Helder Proença

{{Short description|Guinea-Bissauan politician}}

Helder Proença (died June 5, 2009) was a Guinea-Bissauan politician who served as Minister of Defense of Guinea-Bissau during the administration of President João Bernardo Vieira.{{cite news |title=Guinea-Bissau poll candidate killed |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/06/20096573958404550.html|work=Al Jazeera English|date=2009-06-05 |access-date=2009-06-14}}

On June 5, 2009, Proença, who was a member of the National People's Assembly at the time, was shot and killed by government security forces on a road connecting the northern town of Bula and with Bissau, the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. Baciro Dabó, a politician and presidential candidate in the June 2009 presidential election, was also killed by government soldiers on the same day. A third politician, former Prime Minister Faustino Imbali, was also arrested. Proença's driver and bodyguard were also killed in the attack.{{cite news |first=Adam|last=Nossiter|title=2 Politicians Are Killed in Guinea-Bissau |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/world/africa/06guinea.html?ref=world|work=New York Times|date=2009-06-05 |access-date=2009-06-14}}

In a statement, the Interior Ministry of Guinea-Bissau accused Proença, Dabó and Embali of being part of the alleged coup plot.

Portugal's state-run news agency, Lusa, reported that Proenca's body was taken to the morgue at the Simao Mendes Hospital in Bissau following his killing.