Rui Alberto Maggiolo Gouveia

Rui Alberto Maggiolo Gouveia († December 7, 1975 in Portuguese Timor ) was a lieutenant colonel of the Forças Armadas Português em Timor and commander of the Policia de Segurança Publica (PSP) in Portuguese Timor.

Before serving in Portuguese Timor, Gouveia served in the colonial war in Africa.

On August 11, 1975, the União Democrática Timorense (UDT) tried to usurp power in the colony to prevent a government of the left-wing FRETILIN . Gouveia was initially arrested by the putschists. Governor Mário Lemos Pires then threatened the UDT with the use of paratroopers, but on August 12th Gouveia announced on the radio station of Radio Dili that he was quitting his service with the police and the army and joining his “true love”, the UDT. The broadcast ended with “Viva” calls for the Partido Socialista , Portugal and Timor. Later he was said to have been seen dragging a FRETILIN flag through the dirt as a war trophy in Dili, which led to great hatred of him on the part of FRETILIN supporters. The UDT lost the civil war . Gouveia was captured by FRETILIN on August 21 at the military headquarters in Taibesi . Now the hatred discharged on him. Gouveia was flogged in the first week of his detention, and eyewitnesses report further torture. Nevertheless, Gouveia stuck to his political stance. When RTP reporters visited him at the Lahane hospital , he declared that “only the Partido Socialista and General Spinola can save Portugal”. The family later received four letters through the Vatican . On December 7th, the day the Indonesian army began landing in the colonial capital of Dili , Gouveia, along with 50 to 60 other prisoners, was shot by a FRETILIN execution squad on the road from Aileu to Maubisse and buried in a mass grave. Gouveia had to kneel, prayed another rosary and said: “I am dying for Timor, I am dying for my homeland and for my Catholic faith. You can shoot. ”It was not until 1994 that FRETILIN took responsibility for the victims. It had previously been claimed that the prisoners were left behind when the FRETILIN withdrew from the Indonesian invaders. Later in 2003 his body was exhumed and finally buried in Mação, Portugal .

The evaluation of Gouveia's behavior in the wake of the UDT coup varies. The desertion was an embarrassing incident for the armed forces. Comrades from the army attributed Gouveia's change of side to physical and psychological exhaustion. Others see Gouveia as a hero who did not want to leave Timor to a communist threat. Portugal's right-wing conservative Defense Minister Paulo Portas had declared at the funeral of Gouveias that he had fought against the "Sovietization of Timor". It is doubtful whether this really existed. The Indonesian military secret service BAKIN had just exerted influence on leaders of the UDT with the “ Operasi Komodo ” and made them believe in a threat from a communist FRETILIN in order to destabilize the colony on its way to independence and finally to “call the UDT” (see Balibo Declaration ) to annex East Timor. But Gouveia did not belong to this management level of the UDT. At least publicly, he had not positioned himself politically before his statement on the radio, even if the Timorese in the administration largely belonged to the UDT. In an incident on June 10, 1974, Gouveia had already opposed FRETILIN sympathizers who wanted to chase Dili's mayor César Mousinho out of office and got them to abandon their project. Mousinho was Vice President of the UDT. Gouveia herself might have believed she was defending a democratic Timor.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Hicks: Rhetoric and the Decolonization and Recolonization of East Timor , p. 128, limited preview in the Google book search
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Gabriel Peregrino: MAGGIOLO GOUVEIA , Respublica, August 21, 2003 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Correio da Manhã: Uma vida dentro da morte , October 22, 2006 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Público: Governo e Exército homenageiam Maggiolo Gouveia , August 13, 2003 .
5. ^ Nations Encyclopedia: East Timor - History , accessed November 4, 2017.
6. ↑ David Hicks: Rhetoric and the Decolonization and Recolonization of East Timor , p. 128, limited preview in the Google book search