João Viegas Carrascalão (11 August 1945 – 18 February 2012;

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

, East Timor) was 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. He was one of the candidates in the April 2007 presidential election in East Timor. He studied

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

and

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

and specialized in

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He was president of the

Timorese Democratic Union The Timorese Democratic Union (, UDT) is a conservative political party in Timor-Leste. It was the first party to be established in the country on May 11, 1974, following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. History Early history (1974– ...

(UDT), which he also co-founded. He supervised the August 11, 1975, coup which eventually started the civil war. The latter forced the governor, Mario Lemos Pires, to flee as well as the Portuguese contingent stationed on the nearing island of Ataúro. Consequently, Carrascalão moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and resided there throughout the Indonesian occupation. He integrated the leading agencies of the CNRT. He moved back when East Timor's independence was finally given. In the 2007 presidential election, he took eighth and last place with 1.72% of the vote. He later served as East Timor's ambassador to South Korea from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was the director of the Department of Geographical and Cadastral Surveys during the Portuguese administration of Timor and was the minister of infrastructure during the Transitional Government of East Timor by the UNO (

UNTAET The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET, ), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades-long East Timorese crisis in the area occupied by Indonesian military. UNTAET provided an int ...

). His daughter, Sandra Nelson, is an Australian politician.

References

1945 births 2012 deaths People from Liquiçá Municipality Timorese Democratic Union politicians Government ministers of Timor-Leste Ambassadors of Timor-Leste to South Korea {{EastTimor-politician-stub