José Maria Neves
Encyclopedia
José Maria Pereira Neves (ʒuˈzɛ mɐˈɾiɐ pɨˈɾejɾɐ ˈnɛvɨʃ; born March 28, 1960) on the island of Santiago , is the Prime Minister of Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...

.“José Maria Neves became interested in the politics and government of Cape Verde as a teen-ager.” “He was the leader of a nationalist youth organization during the country’s transition from Portuguese rule to independence and democracy in 1975.” He has been Prime Minister since 1 February 2001 and is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde
African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde
The African Party of Independence of Cape Verde is a former socialist party and presently a social-democratic political party in Cape Verde. Its members are nicknamed “os tambarinas” in Portuguese , and they identify themselves with the color yellow.-Forerunner:In 1956, its forerunner, the African...

 (PAICV).

Part of his superior education was in the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

As a candidate for the party leadership at PAICV's September 1997 congress, he faced Pedro Pires
Pedro Pires
Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires was the President of Cape Verde from March 2001 to September 2011. Before becoming President, he was Prime Minister from 1975 to 1991....

; Pires defeated Neves in the leadership election, winning 68% of the vote. In May 2000, Neves—then serving as President of the Santa Catarina
Santa Catarina, Cape Verde
Santa Catarina is a municipality located in the northwestern and the western parts of the island of Santiago in Sotavento in Cape Verde. The municipal population is around 49,829, the area is 243 km² and the density is about 205/km². The seat of the municipality is Assomada...

 Town Council—announced that he would seek the PAICV presidency again at the June 2000 party congress; Pires was leaving the PAICV presidency in anticipation of his candidacy in the next year's national presidential election
Cape Verdean presidential election, 2001
Presidential elections were held in Cape Verde on 11 February 2001, with a second round on 25 February after no candidate achieved outright victory in the first round. The result was a victory for Pedro Pires of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde, who defeated Carlos Veiga of the...

.

While acknowledging the harmful effects of slavery and colonialism on Africa, Neves said in December 2006 that African leaders were primarily responsible for the continent's present-day problems, and that they "must assume their responsibility to develop a clear strategy for Africa's future that takes advantage of all of its human capabilities and natural resources." Neves is a supporter of European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 membership for Cape Verde.

From August 12 to August 16, 2005, he visited eight state capitals of Brazil including São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Goiânia
Goiânia
-Climate:The city has a tropical wet and dry climate with an average temperature of . There's a wet season, from October to April, and a dry one, from May to September. Annual rainfall is around 1,520 mm....

, Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...

, Maceió
Maceió
Maceió is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state Alagoas, Brazil. The name "maceió" is of Indian origin, and designates the natural spontaneously courses of water which flow out of the soil...

, João Pessoa
João Pessoa
João Pessoa , is the capital city of the state of Paraíba, was founded in 1585 and sometimes called the city where the sun rises first, is a Brazilian city and the easternmost city in the Americas at 34º47'38"W, 7º9'28"S. Local residents call its easternmost point Ponta do Seixas. It is also...

, Natal and Fortaleza
Fortaleza
Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.5 million , Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in Brazil. It has an area of and one of the highest demographic densities in the country...

. He also received an audience from Brazilian President Lula da Silva on August 22.

A new government under Neves was announced on June 27, 2008, with six ministers joining the government and four ministers leaving it. Three of the new ministers were women, making it the first government in Cape Verde with a female majority (eight out of 15 portfolios).

In early 2011 (on the 6th of February), he was elected into his third term by most Cape Verdean voters, thus reinforcing his party's influence in the Cape Verdean parliament.

External links

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