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Paulo Sacadura Cabral Portas was born on 12 September 1962 into a bourgeois family in Lisbon, with roots in Vila Viçosa on the paternal side and agricultural aristocracy of the side of his mother.
Paulo Portas grew up in a political family. His father, Nuno Portas, was a progressive, left-wing Roman Catholic. His mother, Helena Sacadura Cabral, was a conservative. Ms. Sacadura Cabral seemed to have greater influence on young Paulo. When his parents separated, Paulo stayed with his mother, while his brother Miguel Portas (a member of Bloco de Esquerda) grew up with his father.
He was a militant member of the Democratic Popular Party (PPD, which is today's Social Democratic Party). He was a staunch follower of Francisco Sá Carneiro.
Portas studied law and journalism in college. He became known at an early age for the piece "Três Traições" ("Three Treasons"), which attacked three prominent politicians: António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, and Mário Soares. The reason for this was their policy of decolonization after the fall of fascist dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. In the mid-1970s, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe gained independence.
Portas is currently leader of the People's Party, which is in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party. In the 2002 legislative elections, the People's Party won 14 of 230 seats with 8.8 percent of the vote. Portas is concurrently the Portuguese Minister of Defense.
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