Interviews with Constâncio Pinto

I think there were differences between the legislative body and the executive. Now I should, again, say that the Indonesian diplomacy at that time was very strong. And of course they tried to focus – to influence both, you know, branches, the executive and the parliament and the legislative body.

But they did not influence much of the legislative body because the way it functions here in the United States, members of the U.S. Congress are voted directly by their constituents. And the solidarity movement and our lobby actually, at that time, got some traction. Because we did through the constituents.

And member of the Congress here, they actually listen to their constituents. When they receive a fax, a letter, they read it and they reply. Now, with the administration, I think they look at the relationship between the countries, how good it was between the two countries. I mean, between the U.S., Indonesia or the UK or France or any country.

Constâncio Pinto is the ambassador of East Timor to the United States. Still a child when the Indonesian military occupied the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975, he fled to the mountains with his parents. The family remained in hiding for several years before returning to Dili, the capital, where Pinto attended high school and college. While still in school, Pinto became a leader of the underground movement for self-determination. In 1991 he was arrested, detained, and tortured for several days. The military authorities released him on the condition that he serve as an informant, but instead he escaped from Timor and eventually from Indonesia. After his escape, Ambassador Pinto studied at Brown University and served as the Timorese self-determination movement’s representative in the United States. He developed close working relationships with members of Congress and other U.S. human rights advocates and, when Timor achieved independence in 2002, he became a diplomat. He was appointed ambassador in 2009.