Jorge Sampaio, the former Portuguese president, a socialist who later held several positions with the United Nations, died this Friday in Lisbon at the age of 81, his family told Lusa news agency.
Secretary General of the Socialist Party, Mayor of Lisbon then Head of State between 1996 and 2006, Jorge Sampaio suffered from heart problems and had been hospitalized since the end of August.
Lisbon City Hall
Born in Lisbon in 1939 into a bourgeois family, he entered politics during his law studies, as one of the leaders of the 1962 university strikes against the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar (1932-1968). Once he became a lawyer, he defended several political prisoners.
In 1978, four years after the Carnation Revolution which ended the dictatorship, Jorge Sampaio joined the Socialist Party founded by Mario Soares (1986-1996), his predecessor as President of the Republic. Long deputy, he became secretary general of the party in 1989 and, the same year, won the city hall of Lisbon with the support of the Communists.
Support for Syrian students
Defeated in the 1991 legislative elections, he took his revenge by winning the 1996 presidential election in the first round against his right-wing rival, Anibal Cavaco Silva, who succeeded him as president (2006-2016).
At the end of his second term, Jorge Sampaio became, at age 66, special envoy for the United Nations’ Stop TB initiative. He then held the post of High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, whose aim is to promote initiatives aimed at overcoming the misunderstandings between cultures and religions. Recently, Jorge Sampaio, father of two, ran an international platform supporting Syrian students.
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