Charles do Rego
Charles do Rego was born in Curaçao in 1946, with family roots both in Curaçao and in the Azoren. Raised in Curaçao, he studied Human Geography at the University of Nijmegen (1971) and Business Administration at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (1991).
From 1972 until 1992 he worked at the Teachers Training College in Curaçao. After this period he became employed in government and was an advisor in the process of Constitutional Reform and later coordinator for Environmental Affairs. In 1996, until his retirement in 2006, he was head of the Civil Registry Office and vice president of the Council for Elections. At the same time he gave classes in management and economy at university level and did some research especially in the fields of sociology and history. He was also involved in political analysis and chairman of the local Human Rights Committee during the 1980s.
He was an active member of several ‘non-profit’ organizations, and currently on the board of the National Archeological and Anthropological Memory Management and chairman of the Council for Monuments. His most important assignment now is as member of the high level and independent Advisory Council to the Government of Curaçao.
He wrote, also in cooperation with others, several books and articles on plantation life, slavery and slave resistance, and political development regarding constitutional change. Recently, immigration has caught his attention and he conducted an in-depth study on the immigration, participation and integration of Portuguese peasants, mostly from Madeira, into the Curaçao society. His book is titled: The Portuguese Immigrant in Curaçao.