Aníbal Cavaco Silva Facts for Kids

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Cavaco and the second or paternal family name is Silva.

Quick facts for kids His Excellency Aníbal Cavaco Silva GColL GCC GColIH
Cavaco Silva in 2014

President of Portugal
In office 9 March 2006 – 9 March 2016
Prime Minister	José Sócrates Pedro Passos Coelho António Costa
Preceded by	Jorge Sampaio
Succeeded by	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Prime Minister of Portugal
In office 6 November 1985 – 28 October 1995
President	António Ramalho Eanes Mário Soares
Deputy	Eurico de Melo
Preceded by	Mário Soares
Succeeded by	António Guterres
President of the Social Democratic Party
In office 19 May 1985 – 19 February 1995
Secretary-General	Manuel Dias Loureiro José Falcão e Cunha José Nunes Liberato
Preceded by	Rui Machete
Succeeded by	Fernando Nogueira
Minister of Finance and Planning
In office 3 January 1980 – 9 January 1981
Prime Minister	Francisco Sá Carneiro
Preceded by	António de Sousa Franco (Finance) Carlos Corrêa Gago (Planning)
Succeeded by	João Morais Leitão

Personal details
Born	Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (1939-07-15) 15 July 1939 (age 84) Boliqueime, Portugal
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Maria Alves (m. 1963)
Children	2
Alma mater	Technical University of Lisbon Alcuin College, York
Signature

Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈniβɐɫ ɐ̃ˈtɔni.u kɐˈvaku ˈsiɫvɐ]; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal from 6 November 1985 to 28 October 1995. His 10-year tenure was the longest of any prime minister since António de Oliveira Salazar, and he was the first Portuguese prime minister to win an absolute parliamentary majority under the current constitutional system. He is best known for leading Portugal into the European Union.

Early life and career
Family
Awards and decorations
- National honours
- Foreign honours
State visits
Electoral results
See also

Early life and career

Aníbal António Cavaco Silva was born in Boliqueime, Loulé, Algarve. He was initially an undistinguished student. As a 13-year-old, he flunked at the 3rd grade of the Commercial School, and his grandfather put him working on the farm as a punishment. After returning to school, Cavaco Silva went on to become an accomplished student. Cavaco Silva then went to Lisbon, where he took a vocational education course in accounting from "Instituto Comercial de Lisboa" (Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa (ISCAL), today) in 1959. In parallel, he was admitted for university education at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras de Lisboa (ISCEF) of the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) (currently the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) of the University of Lisbon), and obtained in 1963, with distinction, a degree in economics and finance (he scored a mark of 16 out of 20). While studying in Lisbon, Cavaco Silva was an athlete of CDUL athletics department from 1958 to 1963. Between 1963 and 1964, he was drafted into the Portuguese Army Artillery for compulsory 11 month military service, serving in a battalion in Lourenco Marques in Portuguese Mozambique Cavaco Silva studied a graduate course at the University of York in England.

Returning to Portugal, he took up a post as assistant professor in ISCEF (1974), professor at the Catholic University of Portugal (1975), extraordinary professor at the New University of Lisbon (1979) and finally director of the Office of Studies of the Bank of Portugal.

Cavaco Silva has published several academic works in economics, including in subfields like monetary policy and monetary unions. Hereceived an Honorary Doctorate from Scotland's Heriot-Watt University in 2009

Family

Cavaco Silva married Maria Alves da Silva at the Church of the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, on 20 October 1964. The couple had a daughter Patricia, and a son Bruno. He has five grandchildren, four of whom were born to his daughter. One of them, António Montez, is a professional footballer.

His brother, Rogério Cavaco Silva, is a businessman and a victim of the Dominion of Melchizedek scam.

Awards and decorations

National honours

Source:

Portugal:
- Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty
- Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders
- Grand Collar of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword
- Grand Cross of the Order of Christ
- Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry

Foreign honours

Source:

Austria:
- Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Brazil:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
Germany:
- Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Netherlands:
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Norway:
- Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav
Spain:
- Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
Turkey :
- Collar of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey

State visits

Foreign trips of Cavaco Silva.

Cavaco Silva made state visits to countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In September 2006, on his first state visit, he visited Portugal's only neighbour, Spain.