Biography

Boavida comes from the present municipality of

Ermera Ermera (''Vila Ermera'') is a city in East Timor and a former capital of the East Timorese community, Ermera. ''Ermera'' in Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , and it lies above sea l ...

. Thanks to a scholarship in 1974, she was given the opportunity to study in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. There she came into contact with students from the African colonies of Portugal and the local independence movements, after which she also supported the independence of

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

. However, FRETILIN's unilateral declaration of independence from Portugal in November 1975 was rapidly followed by the

Indonesian invasion of East Timor The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus ( id, Operasi Seroja), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-c ...

. Boavida belonged to the so-called Maputo group of FRETILIN members, including Marí Alkatiri (later prime minister), which spent much of the occupation (1975-1999) in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Boavida was the finance director of the Timor Gap Authority, which administered the

Timor Gap Treaty The Timor Gap Treaty was formally known as the ''Treaty between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the zone of cooperation in an area between the Indonesian province of East Timor and Northern Australia''. It was a bilateral treaty betwee ...

, under which Indonesia and Australia jointly exploited the oil and gas fields in the disputed maritime area known as the

Timor Gap The Timor Gap is an area of the Timor Sea between Australia and Timor Island. The island is divided between independent East Timor and West Timor province of Indonesia. The Timor Gap is part of the Australia-East Timor border, Australia-Indones ...

. Following the resignation of Fernanda Borges, Boavida became the

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

on 30 April 2002, while the country was still under the administration of the United Nations. From 20 May 2002, when Timor-Leste became independent, she became Minister of Planning and Finance, and held that office until 8 August 2007, when FRETILIN had to relinquish government after losing its absolute majority in the 2007 parliamentary elections. The next Minister of Finance was

Emília Pires Emília Pires was East Timor's Minister of Finance from April 2007 until 16 February 2015. Ms. Pires was sworn in as the Minister of Finance of the V Constitutional Government of East Timor on August 8, 2012 under the leadership of Prime Minis ...

. In 2013, Boavida was appointed as a non-executive member of the Council of the Central Bank of East Timor. She was re-appointed in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boavida, Madalena Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women politicians Fretilin politicians Members of the National Parliament (East Timor) Women government ministers of East Timor People from Ermera District Female finance ministers Finance ministers of East Timor