During the Alkatiri government (2000 - 2006), the 12 November demonstration* that climaxed with the bloody tragedy in the Santa Cruz public cemetery in Dili was made a national political issue. Prime Minister Alkatiri and the Fretilin Party wanted to make “12 November” National Labor Day. Every component of the country, the community, the youth of East Timor (more so those who were involved with and became the victims of that bloody tragedy), as well as journalists (print and electronic) voiced strong opposition to this policy which was considered to be blind to history and intended to trivialise the struggle of the youth in the past.
In the end, the Alkatiri government gave in and agreed to the wishes of the youth to make that date National Youth Day. The demonstrators were very tense at that time - many of them are still alive. Including those who were imprisoned just because they were at the Santa Cruz tragedy.
One of them is Domingos Barreto, SH. At the time of the demonstration, Barreto was finishing his education at the Faculty of Law at the Sugyopranoto Catholic University in Semarang, Central Java from 1986 to 1993.
Although being in another's country, the clandestine struggle for the independence of this country did not die. It shone still. While in Semarang, he was actively involved in the underground movement. He joined the Renetil organisation that was set up by Fernando de Araujuo La Sama (now President of the National Parliament). Then, he was entrusted as the Secretary of Renetil for the Semarang region, Central Java. In the resistence period, Renetil was the one organisation that could muster all the might of the youth in East Timor as well as in Indonesia. Its members were actively involved in several demonstrations in Jakarta and Dili, the most horrifying of which happened on 12 November 1991.
Barreto was one of those involved and his movements were known to the TNI (Indonesian military) intelligence and the civil intelligence that supported the TNI. “After that event, I was arrested and imprisoned for one year in Jakarta because I was involved in the 12 November demonstration which ended in the bloody tragedy in Santa Cruz,” said Domingos Barreto.
Barreto was born in Bobonaro on 21 April 1963. The second of 8 children of Joao Barreto and Ana de Jesus Cardoso Sousa. In the Portuguese Timor period, he successfully completed his education up to level 4 class in 1974. After the Indonesian military invasion in 1975 he continued his education at the Merah Putih State Primary School in Bobonaro, finishing in 1979.
He then completed his middle education at the State Middle School I in Maliana in 1982 then the Becora State High School. He graduated with his Bachelor degree from the Sugyopranoto Catholic University in 1995 and returned to work as a civil servant in the East Timor Provincial Office of the (Indonesian) National Family Planning Coordinating Body until the territory separated from Indonesia and became a new nation in 1999.
He married his chosen lady Zelia Soares Henriques in January 2000 just after East Timor became independent. In March 2000, he was appointed as a prosecutor and not long after that he was entrusted as the Chief Prosecutor for the District of Baucau until 2004. He attended training in Portugal for 3 months and after returning became a member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary for 5 years (2003-2007). He then attended education at the Centre for Judicial Development in Dili for 2 years and 6 months. After that, he, along with 8 of his colleagues, were appointed as prosecutors on 21 June 2007. He was subsequently appointed as the prosecutor in the Oecusse District Prosecution Service where he is now.
armandina moniz http://www.suaratimorlorosae.com/details.php?id=12740&now=2008-05-08 translation ww2008 Trans. note - At the 12 November 1991 demonstration by students in East Timor at the funeral of one of their colleagues who was murdered by the Indonesian security forces, the Indonesian military opened fire on the mourners in the grounds of the Santa Cruz cemetery in central Dili killing hundreds. After what remained of the crowd had fled, soldiers then swept through the cemetery killing the wounded who could not escape. The location of the graves of the many who were killed at this event is still not publicly known. This event became known as the Santa Cruz Massacre. It marks one of the darkest days of the illegal occupation of East Timor by Indonesia. Later, only a handful of junior military members were lightly sanctioned but many Timorese were arrested, detained and tortured for their brave resistance to the tyrannical Indonesian rule which left near 200 000 East Timorese dead.
In the end, the Alkatiri government gave in and agreed to the wishes of the youth to make that date National Youth Day. The demonstrators were very tense at that time - many of them are still alive. Including those who were imprisoned just because they were at the Santa Cruz tragedy.
One of them is Domingos Barreto, SH. At the time of the demonstration, Barreto was finishing his education at the Faculty of Law at the Sugyopranoto Catholic University in Semarang, Central Java from 1986 to 1993.
Although being in another's country, the clandestine struggle for the independence of this country did not die. It shone still. While in Semarang, he was actively involved in the underground movement. He joined the Renetil organisation that was set up by Fernando de Araujuo La Sama (now President of the National Parliament). Then, he was entrusted as the Secretary of Renetil for the Semarang region, Central Java. In the resistence period, Renetil was the one organisation that could muster all the might of the youth in East Timor as well as in Indonesia. Its members were actively involved in several demonstrations in Jakarta and Dili, the most horrifying of which happened on 12 November 1991.
Barreto was one of those involved and his movements were known to the TNI (Indonesian military) intelligence and the civil intelligence that supported the TNI. “After that event, I was arrested and imprisoned for one year in Jakarta because I was involved in the 12 November demonstration which ended in the bloody tragedy in Santa Cruz,” said Domingos Barreto.
Barreto was born in Bobonaro on 21 April 1963. The second of 8 children of Joao Barreto and Ana de Jesus Cardoso Sousa. In the Portuguese Timor period, he successfully completed his education up to level 4 class in 1974. After the Indonesian military invasion in 1975 he continued his education at the Merah Putih State Primary School in Bobonaro, finishing in 1979.
He then completed his middle education at the State Middle School I in Maliana in 1982 then the Becora State High School. He graduated with his Bachelor degree from the Sugyopranoto Catholic University in 1995 and returned to work as a civil servant in the East Timor Provincial Office of the (Indonesian) National Family Planning Coordinating Body until the territory separated from Indonesia and became a new nation in 1999.
He married his chosen lady Zelia Soares Henriques in January 2000 just after East Timor became independent. In March 2000, he was appointed as a prosecutor and not long after that he was entrusted as the Chief Prosecutor for the District of Baucau until 2004. He attended training in Portugal for 3 months and after returning became a member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary for 5 years (2003-2007). He then attended education at the Centre for Judicial Development in Dili for 2 years and 6 months. After that, he, along with 8 of his colleagues, were appointed as prosecutors on 21 June 2007. He was subsequently appointed as the prosecutor in the Oecusse District Prosecution Service where he is now.
armandina moniz http://www.suaratimorlorosae.com/details.php?id=12740&now=2008-05-08 translation ww2008 Trans. note - At the 12 November 1991 demonstration by students in East Timor at the funeral of one of their colleagues who was murdered by the Indonesian security forces, the Indonesian military opened fire on the mourners in the grounds of the Santa Cruz cemetery in central Dili killing hundreds. After what remained of the crowd had fled, soldiers then swept through the cemetery killing the wounded who could not escape. The location of the graves of the many who were killed at this event is still not publicly known. This event became known as the Santa Cruz Massacre. It marks one of the darkest days of the illegal occupation of East Timor by Indonesia. Later, only a handful of junior military members were lightly sanctioned but many Timorese were arrested, detained and tortured for their brave resistance to the tyrannical Indonesian rule which left near 200 000 East Timorese dead.
