José Eduardo dos Santos was born in Luanda on 28 August 1942. The son of Avelino dos Santos and Jacinta Jose Paulino, died today. He is married to Ana Paula and father of six children. During his childhood, he attended primary school in his neighborhood before going to school Salvador Correia, Luanda, where he received his secondary education.

José Eduardo dos Santos began political activities by integrating the clandestine groups that had formed in the urban districts of the Angolan capital, Luanda, where the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) had been created on 10 December 1956 .

After the outbreak of armed struggle against Portuguese colonial occupation, 4 February 1961, José Eduardo dos Santos, then aged 19, left the country in November of that year to foreign countries where it is acting as coordinator activities of the youth of the MPLA.

In 1962, he is one of the Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola in which he participated in preparing the opening of the 2nd Politico-Military Region. A year later, he was appointed chief representative of the MPLA in Brazzaville (Congo). In November of that year, he receives a scholarship that enables him to go pursue his graduate studies at the Institute of oil and gas from Baku, USSR. Six years later (1969), he earned his degree in petroleum engineer. During the same period, he was the main leader of Angolan students in the USSR. After his studies, he attended for one year a course of military telecommunications that will enable it to exercise, from 1970 to 1974, the functions of the Center Principal operator of telecommunications in the 2nd Region Politico-Military MPLA (Cabinda).

In 1974, José Eduardo dos Santos was appointed to the Board of Adjustment Provisoire North Front, in charge of finance, before being re-appointed representative of the MPLA in Brazzaville until June 1975.

THE POLITICIAN 

During the Inter MPLA held on the Eastern Front (Moxico) in September 1975, José Eduardo dos Santos was appointed a member of Central Committee Political Bureau and the MPLA, which is responsible for the coordination of political and diplomatic activities in the 2nd Region.

During the troubled period before the accession of Angola's independence, José Eduardo dos Santos was appointed coordinator of the Department for Foreign Relations of the MPLA. It organizes and promotes the department in Luanda. During this period, he exerted an intense diplomatic activity which will lead in several African capitals. In addition to these functions, it also directs the Department of Health of MPLA.

At the el'indépendance proclamation of Angola on 11 November 1975 he became Minister of External Relations. It will carry out a fierce diplomatic battle to win his country as a full member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in February 1976 and the United Nations in December of that year.

During the 1st Congress of the MPLA in December 1977 è Luanda, José Eduardo dos Santos has been re-elected Central Committee Political Bureau and the MPLA / Labor Party, which will, between 1977 and 1979, to serve Secretary of the Central Committee in charge of national reconstruction and later Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Planning. In the meantime, he also held until December 1978 as Deputy Prime Minister before becoming Minister of Planning.

THE PRESIDENT

On the death of Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto, 1st President of the Republic of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos was elected Chairman of the MPLA on 20 September 1979 and spent one day later, in the office of President of the PLA / Labor party , President of the People's Republic of Angola and Commander in Chief (FAPL Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola).

On 9 November 1980, he was elected President of the People's Assembly (parliament), the supreme organ of state power. During the 1st Extraordinary Congress of the MPLA / Labor Party, it is reconfirmed in all its functions and powers.

Editor José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola will consolidate the organs of sovereignty and defense, successfully resisting the military assault in South Africa and destabilization, caused by armed groups to foreign interests.

Around half of the first 80 years became the first attempts to create objective conditions and policies, with the support of youth-oriented militants from the faculties of engineering, economics and law. The situation of war lived in the country does not allow for a rapid of these reforms. But the 2nd Congress of the MPLA / Labor Party made in 1985 which had considered the reforms, had confirmed José Eduardo dos Santos in all its functions.

From 1986 to 1992, José Eduardo dos Santos was at the root of efforts to pacify the country and the region, which had resulted in the withdrawal of troops invading South Africa, the repatriation of Cuban and contributing to the independence of the Namibia.

Once removed the external factors that had exacerbated the internal conflict in Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos has launched the "bridges" to a negotiated solution and has energized the opening of Angola towards political pluralism and market economy . He held multiparty democratic elections on 29 and 30 September 1992 under international supervision, which were won by the MPLA, while José Eduardo dos Santos misses his election in the first round as a result of a small percentage of votes.

During the political crisis caused by UNITA following its electoral defeat, José Eduardo dos Santos will personally hand in the guidelines that will lead to diplomatic recognition of the Angolan government by the United States of America on 19 May 1993 and oblige UNITA to accept a negotiated solution to the Angolan conflict. This will result in the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994.

LEISURE

During her spare time, José Eduardo dos Santos practice sports including football, basketball, gymnastics and loves listening to music.