Aquiles Freitas Soares

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Aquiles Freitas Soares († between December 1976 and January 1977 in Lobito , Vemasse , East Timor ) was an East Timorese freedom fighter .

Life

Soares was the heir of the traditional ruling family of Letemumo ( Quelicai , Baucau municipality ). He served in the Portuguese colonial army for twelve years , most recently as a non-commissioned officer in the 6th Cavalry Company in Atabae ( Bobonaro municipality ).

In 1974 the Portuguese dictatorship was overthrown by the Carnation Revolution and the colonies began to be prepared for independence. In 1975, in what was then Portuguese Timor , there was a power struggle between the left-wing FRETILIN and the União Democrática Timorense UDT. Portugal's last governor, Mário Lemos Pires , withdrew and the FRETILIN declared the independence of East Timor after its victory on November 28, 1975. In the meantime, however, Indonesia had begun to occupy the border areas and on December 7th a large-scale invasion of the neighboring country officially began. From this time on, the FRETILIN waged a defense and liberation struggle against the Indonesians with its armed arm, the FALINTIL .

During the initially covert occupation of Bobonaro by the Indonesians, Soares earned his reputation for his heroic resistance in Atabae in October and November 1975. After the fall of Atabae on November 26, Soares and his men took 64 children back to Quelicai on a long walk they arrived in early January 1976. The children were sent to Atabae to be trained by Soares.

In February 1976, nine civilians in Venilale were murdered by local FRETILIN commanders on charges of collaborating with the Indonesians. Among other things, these were Maria Boavida , her husband, his uncle and three of her sons. Maria Boavida was the younger sister of António Freitas , a friend of Aquiles Freitas Soares, who was deputy in command of the Middle East Sector at the time. On February 23, António Freitas and some men killed the two FRETILIN commanders who are said to have been responsible for the murders in Venilale, Januario Ximenes and Julio da Silva . Three days later, Soares founded his own, semi-autonomous unit, the Comando da Luta Boru-Quere , in Uaibitae (Quelicai), near the Matebian . His deputy was António Freitas.

At that time the ideological differences within FRETILIN increased. There was no agreement on whether the resistance should be centrally controlled, to what extent Marxism was compatible with the traditional religion and culture of East Timor, and on the role of traditional rulers. Soares opposed the Central Committee of FRETILIN and the Commissariat of the Middle East Cascol ( Comissariado do Sector Centro Leste ) under Vicente dos Reis . Rumors arose that Soares wanted to murder Sahe and carry out a coup.

In May 1976, the Soares command met with representatives of FRETILIN under the leadership of Sahe at the Quelicai school to settle the conflict. Soares demanded promotion to the commander of Region II (Baucau), but refused to give up weapons to other FALINTIL units. He also demanded that the Venilale refugees who had sought refuge in Uaibitae can return. Another point of contention was the Marxist-Leninist orientation of FRETILIN.

After an armed confrontation between the FRETILIN leadership and the Soares group, they met again on October 28 in Uaibitae. Soares had been persuaded to come unarmed. He and his men were promptly captured by a FRETILIN unit from Lobito. Among other things, Soares was accused of trying to negotiate a local ceasefire with the Indonesians for his homeland, Quelicai. Members of the FRETILIN Central Committee ordered the execution of Soares and his supporters. Between December 1976 and January 1977 Soares and two other men were executed in Lobito, and another henchman in Baguia .

Various sources accuse Soares of having been an opponent of the FRETILIN ideology and of having actively collaborated with the Indonesians. The Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of East Timor, CAVR, which investigated the events of this time after regaining independence, found no evidence that would support these allegations.

See also

Web links

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Chapter 7.3 Forced Displacement and Famine" (PDF; 1.3 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d e "Chega!", Chapter 7.2, p. 126.
  3. ↑ “Chega!”, Chapter 7.2, p. 124.
  4. ↑ “Chega!”, Chapter 7.2, p. 125.
  5. ↑ Monika Schlicher: East Timor faces its past , missio-hilft.de , accessed on January 28, 2019.
  6. ↑ “Chega!”, Chapter 7.2, pp. 126 and 127
personal data
SURNAME Soares, Aquiles Freitas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Soares, Aquilis Freitas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Timorese freedom fighter
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Portuguese Timor
DATE OF DEATH December 1976 or January 1977
Place of death Lobito, Vemasse, East Timor