Mário Viegas Carrascalão (May 12, 1937 – May 19, 2017) was an

East Timor 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 ...

ese politician and diplomat. Carrascalão, a founder of the

Timorese Democratic Union The Timorese Democratic Union ( pt, União Democrática Timorense, UDT) is a conservative political party in East Timor. It was the first party to be established in the country on May 11, 1974, following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. ...

(UDT) in 1974 and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP) in 2000, served as the

governor of East Timor This is a list of European (as well as Australian and Japanese) colonial administrators responsible for the territory of Portuguese Timor, an area equivalent to modern-day East Timor. List (Dates in italics indicate ''de facto'' continuation of ...

from 1983 to 1992 during the Indonesian occupation of the country. However, he re-joined the East Timorese government following the 1999 independence referendum and the transition to independence. He later served as a

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

within the IV Constitutional Government of then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. A former rebel, he was the third President of the independent East Timor, serving from 2002 to 2007. He then became its fourth prime minister, serving from ...

from 2009 to 2010.

Biography

Early life and education

Carrascalão was born in

Venilale Venilale (formerly Vila Viçosa) is a town located about 30 km south of Baucau in East Timor. It is the capital of the Venilale Administrative Post. Tourism Venilale has been a popular destination, even in the Portuguese colonial era, ...

Baucau District Baucau (, ) is a municipality, and was formerly a district, of East Timor, on the northern coast in the eastern part of the country. The capital is also called Baucau (formerly Vila Salazar). The population of the municipality is 111,694 (c ...

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 ...

, on May 12, 1937. He attended elementary school and Colegio-Liceu Dr. Vieira Machado in

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

. He then went to

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 ...

to finish high school at Liceu Camões in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

and attend college. He graduated from the

Instituto Superior de Agronomia Instituto Superior de Agronomía (ISA), School of Agronomy – University of Lisbon, is a national and international renowned faculty of excellence for graduate and post-graduate studies in Agronomy, Forestry, Food Science, Landscape Architectu ...

in 1967 and the

Technical University of Lisbon The Technical University of Lisbon (UTL; pt, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, ) was a Portuguese public university. It was created in 1930 in Lisbon, as a confederation of preexisting schools, and comprised the faculties and institutes of veter ...

(now part of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

) in 1968. He returned to Portuguese Timor after university, where he headed the territory's Forestry and Agriculture Department.

Indonesian occupation

In 1974, Carrascalão founded the

(UDT) with Domingos Oliveira, César Mouzinho, António Nascimento, Francisco Lopes da Cruz, and Jacinto dos Reis in the aftermath of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. He and his brother,

João Viegas Carrascalão João Viegas Carrascalão (11 August 1945 – 18 February 2012; Dili, East Timor) was an East Timorese politician. He was one of the candidates in the April 2007 presidential election in East Timor. He studied topography and surveying in Lu ...

, another member of the UDT, split following 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 ...

in 1975 and subsequent

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

of the country. João Carrascalão went into exile in Australia and Portugal, while Mário Viegas Carrascalão favored dialogue with the new Indonesian authorities. Following violence by Fretilin, Carrascalão initially fled to

Atambua Atambua is the regency seat of Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The town stretches as far as 8.5 km from north to south and 5 km from east to west, and is located in the north of the western half of Timor Island. The town is ...

and then

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. He joined the Indonesian

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

' diplomatic corp in 1978 as a diplomat. The Indonesian government, under

Soeharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

, appointed Carrascalão as the third governor of the new "province" from September 18, 1983, until September 18, 1992, when he was succeeded by the territory's last governor,

José Abílio Osório Soares José Abílio Osório Soares () (2 June 1947 – 17 June 2007) was an Indonesian politician. He was the last governor of the Indonesian province of East Timor before the country's independence. Profile During the Indonesian occupation of E ...

. During his tenure as Governor, Carrascalão denounced violence against the East Timorese people and has been credited with saving lives. He arranged agreements to allow East Timorese students to attend Indonesian universities. Carrascalão held the first meetings between East Timorese provincial authorities and East Timorese rebels representing the

Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor 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 ...

, or

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 ...

. He personally met with

in Lariguto in 1983 and in Ariana in 1990, which marked the beginning of dialogue between the resistance and Indonesian authorities. In November 2015 interview, Carrascalão explained his position of neutrality during the Indonesian occupation and conflict. Carrascalão explained that he had to remain neutral, because if he was seen as pro-independence, the Indonesian authorities would remove him from office. Meanwhile, he pursued policies which opened East Timor up to the rest of the world. He personally asked Soeharto to allow the British journalist

Max Stahl Max Christopher Wenner, known as Christopher Wenner and later as Max Stahl (6 December 1954 – 28 October 2021), was a British journalist and television presenter. He was best known for filming an East Timorese demonstration and its aftermath ...

to visit East Timor, something that he believed would not have occurred if he did not have a good working relationship with President Soeharto. Carrascalão was appointed as Indonesia's

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

from 1993 to 1997. He then became an advisor to Indonesian President

B. J. Habibie Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (; 25 June 1936 – 11 September 2019) was an Indonesian engineer and politician who was the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice preside ...

, especially on East Timorese affairs, following the

Fall of Suharto Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency. Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and ...

in 1998 and the reform period under Habibie. President Habibie and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

held the East Timorese independence referendum on August 30, 1999, in which voters overwhelmingly supported independence.

East Timorese independence

Mário Viegas Carrascalão emerged as a key political figure in East Timor's transition from Indonesian occupation to full independence. He served as the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the National Council within the transitional government, as well as the Vice President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance. In 2000, Carrascalão founded the new

(SDP) and became the fledgling party's leader. He entered government after East Timor's full independence in 2002. On March 5, 2009,

appointed Carrascalão as deputy prime minister of management and state administration within the IV Constitutional Government as part of a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

. Carrascalão's Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he headed, was a member of Gusmão's

governing coalition A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. The partnership between Prime Minister Gusmão and Deputy Prime Minister Carrascalão lasted until September 8, 2009, when Carrascalão resigned as deputy prime minister. In his resignation letter to Gusmão, Carrascalão lambasted the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

for failing to purchase construction supplies from a supplier he had recommended. Gusmão's government retorted that Carrascalão's preferred company would not have been able to fulfill the order and asked Carrascalão to retract his accusation. Carrascalão refused, writing, "At the age of 73, this is the first time anyone has ever called me stupid or a liar...My response is to resign from my position of deputy prime minister." He published an autobiography, "Timor – Before the Future", in 2006.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Taur Matan Ruak José Maria Vasconcelos (born 10 October 1956), popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes"), is an East Timorese politician who has served as the prime minister of East Timor since 22 June 2018. He was also President of Ea ...

awarded the Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste, the nation's highest honor, in recognition of his service on May 18, 2017. Carrascalão died the following day at the Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares in

Dili, East Timor Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in b ...

, on May 19, 2017, at the age of 80. His death was believed to be caused by a heart attack he suffered while driving alone through the Farol neighborhood of Dili. His car struck a pole and the sidewalk. He was taken to Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares where he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viegas Carrascalão, Mario 1937 births 2017 deaths East Timorese politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of East Timor Government ministers of East Timor Members of the National Parliament (East Timor) Recipients of the Order of Timor-Leste Social Democratic Party (East Timor) politicians Timorese Democratic Union politicians East Timorese people of Portuguese descent Ambassadors of Indonesia to Romania Autobiographers Technical University of Lisbon alumni People from Baucau District Indonesian Roman Catholics Indonesian Christians