PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CAPE VERDE
He completed primary and secondary school in the Cape Verde Islands. He took a degree in Law at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. He served as Secretary General of the People's National Assembly from 1977 to 1980. He founded the Cape Verdean Bar Association.
From 1980 to 1990 he served as President of the Cape Verdean Supreme Court. During this period Dr. Monteiro led Cape Verde's Delegation to the Organization of African Unity Conference which drafted the African Charter on Human Rights, human rights conferences in Nairobi, Kenya, Strasburg, France, and Bologna, Italy. He represented Cape Verde at the International Law Symposium in Coimbra, Portugal and Utrecht, Netherlands.
In 1990, Dr. Monteiro declared his non-partisan candidacy for President. On February 17, 1991 he was elected President by direct, secret and universal suffrage and was formally inaugurated on March 23, 1991.
As President he has continued to participate in several meetings abroad, namely:
Third Conference on Regional System of Human Rights Protection in Africa and Europe, promoted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Strasburg, France where he presented a paper on human rights, democracy and development.
In December 1993, following the first free elections in Angola, he participated with the President of Zimbabwe and the Secretary General of the OAU in an OAU-organized mission of goodwill to Luanda.
In 1993 he was chairman of the colloquium on Constitutional Transitions in Africa, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
From 1994 to 1997 he is serving as President of CILSS (the multinational organization of countries in the Sahel region of Africa).
In November 1994 in the capacity of Deputy President of the OAU Ad Hoc Committee for Southern Africa and President of one of the Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, he attended the Ceremony of Signature of the Lusaka Protocol for Peace in Angola.
In recognition of his contribution to strengthening the relations between Senegal and Cape Verde, preservation of peace in Africa and development of South/South cooperation, President Mascarenhas Monteiro was awarded the Grande Croix d'Ordre National du Lion by President Abdul Diouf of Senegal.