Miguel dos Anjos da Cunha Lisboa Trovoada (born 27 December 1936) is a São Toméan politician who was the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from 1975 to 1979 and second president of São Tomé and Príncipe from 1991 to 2001. On 16 July 2014, he was appointed the Special Representative of the

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS). Prior to this, he was the executive secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission.

Background

Born in the city of

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...

, Trovoada attended secondary school in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

before studying law at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

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 ...

. In 1960 he cofounded, with former classmate

Manuel Pinto da Costa Manuel Pinto da Costa (born 5 August 1937) is a São Tomé and Príncipe, Santomean economist and politician who served as the first president of São Tomé and Príncipe from 1975 to 1991. He again served as president from 2011 to 2016. Life a ...

, the Committee for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (CLSTP) – which was renamed the

Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

in 1972. Operating out of its headquarters in

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

, Trovoada served as the movement's foreign affairs director from 1961 to 1975 and was instrumental in gaining

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

(OAU) recognition for the MLSTP in 1972. After the fall of the Estado Novo regime in Portugal due to the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

, Trovoada served as the São Tomé and Príncipe first Prime Minister and Minister of Defence (12 July 1975 – March 1979). However, relations between the President and Prime Minister soon deteriorated, culminating in 1979 when President da Costa abolished the post of Prime Minister. Several months later, Trovoada was charged with plotting against the government. After being arrested and detained for 21 months, Trovoada went into exile in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In May 1990, following the adoption of a democratic constitution, he returned to his country and campaigned for president. In 1991, Trovoada was elected President in the country's first

multiparty In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

; he was re-elected in 1996. When he first ran for President, he was not a member of any political party, but by the end of his first term he had formed a new

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

–

Independent Democratic Action The Independent Democratic Action () is a political party in São Tomé and Príncipe. It was established in 1994 by the then president Miguel Trovoada and is a politically centrist party. It took part in the 29 July 2001 presidential election ...

(ADI). His government was briefly overthrown in a '' coup d'etat'' from 15 August 1995 to 21 August 1995. President Trovoada's term ended on 3 September 2001 when

Fradique de Menezes Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes (born 21 March 1942) is a São Toméan politician who was the third president of São Tomé and Príncipe from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2003 to 2011. Early life Menezes was born on the then Portuguese colony ...

was sworn in as the new

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. Trovoada took office as executive secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission on 21 January 2009."São Tomé president congratulates secretary of Gulf of Guinea Commission"
AngolaPress, 22 January 2009. Miguel Trovoada's son

Patrice Trovoada Patrice Émery Trovoada (born 18 March 1962) is a São Toméan politician who was the 15th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from November 2022 to 6 January 2025. He previously served as prime minister from February 2008 to June 2008, f ...

is also a politician and served as

Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...

in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trovoada, Miguel Trovoada, Miguel Living people Heads of state of São Tomé and Príncipe Prime ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe Foreign ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe Defence ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party politicians Independent Democratic Action politicians People from São Tomé 20th-century São Tomé and Príncipe politicians 21st-century São Tomé and Príncipe politicians