José Cutileiro facts for kids

José Cutileiro (born November 20, 1934 – died May 17, 2020) was a very important person from Portugal. He was a diplomat, which means he represented his country in other nations, and also a talented writer. He worked for big organizations like the Council of Europe and the Western European Union. He even helped with human rights issues in places like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. He also taught at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Biography

Early Life and Family

José Cutileiro's father was a doctor who had some political problems with the government in Portugal at the time (the Salazar regime). Because of this, his father decided to leave Portugal and work for the World Health Organization (WHO). He took his wife and teenage children, including José, to live in different countries like Switzerland, India, and Afghanistan. In 1952, when José was 17, his family was among the first Portuguese people known to live in Afghanistan.

José was the brother of the famous sculptor João Cutileiro.

José also had a son, named José Cutileiro, who was born in Lisbon in 1959. His son became a musician, journalist, and writer. He passed away in June 2020, just a month after his father.

Studies and Academic Career

When José Cutileiro returned to Portugal, he studied architecture and medicine at universities in Lisbon. Later, he went to Oxford University in England. There, he earned a degree in anthropology in 1964 and a PhD in 1968. Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures.

After his studies, he became a research fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford from 1968 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974, he taught social anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Later in his career, from 2001 to 2004, Cutileiro was a special professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA.

Diplomatic Career

After the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974, which brought democracy to the country, José Cutileiro was asked to join the diplomatic service. His first job was as a cultural attaché at the Portuguese embassy in London.

From 1974 to 1994, Cutileiro worked for the Portuguese Foreign Service. He was the first permanent Portuguese representative to the Council of Europe from 1977 to 1980. He also served as the Portuguese ambassador to Mozambique (1980-1983) and to South Africa (1989-1991). His time in South Africa was important because it was when Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

From 1984 to 1986, Cutileiro led the Portuguese team at the OSCE Conference on Disarmament in Stockholm.

In 1988, he helped Portugal join the Western European Union (WEU). The WEU was a defense organization for European countries. In 1992, he was in charge of talks about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the European Community. He was also a co-author of the Carrington–Cutileiro plan in February 1992. This plan was an effort to prevent the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

From 1994 to 1999, he was the Secretary-General of the Western European Union. He was the last independent leader of this organization before its role changed.

From 2001 to 2003, he worked as a special envoy for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This role involved helping with human rights issues in those regions.

He also advised the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council and, in 2005, was a special political advisor to José Manuel Barroso, who was the president of the European Commission.

Writing Career

As a writer, José Cutileiro is well-known for a fictional history book he wrote using the pen name A. B. Kotter. The stories describe the experiences of an English aristocrat living in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution. These stories were first published in the British newspaper The Independent and later collected into a book called Bilhetes de Colares in 2004.

Cutileiro also wrote essays, poetry, and other books about anthropology. His most recent publication was called “Inventário: Desabafos e Divagações de Um Sético”.

He also wrote obituaries (articles about people who have died) for the newspaper Expresso, including those for Mário Soares and Fidel Castro. In his later years, he wrote a column about international relations called 'The World of Others'.

Death

José Cutileiro passed away at a hospital in Brussels, Belgium, on May 17, 2020.

Works

• A Portuguese Rural Society [Ricos e pobres no Alentejo. Uma sociedade portuguesa rural]. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971, ISBN: 0198231733
• Situation of human rights in parts of south-eastern Europe : report of the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Geneva : UN, 8 January 2002, OCLC 83338101
• Life and death of others: the international community and the end of Yugoslavia [Vida e morte dos outros : a comunidade internacional e o fim da Jugoslávia], Lisboa, Portugal : Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, 2003, ISBN: 9726711061
• Bilhetes de Colares: 1982-1998 [writing as A. B. Kotter], Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon 2007 (in Portuguese), ISBN: 972371258X

Awards and Honors

• Ordem Militar de Cristo
• Order of Prince Henry
• Portuguese Order of Christ
• 2009 Grande Prémio de Crónica from the Portuguese Writers Association for his fictional chronicle Bilhetes de Colares (writing under his pseudonym A B Kotter)