José Maria Neves

José Maria Neves was born in 1960 in Santa Catarina, on the island of Santiago. He was deputy of the National Assembly (N.A.) from 1996 to 2000, elected by the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), at the time in opposition, by the Council in which he was born. As a member of the N.A., he held the positions of 2nd Vice-President of the Assembly and Director of the Special Commission for Public Administration, Local Government and Regional Development.

In the March 2000 municipal elections, Maria Neves was elected Mayor of the Municipality of Santa Catarina, whose headquarters is the city of Assomada, the second largest city on Santiago Island.

After being elected President of the PAICV in June 2000 until 2014, his party was victorious in the legislative elections of January 14, 2001, against the party in power, the MpD - Movement for Democracy. José Maria Neves was appointed Prime Minister of Cape Verde by the President of the Republic, and took office on February 1, 2001. New legislative elections were held on 22 January 2006 and, having won again, he was reappointed to the leadership of the Cape Verdean government on 7 March 2006 for a further five-year term and then re-elected for the third time on 11 February 2011.

His role as First Mandatory of Cape Verde took him on official trips to several countries. He was already received in audience by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010 to whom JMN had the honour to invite His Holiness to visit Cape Verde. He is a politician who, despite his tender youth, is already considered the best Prime Minister of an African country by various international bodies. During his mandate Cape Verde was awarded the Millennium Challenge Account [MCA] program, as he presented good work using this money, Cape Verde was again awarded another package of the same program.