Xanana Gusmão

Prime Minister of East Timor
Incumbent

Assumed office 08 August 2007

President José Ramos-Horta
Vicente Guterres (Acting)
Fernando de Araújo (Acting)
José Ramos-Horta

Preceded by Estanislau da Silva

President of East Timor
In office
20 May 2002 – 20 May 2007

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri
José Ramos-Horta
Estanislau da Silva

Preceded by Sérgio Vieira de Mello

Succeeded by José Ramos-Horta

Born 20 June 1946 (age 63) Manatuto, Portuguese Timor

Political party CNRT

Spouse(s) Kirsty Sword

Religion Roman Catholic

Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao GCL (born José Alexandre Gusmao, on June 20, 1946) is a former militant who was the first President of East Timor, serving from May 2002 to May 2007. He later became the fourth and current Prime Minister of East Timor on August 8, 2007.[1

Early life and career

Gusmão was born to mestiço school teacher parents (of mixed Portuguese-Timorese ancestry)[2] in Manatuto in what was then Portuguese Timor, and attended a Jesuit high school just outside of Dili. After leaving high-school for financial reasons at the age of fifteen, he held a variety of unskilled jobs, while continuing his education at night school. In 1965, at the age of 19, he met Emilia Batista, who was later to become his wife. His nickname, “Xanana”, was taken from the musical lyric, “Sha-na-na”.[3]
In 1966, Gusmão obtained a position with the public service, which allowed him to continue his education. This was interrupted in 1968 when Gusmão was recruited by the Portuguese Army for national service. He served for three years, rising to the rank of corporal. During this time he married Emilia Batista, by whom he had two children, his son Eugenio, and daughter Zenilda. He has since divorced Emilia, and in 2000 he married Australian Kirsty Sword, having sons Alexandre, Kay Olok and Daniel. 1971 was a turning point for Gusmão. He completed his national service, his son was born, and he became involved with a nationalist organization headed by José Ramos-Horta. For the next three years he was actively involved in peaceful protests directed at the colonial system.
It was in 1974 that a coup in Portugal resulted in the beginning of decolonization for Portuguese Timor, and shortly afterwards the Governor Mário Lemos Pires announced plans to grant the colony independence. Plans were drawn up to hold general elections with a view to independence in 1978. During most of 1975 a bitter internal struggle occurred between two rival factions in Portuguese Timor. Gusmão became deeply involved with the FRETILIN faction, and as a result he was arrested and imprisoned by the rival faction the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) in mid-1975. Taking advantage of the internal disorder, and with an eye to absorbing the colony, Indonesia immediately began a campaign of destabilization, and frequent raids into Portuguese Timor were staged from Indonesian West Timor. By late 1975 the Fretilin faction had gained control of Portuguese Timor and Gusmão was released from prison. He was given the position of Press Secretary within the FRETILIN organization. On November 28, 1975, Fretilin declared the independence of Portuguese Timor as “The Democratic Republic of East Timor”, and Gusmão was responsible for filming the ceremony. Nine days later, Indonesia invaded East Timor. At the time Gusmão was visiting friends outside of Dili and he witnessed the invasion from the hills. For the next few days he searched for his family.

Indonesian occupation

Main article: Indonesian occupation of East Timor
After the appointment of the “Provisional Government of East Timor” by Indonesia, Gusmão became heavily involved in resistance activities. Gusmão was largely responsible for the level of organization that evolved in the resistance, which ultimately led to its success. The early days featured Gusmão walking from village to village to obtain support and recruits. But after FRETILIN suffered some major setbacks in the early 1980s Gusmão left FRETILIN and supported various centrist coalitions, eventually becoming a leading opponent of FRETILIN. By the mid-1980s, he was a major leader. During the early 1990s, Gusmão became deeply involved in diplomacy and media management, and was instrumental in alerting the world to the massacre that occurred in Santa Cruz on November 12, 1991. Gusmão was interviewed by many major media channels and obtained worldwide attention.
As a result of his high profile, Gusmão became a prime target of the Indonesian government. A campaign for his capture was finally successful in November 1992. In May 1993, Gusmão was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Indonesian Government. He was found guilty under Article 108 of the Indonesian Penal Code (rebellion), Law no. 12 of 1951 (illegal possession of firearms) and Article 106 (attempting to separate part of the territory of Indonesia).[4] He spoke in his own defense and he was appointed with a defense lawyers before the commencement of his trial. The sentence was commuted to 20 years by Indonesian President Suharto in August 1993. Although not released until late 1999, Gusmão successfully led the resistance from within prison. During this time he was regularly visited by United Nations representatives, and dignitaries such as Nelson Mandela.