José Cutileiro (20 November 1934 – 17 May 2020) was a Portuguese diplomat and writer. He was a representative to the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

, Secretary General of the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

(WEU), and an envoy to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. He was on the faculty of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

Biography

Early life and family

Cutileiro's father, a republican and secularist doctor, faced political problems with the Salazar regime, and chose to leave the country to join the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

(WHO), taking his wife and children, then teenagers, to live in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. In 1952 they were the first Portuguese citizens, of which there is record, to live in Afghanistan. Cutileiro was then 17 years old. José is the brother of the famous sculptor

João Cutileiro João Cutileiro OSE (26 June 1937 – 5 January 2021) was a Portuguese sculptor. He is responsible for a number of controversial female nudes in marble. Life Cutileiro was born and died in Lisbon. He was the creator of several pieces of ...

. His son, also named José Cutileiro, was born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

in 1959. When he was 18 years old moved to the Netherlands. He was a musician, journalist and writer. In the 1980s he started as guitarist in the band “De Ziffels” in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

, the Netherlands. From 2000 he was television and radio reporter for regional broadcaster OOG. He died on 22 June 2020, after being ill for a long time, aged 61. His death was a month after the death of his father.

Studies and academic career

Back in Portugal, Cutileiro studied architecture and medicine at the

Technical University of Lisbon The Technical University of Lisbon (UTL; pt, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, ) was a Portuguese public university. It was created in 1930 in Lisbon, as a confederation of preexisting schools, and comprised the faculties and institutes of vete ...

and at the Classical

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

. He then went to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

getting a degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

in 1964, his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

in 1968, and became a Research Fellow of St. Antony's College from 1968 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974 he taught

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In ...

at the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

.Curriculum vitae of José Cutileiro at Portuguese Institute of International Relations
, May 2003 From September 2001 to June 2004 Cutileiro was the George F. Kennan Professor at the

in Princeton.Institute For Advanced Study Appoints Cutileiro To Kennan Professorship
/ref>

Diplomatic career

With the

carnation revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

, Cutileiro was invited by

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th pres ...

to enter the diplomatic service, having started by being a cultural attaché of the Portuguese embassy in London. From 1974 to 1994 Cutileiro worked for the Portuguese Foreign Service and from 1977 to 1980 was the first permanent Portuguese representative to the

. He served as the Portuguese ambassador to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

(1980-1983) and to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

(1989-1991), at the time of the release of

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

from prison. Cutileiro also led the Portuguese Delegation to the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

Conference on Disarmament The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually i ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

from 1984 to 1986. In 1988 he negotiated the accession of Portugal to the

. In 1992, as coordinator of the European Community's Conference on Yugoslavia, he presided over talks on future constitutional arrangements for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

. Several plans were proposed before and during the Bosnian War by the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

. Cutileiro was co-author of the Carrington–Cutileiro plan, sometimes known as the Lisbon Agreement, in February 1992, an attempt to prevent Bosnia-Herzegovina sliding into war. From 1994 to 1999 he was Secretary-General of the

, at that time the only European defense organization. In 1999, it was agreed that the holder of the newly created post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union should also be the Secretary-General of the WEU. Thus, Cutileiro was the last independent general secretary of this institution and was succeeded by

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NA ...

. From 2001 to 2003 he served as a Special Envoy of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in

and

. He served as adviser for the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council and, in 2005, as special political advisor to

José Manuel Durão Barroso José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

as president of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

Writing career

As a writer, Cutileiro is best known for a fictionalized history written under the pseudonym A. B. Kotter. Kotter is supposedly an elitist expatriate English aristocrat living in Colares with his pro-fascist mother. The stories describe their experiences living in post-revolutionary Portugal. These chronicles were serialized in the British newspaper ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' between 1993 and 1998 and were collected into the book ''Bilhetes de Colares'' in 2004. Cutileiro wrote essays, poetry books and other works of an anthropological nature, the most recent publication being the “Inventário: Desabafos e Divagações de Um Sético”. He also wrote obituaries for the '' Expresso'', including those for

, Maria de Jesus and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

. In the last years he also held an international relations column entitled 'The World of Others'.

Death

Cutileiro died at a hospital in Brussels on 17 May 2020.Morreu o embaixador José Cutileiro

Works

* ''A Portuguese Rural Society icos e pobres no Alentejo. Uma sociedade portuguesa rural'. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971, * ''Situation of human rights in parts of south-eastern Europe : report of the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia'', Geneva : UN, 8 January 2002, OCLC 83338101 * ''Life and death of others: the international community and the end of Yugoslavia ida e morte dos outros : a comunidade internacional e o fim da Jugoslávia', Lisboa, Portugal : Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, 2003, * ''Bilhetes de Colares: 1982-1998'' riting as A. B. Kotter Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon 2007 (in Portuguese),

Awards and honors

Ordem Militar de Cristo {{Cleanup translation, Portuguese, type=check, listed=nolist The Ordem Militar de Cristo (Military Order of Christ), the full name of which is the Military Order of Our Knights of Lord Jesus Christ, is a Portuguese honorific Order which takes its ...

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

Portuguese Order of Christ The Military Order of Christ is the former order of Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. Before 1910 it was known as the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was ...

* 2009 ''Grande Prémio de Crónica'' from the Portuguese Writers Association for his fictional chronicle ''Bilhetes de Colares'' (writing under his pseudonym A B Kotter)Wook Books blog: ''Bilhetes de Colares'' by A. B. Kotter
/ref>

References

External links

Home page of José Cutileiro at The Institute for Advanced Study

Curriculum vitae of José Cutileiro at the European Commission
*
''Observador''
obituary *
''Expresso''
obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutileiro, Jose 1934 births 2020 deaths Ambassadors of Portugal to Mozambique 20th-century Portuguese historians Portuguese diplomats Portuguese politicians Portuguese writers Western European Union people Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Alumni of the University of Oxford University of Lisbon alumni Institute for Advanced Study faculty Academics of the London School of Economics People from Évora Ambassadors of Portugal to South Africa 21st-century Portuguese historians