Maria Gorete Joaquim

Maria Gorete Joaquim (* 1958 , † 1979 ) was an East Timorese freedom fighter.

Life

When the Indonesians invaded Dili , the capital of East Timor, on December 7, 1975 , Gorete was 17 years old and a student in Dili. She was a member of UNETIM (União do Estudiante do Timor) , the student movement of FRETILIN and niece of Leopoldo Joaquim , a member of the Central Committee (CCF) of FRETILIN. It began to collect information about the occupation army in Dili and passed it on to the FALINTIL , the military resistance. Because of this, Gorete was imprisoned for a year by the Indonesian security forces. During this time, she was tortured with electric shocks, beatings, and cigarette butts stuck on her face. Gorete also later reported injections that she suspected were truth drugs. After the injections, she slept for hours and then couldn't remember anything. From the third month of detention, she was raped by the duty officer. Eventually Gorete was released.

After she was detained, she attended all the parties Indonesians held. As a pretty girl she was welcomed there. She used the opportunity again to gather information for the resistance, especially from the Indonesian soldiers when they were drunk. However, she could not always hold back and criticized the Indonesians directly at the celebrations. She was advised to stay away from the parties. After a year of freedom, she tried to flee into the bush to join the fighters, but was arrested again by the Indonesians. It was passed around among the Indonesians. She worked as a translator for the occupiers and was repeatedly raped by them. They saw witnesses in Manatuto , Baucau , Lospalos, and other places. She also provided FALINTIL with information. In a letter she wrote to her mother:

"I had to humiliate myself many times in front of the Indonesians, but there is nothing I can do, I am in their power, I no longer belong to myself."

After three months there was suddenly no more news about Gorete. Rumors circulated that she had been taken to an island, thrown from a helicopter, or shot in Uato-Lari or Quelicai . In the end, Gorete no longer endured the humiliation and refused to continue working for the Indonesians. She said she'd better be killed.

A grant from the Australian Catholic University Foundation is named after Maria Gorete Joaquim . It was introduced in 2004 by an anonymous sponsor to honor Gorete. The scholarship fund was increased by further donations from the Marist School Brothers and others.

Web links

• Photo by Maria Gorete Joaquim
• Written questions from the German Bundestag with the answers received from the Federal Government in the week of November 18, 1985 : Ingeborg Hoffmann, CDU MP, on the fate of David Ximenes and Maria Gorete Joaquim.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Amnesty International Newsletter, October 1985, Volume XV, Number 10.
2. ^ ^{A b c} Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission: "I do not belong to myself any more." , accessed November 25, 2016.
3. ↑ ABC: Australia received East Timor 'hit list' before Indonesian invasion , November 27, 2015 , accessed November 25, 2016.
4. ^ Frédéric B. Durand: History of Timor-Leste, p. 118, ISBN 9786162151248 .
5. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 25, 2016.