Paulo Portas - Early Life

Early Life

Born in Lisbon, in a family with roots in Vila Viçosa on the paternal side and military tradition of the side of his mother (niece of aviation hero Artur de Sacadura Cabral, who made the first ever Southatlantic crossing), Portas grew up in a free thinking and political family. His father, Nuno Portas (born September 23, 1934 in Vila Viçosa), an architect, was a progressive, left-wing Roman Catholic. His mother, Helena Sacadura Cabral (born 7 December 1934 in Lisbon), an economist, a jewel designer and journalist, was a conservative. When his parents separated, his older brother Miguel Portas (a member of Bloco de Esquerda – Left Bloc) stayed with their father while Paulo stayed with their mother, who would thus understandbly influence Paulo Portas' conservative political views.

In the period that followed the 1974 revolution in Portugal, Paulo Portas was briefly sent to France to be shielded from the post-revolution turmoil. He studied at S. João de Brito High School and then law at the Portuguese Catholic University, where he met Manuel Monteiro who, 10 years later, would serve as Portas' stepping stone into the CDS-PP party and national politics.