Constâncio Pinto, who represents the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) in the United States, worked for ETAN from January through July 1998, primarily in our Washington Office. Constâncio also spoke at public events throughout the U.S., participated in field organizing with Kristin Sundell, and worked with ETAN at the UN. In Washington, Constâncio described his experiences in East Timor to dozens of Congresspeople and their staffers and lobbied for S.Res.237, H.Con.Res.258, H.R.3802, and H.R.3918. He testified before a Human Rights Subcommittee Hearing on Indonesia and East Timor and shared the podium with Reps. Cynthia McKinney and Bernie Sanders at a press conference to introduce H.R. 3918 in May. Constâncio’s wisdom and energy proved indispensable in advancing our work to shift U.S. policy on East Timor. We will miss Constâncio this fall, as he begins graduate studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, but we congratulate him on that academic achievement and look forward to working with him in the future.

In August, ETAN hired Simon Doolittle as our temporary Washington Organizer. As ETAN’s role in Washington expanded to address human rights in Indonesia as well as East Timor, it became clear that one DC staffer was not enough.