Elsa Maria Teixeira de Barros Pinto is a São Tomé and Príncipe politician, and the country's former Defence and Justice Minister and from December 2018 until September 2020 Foreign Minister.
In 2003 and 2004 (at least), she was a member of the Council of Ministers, as Secretary of State for Administrative Reform and Public Administration, and was a member of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD) political party.[1] [2] In 2004, she was also Minister for Justice.[2]
According to Pravda, she was Minister of Defence, as well as Minister for Justice, from 2008 to 2010.[3] According to Whitaker's Almanack, she was still Minister of Defence as of July 2011.[4]
In February 2013, she was the Attorney-General of São Tomé and Príncipe, when she was exonerated by a presidential decree of having issued a cheque for US$15,000 with insufficient funds to honour it to pay for car hire charges during the 2011 presidential elections.[5]
In November 2015, she stood against Aurélio Martins (the incumbent, and competing for the second time, having been the party leader since 2011)[6] for the leadership of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD) political party after the economist Agostinho Meira Rita merged his candidacy with hers.[7]