JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA
Prêmio Nobel da Paz, o jurista
timorense foi, também, agraciado com a Grã-Cruz da Ordem da Liberdade por seus
esforços para impedir a opressão do seu povo.
Data - Horário:
30/09/2013 - 19:30
Local: Salão de Atos UFRGS
Em 2006, quando era considerado
o provável sucessor de Kofi Annan como secretário-geral das Nações Unidas,
Ramos-Horta desistiu de disputar o cargo para tornar-se primeiro-ministro do
Timor-Leste e, um ano depois, presidente da República – segundo político eleito
para o cargo após a independência da Indonésia. Sua formação agrega a Academia
de Direito Internacional de Haia, onde estudou Direito Internacional Público, e
também o Instituto Internacional de Direitos Humanos, onde permanece com forte
atuação. Para assistir a conferência encaminhe por email uma justificativa e a
sua relação com a área temática. Cadastre-se pelo e-mail a
prorext@prorext.ufrgs.br.
Mais sobre
In 1975, Jose Ramos-Horta, the then
foreign minister of the newly-liberated nation of East Timor, was sent by his
country's prime minister to New York. By the time his plane landed in the US,
his country had been invaded and annexed by Indonesia.
In a revealing interview, Sir David
Frost travels to East Timor to meet the Nobel laureate and hear his remarkable
story.
"I got involved in politics by [an]
accident of history," Ramos-Horta says.
He tells Sir David of his arrival in the
US: "That particular year, December '75, was very, very snowy. I had never
seen snow in my life .... I had to be very careful not to fall off because
it was very slippery, and I didn't have proper shoes. I had a very light summer
jacket instead of a winter coat or winter jacket. So that's when I began my
lobbying at the UN Security Council."
Ramos-Horta's short visit to New
York became a 24-year stay, during which he patiently lobbied for Indonesian
withdrawal from East Timor.
Meanwhile, back in his country, hundreds
of thousands of Timorese - including three of his siblings - died.
In 1996, Ramos-Horta was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign. As he tells Sir David, it was an unexpected
award.
"It was the nicest surprise,"
he says, adding that he was also slightly "embarrassed", feeling
that there were others from within his liberation movement who deserved to win
it more.
After that, Ramos-Horta was still a man
without a country, but his award helped to bring renewed world attention
to the plight of East Timor. International events, together with
added pressure from then US President Bill Clinton, led to Indonesia
eventually withdrawing from East Timor.
"Things were looking much more
promising," Ramos-Horta says of the years that Clinton held office.
But the withdrawal was also a
heartbreaking time for him; pro-Indonesian militia - often aided by official
forces - set fire to many buildings and burned some 85 per cent of the
country's infrastructure before they left.
"The human cost was overwhelming.
And sometimes I philosophically ... ask myself whether it is worth sacrificing
a single life for the sake of having an independent country," he says.
But the way was clear for Ramos-Horta to
return to East Timor to retake his role as foreign minister.
Over subsequent years he would serve
as prime minister and president of East Timor. But in 2008, as he tells Sir
David, he was shot twice in a botched assassination attempt. After a two-month
recovery period, he returned to office, calling on the rebels to surrender to
avoid any more bloodshed.
"I believe in being
compassionate," he says.
"I was given the gift of life, and
God saved me, the doctors saved me. And maybe by almost paying with my life, we
bought peace. Because the moment I was shot, the country stood still, the
violence stopped, people who were fighting each other before stopped fighting,
the rebels surrendered. And until now, we have
been at peace."
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