Maria Madalena Brites Boavida is an

East Timorese 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 t ...

politician, a member of

FRETILIN The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the ...

, and a former Minister of Planning and Finance in the

National Parliament of East Timor The National Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national legislature in Timor-Leste. It was created in 2001 as the Constituent Assembly while the country was still administered by the United Nations, but renamed itself to the National Parlia ...

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 language (Timor), Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , ...

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

. 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 () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...

. 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 (), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to overthrow the Fre ...

. Boavida belonged to the so-called Maputo group of FRETILIN members, including

Marí Alkatiri Mari bin Amude Alkatiri ( '; born 26 November 1949) is a Timorese politician. He was Prime Minister of East Timor from May 2002 until his resignation on 26 June 2006 following weeks of political unrest in the country, and again from September ...

(later prime minister), which spent much of the occupation (1975-1999) in

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 ...

. 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 betwe ...

, 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-Leste. The area has been the subject of disputes over maritime boundaries, as well as the rights to extract and take revenue from its substantial petroleum reserves. Austral ...

. Following the resignation of Fernanda Borges, Boavida became the

Timor-Leste 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 ...

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

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 Ministry of Finance (East Timor), 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 u ...

. 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 (Timor-Leste) Women government ministers of Timor-Leste People from Ermera Municipality Female finance ministers Ministers of finance of Timor-Leste