José Ramos-Horta

Politician

• Born: December 26, 1949
• Birthplace: Dili, Timor-Leste

Significance: Ramos-Horta is the two-time president of Timor-Leste. He began his second term on May 20, 2022. He spent twenty-four years in exile during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999. His work to achieve East Timor’s peaceful transition to independence earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, which his shared with Timorese Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in 1996.

Background

José Ramos-Horta was born on December 26, 1949, in Dili, Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor). His father was a Portuguese national who had been exiled to East Timor for participating in a revolt against Portuguese dictator António Salazar. His mother was of Indigenous descent. Ramos-Horta was one of twelve children in the family. Four of his siblings were killed during the Indonesian occupation.

Ramos-Horta was educated in a Catholic missionary school in the small village of Soibada. While in exile, he attended Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio, earning an master’s degree in Peace Studies in December 1984. His primary focus was international law and international relations.

In 1983, he studied at the Hague Academy of International Law and at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Germany. The same year, he also studied at Columbia University in New York. In 1987, he became a senior associate member of St. Antony’s College at Oxford. Ramos-Horta is fluent in five languages: Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, and Tetum, the most common language spoken in Timor-Leste.

Life’s Work

Portugal claimed East Timor as part of the Portuguese Empire in 1515. The Dutch colonized West Timor, which is now part of Indonesia. East Timor remained under Portugal’s rule for four and a half centuries. Ramos-Horta was born into Portuguese Timor and, at a young age, began advocating for Timorese nationalism. For his efforts, he was exiled by the Portuguese government in 1971. However, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974 resulted in the rapid decolonization of Portuguese territories. In November 1975, East Timor declared independence, becoming the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Ramos-Horta was appointed foreign minister; he was just twenty-five years old. Yet, the country’s independence was short-lived. Indonesia’s dictator, Suharto, quickly ordered an invasion of East Timor.

Having knowledge of the impending attack, the government sent Ramos-Horta to New York to plead East Timor’s case to the United Nations (UN). It was too late. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger traveled to Indonesia to give Suharto their blessing, meeting with the dictator just hours before the occupation began. Ten days after East Timor declared its independence from Portugal, Indonesian troops, mostly armed with American-supplied weapons, arrived.

The attack itself was short-lived, but the Indonesian occupation was brutal. Of its 700,000 people, one-third died during the occupation. The Timorese suffered systematic rape, disappearances, and mass killings of men, women, and children. Ramos-Horta remained in exile in New York. During this time, he traveled the world to advocate on behalf of the Timorese.

In 1996, Ramos-Horta and Timorese Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor. The prize gave Ramos-Horta access to a global audience and he used his Nobel Lecture, given on December 10, 1996, to make his case for East Timor’s right to self-determination.

In 1999, the Indonesian government allowed a referendum on Timorese independence. The people voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, but when the results came in, pro-Indonesia militia spread through the country on a murderous rampage. Roughly 85 percent of all buildings were set on fire. Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly displaced. Men, women, and children who took refuge in churches were massacred.

The violence only ended when the UN sent in peacekeeping troops on September 20, 1999. The UN Transitional Authority then set up a provisional democratic government and oversaw Indonesia’s peaceful exit. Ramos-Horta worked closely with the UN to lay out the blueprint for the newly found democracy, and on September 27, 1999, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste was officially recognized by the UN. On December 1, 1999, Ramos-Horta returned to Timor-Leste, ending his twenty-four-year exile.

Following the first elections of the fledging democracy in 2002, Ramos-Horta was appointed foreign minister, stepping back into the role he previously occupied. He retained the position until 2006 when he was appointed prime minister. The following year he won the election to become Timor-Leste’s president. On February 8, 2008, Ramos-Horta survived an assassination attempt, during which he was shot multiple times. In 2012, he lost his bid for re-election to the presidency. For the next ten years, he remained semi-retired but worked with the UN on matters of reconciliation and conflict resolution. In 2022, he ran for president again and won his second and final term. He was sworn in on May 20, 2022, and remains in office as of 2023.

Impact

Ramos-Horta’s efforts to resolve the conflict in East Timor in a peaceful and just manner are notable in a region often rife with violence. He preached reconciliation with Indonesia, not revenge, despite the Timorese’s suffering at the hands of the Indonesian military.

He continues to work to help Timor-Leste overcome widespread poverty, improve healthcare, and diversify the country’s economy to reduce its dependence on the sale of oil, its main commodity. As he entered his second term as president, he took action to best position Timor-Leste to be accepted as a full member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), a political and economic union of countries in Southeast Asia.

Personal Life

Ramos-Horta is divorced from Timorese politician Ana Pessoa Pinto (more commonly known as Ana Pessoa). They have one son, Loro Horta.

Bibliography

Elphicke, Conan. “A Profile of East Timor’s Jose Ramos-Horta.” Marxist Internet Archive, May–June 1999, www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/892.html. Accessed 1 July 2023.

“José Ramos-Horta.” The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1996/ramos-horta/facts/. Accessed 1 July 2023.

Nighthawk, Jasper. “A Champion for Peace.” Antioch Alumni Magazine, Fall 2021, magazine.antioch.edu/article/a-champion-for-peace/. Accessed 1 July 2023.

Perry, Nick. “East Timor President Pushes Back on Environmental Criticism.” AP News, 7 Sept. 2022, apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-new-zealand-australia-nobel-prizes-6056f6bb89385319e62229e80719b7a6. Accessed 1 July 2023.

Ramos-Horta, José. “Democracy and Development in Timor-Leste: Interview with President José Ramos-Horta.” Interview by Pranay Varada. Harvard International Review, 31 Aug. 2022, hir.harvard.edu/democracy-and-development-in-timor-leste-interview-with-president-jose-ramos-horta/. Accessed 1 July 2023.