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

Dili Dili ( Portuguese/ Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed ...

, East Timor) was an

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-we ...

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 land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary s ...

and

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

and specialized in

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "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 ...

in Switzerland. He was president of the Timorese Democratic Union (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 Atauro ( pt, Ilha de Ataúro, Tetum and Indonesian: ''Pulau Atauro'' or ''Ata'uro''), also known as Kambing Island ( id, Pulau Kambing), is an island and municipality ( pt, Município Ataúro, links=no, tet, Munisípiu Atauro, links=no or ...

. Consequently, Carrascalão moved to Australia 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 Department of Geographical and Cadastral Surveys during the Portuguese Administration of Timor and was Minister of Infrastructure during the Transitional Government of East Timor by the UNO (

UNTAET The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), ( pt, Administração Transitória das Nações Unidas em Timor Leste), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades long East Timorese cri ...

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

References

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