Background
Born on October 1922, at Funchal, Madeira, in the Atlantic Ocean 500 miles south-west of Lisbon.
Born on October 1922, at Funchal, Madeira, in the Atlantic Ocean 500 miles south-west of Lisbon.
Educated at Luanda and at Lisbon, where he gradu¬ated in agricultural engineering.
In 1949 he became a technical adviser on the staff of the National Federation of Wheatgrowers and in 1955 was promoted director of the federation’s technical services. He made his name in 1957 for his national investigation the first ever undertaken into the cost of wheat production in Portugal.
His reward was promotion to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1958 as Chef of Cabinet. In March 1961 he became technical director of the Government Agricultural Services. At this stage of his career he was a frequent leader of delegations to international conferences such as those of the European Free Trade Association and the Organisation for European Cooperation and Development.
After a long-nurtured interest in newspapers he was given his head as editor of the daily paper “Diario da Manha”.
His political interests developed from his membership of Accao Nacional Popular (ACP). He became a member of the central committee. In 1968 he was elected to Lisbon Town Council and subsequently to the National Assembly. In March 1970 he was made Mayor of Lisbon. He was also President of the Lisbon council committee of the National Union. Straight from municipal politics he was appointed in 1972 to succeed Colonel Rebocho Vaz who had been Governor-General of Angola since 1966.
A man firmly committed to the concept of Portugal Overseas—not Portuguese colonies—yet aware of the need for the devolution of political authority to keep pace with economic and technical progress. Madeira-born and well-travelled, he has always had a much wider perspective than most Portuguese proconsuls.
Son of Francisco Gilberto de Castro and his wife Maria Fernanda Santos e Castro. He married Maria Helena Santos Silva de Almeida Ribeiro (Odemira, May 15, 1925 - Lisbon, July 5, 1974), daughter of Jaime Duarte Silva de Almeida Ribeiro and his wife Judith Santos Silva, and had two children: Fernando Augusto de Almeida Ribeiro e Castro and José Duarte de Almeida Ribeiro e Castro.
