By Jon Land
The people of East Timor and supporters of its struggle for freedom have been saddened by the tragic news of the death of Nino Konis Santana. Resistance sources announced on March 30 that Santana, commander of Falintil (the armed wing of the resistance), died from injuries sustained from a fall on March 11 in the mountainous Ainaro district.
Santana, born in Lospalos 39 years ago, became a leader of the National Union of Timorese Students when it was formed in early 1975, and active in the main independence party, Fretilin. He was a member of the commission in Lospalos established in 1974 to oversee the electoral process. Prior to the Indonesian invasion, Santana worked as a schoolteacher in a village near Lospalos as part of literacy and education campaigns.
Along with thousand of others, he left for the mountains to resist the Indonesian occupation. Santana was appointed assistant to the Lospalos military region. During the early '80s and the numerous "encirclement" campaigns conducted by the Indonesian military, he was a member of the Liaison Group led by Xanana Gusmao.
A reorganisation and regroupment of Falintil under Gusmao succeeded in forcing a cease-fire and negotiations with the Indonesian military in 1983, but the cease-fire was broken by Suharto, who ordered a "clean sweep" of East Timor.
In early 1992, Santana became Gusmao's political assistant.
After the capture of Gusmao in November 1992, Santana was appointed a member of the Military Political Committee headed by Mau Huno.
When Huno was captured in April 1993, Santana became the operational commander of Falintil. The resistance was reorganised under his leadership to meet changed circumstances, with the establishment of the Executive Council of the Armed Struggle and the Clandestine Front. These bodies are part of the National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM). Santana also became the secretary of the Directive Committee of Fretilin.
After the capture of Gusmao and Huno, the Indonesian government claimed that the armed struggle no longer posed a threat. A series of secret interviews within East Timor involving Santana and other leaders from Falintil with foreign journalists, along with significant guerilla attacks since 1994, disproved these claims.
In an interview with Jill Joliffe, carried in the Sydney Morning Herald of August 26, 1994, Santana said, "It is impossible to defeat us, because we have the civilian population on our side and we will fight to the last, whether it is with guns, bows and arrows, sticks or our bare hands".
He strongly condemned the Australian government: "For us, Australia's closeness to Indonesia is an affront to the pluralist democracy Australia claims to represent. Our nearest neighbour contributes nothing to a solution of the Timor problem ... it is supporting the extermination of our people."
A statement released by Jose Ramos Horta, special representative of the CNRM and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said that Santana "worked tirelessly forging national consensus and unity" and that "he was also a peacemaker, a diplomat and statesman".
Harold Moucho, coordinator for the Fretilin Committee of NSW, told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly: "Santana played a very crucial role after the capture of Xanana Gusmao and Mau Huno, when he took the command of Falintil. Nino in the beginning was a political person, not a military person, though he was able to adapt very well to the military situation, and his command was highly respected by all the guerillas and commanders in East Timor."
Moucho said that the new commander of Falintil, Taur Matan Ruak, "is a very experienced military commander".
Commemorative activities to mark the loss of Santana are being organised by East Timor solidarity groups around the world on April 11, including at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference in Sydney.