José Luís Guterres (born 1954 Uato-Lari, Portuguese Timor) is an

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

ese politician and diplomat.

Education

Guterres studied at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the Malaysian Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, and the Institute for Strategic and International Studies in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Career

Guterres was a member of the Central Committee of the former ruling party Fretilin. He served as the ambassador of the unrecognized East Timor government to

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. When his country achieved independence in May 2002, he was appointed as the first East Timorese ambassador to the U.S. and concurrently the U.N. In 2006, after an internal political crisis in East Timor, Guterres attempted to take over the leadership of Fretilin from Mari Alkatiri, the party's Secretary-General, but Alkatiri prevailed at a Fretilin national congress. Guterres was named

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

under Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta later in the year,Stephen Fitzpatrick
"Fretilin sidelined in Timorese cabinet"
, ''The Australian'', August 9, 2007. serving in that position until May 2007. Guterres' supporters, comprising a breakaway faction of Fretilin called "Mudança" (meaning "reform"), backed Fretilin's main rival, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) of former president Xanana Gusmão, in the June 2007 parliamentary election. Despite this, Guterres' faction refused to leave Fretilin, and Alkatiri warned of legal action. Although Fretilin won the most votes in the parliamentary election, the CNRT formed a coalition with other parties to hold a majority in parliament. In the government sworn in under Gusmão, who became Prime Minister, on August 8, 2007, Guterres became Deputy Prime Minister. Jose Luis Guterres, also commonly known as "LUGU" along with his group such as Jorge Teme (current Secretary State of Enclave Oecusse), attempted to register FRETILIN-Mudança as a political party broke up from Fretilin but then it was later rejected by the High Court of Timor-Leste due to its political attributes: even the name of the party was similar to the existing political party, Fretilin. Then, only few days later, as they were given chances to make any modification so that it could be legally registered, they changed FRETILIN-Mudança to FRENTI-Mudança. Then, the party was then approved by the high court of Timor-Leste. In the 2012 parliamentary election, it won two seats in parliament. Guterres gave up his seat to become foreign minister in the new governing coalition headed by Xanana Gusmao, remaining in post until 2015, when he returned to parliament. Guterres ran for the presidency in 2017 but finished a distant third with 2.6% of the vote. Frenti-Mudança then lost its parliamentary seats in the 2017 parliamentary election.

References

External links

Short biography at washdiplomat.com

Short biography at stjohns.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guterres, Jose Luis Living people University of the Western Cape alumni Ambassadors of Timor-Leste to Angola Ambassadors of Timor-Leste to Mozambique Ambassadors of Timor-Leste to the United States Permanent representatives of Timor-Leste to the United Nations Alumni of the University of Cambridge Fretilin politicians Government ministers of Timor-Leste 1954 births People from Viqueque Municipality