Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor

Foundation and ideology

The predecessor of FRETILIN was the Timor Social Democratic Association , founded in 1970, on the basis of which the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor was formed on September 11, 1974. Its leaders were Francisco Xavier do Amaral , Nicolaou Lobatu and José Ramos-Horta .

Common features of FRETILIN, which defended the "universal doctrines of socialism " and the " right to self-determination ", converged with the revolutionary left-wing movements in other Portuguese colonies - FRELIMO in Mozambique , MPLA in Angola , PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, they all switched to social democratic positions and were accepted into the Socialist International - FRETILIN has consultative status in it ^[1] ).

Since the Front was ideologically amorphous (including various forces from the Maoists to liberal nationalists), there were contradictions: the Marxist wing of Fretilin supported egalitarian social policies, the development of the village based on the redistribution of land between the peasants working on it and the mechanization of agriculture; At the same time, “moderate” people from feudal circles tried to preserve traditional hierarchical and separate structures.

Indonesian occupation

At the end of Portuguese rule on the island, Front won the local elections in the spring of 1975 , gaining more than 55% of the votes and inflicting a convincing defeat on the APODETI- sponsored opponents of independence. However, the Timor Democratic Union (UDT) party, with which FRETILIN initially acted as a single bloc, with the support of the local police in August 1975, carried out a coup and executed several FRETILIN supporters.

The Front forces, relying on the Timorese, who served in the Portuguese colonial army, launched an offensive, after which Fretilin unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor on November 28, 1975. FRETILIN formed a government of 18 cabinet members, Francisco Xavier do Amaral was declared president, and Nicolaou dos Reis Lobatu was appointed prime minister.

However, after 9 days, the country was occupied by the troops of the Indonesian dictator Suharto , and the retreating to the highlands of Fretilin led the resistance to the occupation, carried out by its militarized wing - the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALINTIL). Between 1975 and 1978, the FRETILIN / FALINTIL forces controlled most of the interior regions of the country, taking protection of a significant number of people converted into refugees by the Indonesian army. However, within the organization itself, tensions were observed: Lobatu, who succeeded Amaral as the president of East Timor, accused his predecessor of treason and negotiated for negotiating with the Indonesians.

By December 1978, the Indonesian army had destroyed up to 80% of the Fretilin fighters, and its leader, Nicolou dos Reish Lobata , had shot himself to avoid being captured. From September 1977 to February 1979, the Front lost almost all of its leadership - only 3 of the 52 members of its Central Committee survived ^[2] . In 1979, the underground Prime Minister of the FRETILIN, Antonio Karvarina , was killed. Despite the heavy losses, FRETILIN continued to resist in hard-to-reach regions of the country and to work in emigration. A more moderate nationalist leadership under the authority of Xanana Guzmán (Gusmão) slowly restored the forces of Fretilin / Falintil.

From May 1981 to April 1984, FRETILIN was called the Marxist-Leninist party Fretilin ( port. Partido Marxista-Leninista Fretilin, PMLF ), and Marxism-Leninism was officially proclaimed by party ideology (the party got up on the Marxist platform as early as 1977). However, then the new name was canceled to facilitate the search for national unity and support from UDT and the Catholic Church. In order to attract world attention to their struggle, front-line supporters committed a series of actions in 1996 to infiltrate foreign embassies in Jakarta ^[3] .

Independent East Timor

In 1999 , before and after the referendum on self-determination , the FRETILIN members and supporters were subjected to cruel terror by pro-Indonesian militias , primarily Aitarak, Eurik Guterres . The militants were supported by Indonesian security forces and an administration led by Governor Abilio José Osorio Soares . However, on August 30, 1999, almost 80% of voters were against East Timor’s presence in Indonesia.

After East Timor gained independence, the Front, winning the Constituent Assembly (Constitutional Assembly) election on August 30, 2001 with 57.37% of the votes and 55 of the 88 deputy seats, was in power in 2001-2007 under the premiership of FRETILIN General Secretary Marie Alkatiri . His office pursued a socially oriented policy and refused to cooperate with the IMF , but resigned after the East Timorese crisis of 2006.

In the presidential elections that followed on April 14, 2002, by a large margin (82.69% of votes), Xanana Guzmán (Gusmão), a former rebel leader of Fretilin, defeated. However, for the next election, he broke away from the Front, creating his own center-left party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction . As part of the vote flowed to a new political force, in the parliamentary elections of June 30, 2007, the Front, although it managed to win first place again, but with far worse indicators - 29.02% of the votes and only 21 seats - which allowed the formation of the coalition government of Xanana Guzman without FRETILIN.

The next president of East Timor in 2007–2012 was José Ramos-Horta , who was nominated as an independent candidate - one of the founders of FRETILIN, who also subsequently left the party. In the presidential election, he, supported by the faction of Mari Alkatiri’s breakaway FRETILIN (in 2011, they registered a new party - the East Timor National Reconstruction Front, Frenti-Mudança ), defeated the French parliamentary speaker FRETILIN “Lou Olo” Guterrish . However, Guterresch, supported by анanana Guzmán, was elected president in the next elections in 2017, winning in the first round with 57% of the vote.

After the resignation of Shanana Gusman from the post of prime minister, the new government on February 16, 2015 was formed by the representative of FRETILIN Rui Maria de Araujo . After the elections of July 22, 2017, the party, although it lost 2 seats in parliament (received 29.7% of the vote, taking the first place), formed the government, and its leader, Mari Alkatiri, headed it.

• V. F. Urlyapov. The history of Timor-Leste. Twentieth century. - M .: IW RAS, 2015. - 256 p. - ISBN 978-5-89282-640-2 .
• D. Pilash. East Timor: forgotten genocide, silenced problems
• A. Khazanov. East Timor: the long road to independence