Marcelo decorates José Manuel Rodrigues

The President of the Republic decorated this Thursday the former president of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, José Manuel Rodrigues, with the Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, his office announced.

According to a statement sent to newsrooms by the office of the Regional Secretary for the Economy, José Manuel Rodrigues, the decoration ceremony was intended to distinguish “the services provided by the Madeiran politician as president of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, in the XII, XIII and XIV Legislatures, between 2019 and 2025”.

José Manuel Rodrigues said it was “an honor and a source of pride to have received this award from the current head of state, with whom he has maintained close and friendly relations for a long time.”

The Madeiran politician was born on July 13, 1960 and is from the parish of Santa Maria Maior, in the municipality of Funchal.

In 1978 he began his journalistic career at “Jornal da Madeira”, worked in the editorial offices of several media outlets and became president of the regional delegation of the Journalists' Union in the early 1990s.

He was a deputy in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira between 1996 and 2025 and a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic from 2009 to 2012, for the CDS-PP.

The Order of Prince Henry the Navigator is intended to distinguish those who have rendered relevant services to Portugal, at home and abroad, as well as services in the expansion of Portuguese culture or in the knowledge of Portugal, its history and its values.