jorge carlos fonseca was born on october 20th, 1950, in mindelo, cape verde, which was then still in the colony of portuguese cape verde. he hailed from a roman catholic family of european descent. fonseca finished his elementary and secondary education at local schools in mindelo and paria before then going on to pursue his post-secondary education in lisbon, portugal. there, he received a law degree and a master's in legal sciences from the university of lisbon. upon returning to cape verde, fonseca served as director general of emigration from 1975 to 1977, and then as secretary general of the ministry of foreign affairs of cape verde from 1977 to 1979.