Lígia Fonseca
| Ligia Fonseca | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of Cape Verde | |
|
Assumed office September 9, 2011 |
|
| President | Jorge Carlos Fonseca |
| Preceded by | Adélcia Barreto Pires |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lígia Arcângela Lubrino Dias August 24, 1963 Beira, Portuguese Mozambique |
| Political party | Movement for Democracy |
| Spouse(s) | Jorge Carlos Fonseca (m. 1989) |
| Children | Three |
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Lígia Arcângela Lubrino Dias Fonseca (born August 24, 1963) is a Cape Verdean lawyer, activist, and politician who has served as the First Lady of Cape Verde since 2011. Fonseca became the first female president of the Cape Verdian Lawyers' Association (OAC), the country's national bar association, in 2001. She is married to Cape Verdean President Jorge Carlos Fonseca.
Fonseca was born Lígia Arcângela Lubrino Dias in Beira, Portuguese Mozambique, on August 24, 1963, to Canta Dias and Máximo Dias. Her father, Máximo Dias, was a Mozambican lawyer, politician and leader of the MONAMO political party. In 1976, her family moved to Lisbon, Portugal, due to political instability in Mozambique.
Dias remained in Lisbon, despite hopes of returning to Beira. She enrolled at the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon, where she earned her law degree. She met her future husband, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, who was Cape Verdean in 1987 while attending the university. The couple married on March 26, 1989, at a ceremony in Portugal. They had three daughters.
They then moved to Macau, where he husband had been hired as a law professor at the University of Macau. The couple moved to Cape Verde in 1991, marking the first time she had lived in an African country since leaving Mozambique in 1976.
On April 30, 2001, Fonseca became the first woman to be elected President of the Cape Verdian Lawyers' Association (Ordem dos Advogados de Cabo Verde). A dissenting group of lawyers argued that she had not been a member of OAC for at least 10 years, but her election was upheld. Fonseca inuaguration as the first female head of the OAC took place on May 19, 2001. She served as President from 2001 until 2004, when she was succeeded by Dr. Carlos Alberto Veiga.
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