José Manuel Ramos-Horta is the second President of East Timor since independence from Indonesia, taking office on 20 May 2007 and a former Prime Minister, having served from 2006 until his inauguration as President after winning the 2007 East Timorese presidential election.
He was born in Dili, East Timor, in 1949. Of his eleven brothers and sisters, four were killed by the Indonesian military, which invaded East Timor in 1975, resulting in the death of more than two hundred thousand people.
Ramos-Horta worked as a journalist from 1969 to 1974, during which his prominent role in the political resistance forced him into exile in Mozambique for two years. He again left East Timor in 1975 to spend the next twenty-four years fighting for human rights and Timorese independence from abroad.
Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.
After East Timor achieved independence in 2002, Ramos-Horta was appointed as the country’s first Foreign Minister. He served in this position until his resignation on 25 June 2006. On 26 June, following the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, Ramos-Horta was appointed acting Prime Minister by the President, Xanana Gusmão. Two weeks later, on 10 July 2006, he was officially sworn in as the second Prime Minister of East Timor.
On 11 February 2008, Ramos-Horta was injured when he was shot during an assassination attempt.
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