CNRT representative establishes office with ETDRO

30/10/00 ETDRO FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington DC - The East Timor Development and Reconstruction Organization (ETDRO) has been strengthened b y the addition of a senior member of the East Timorese leadership, Mr. Constancio Pinto. Mr. Pinto is the CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance) representative to the United Nations and the United States. He brings with him many years of international relations' experience from East Timor, Europe, Washington and the UN. He will continue to conduct his official CNRT obligations from the office of ETDRO.

“Joining ETDRO means that the East Timorese leadership finally has a physical representative office in the US. I am pleased to be working with ETDRO and to assist in developing this resource center for the best of East Timor,” says Mr. Pinto.

Mr. Pinto was a long-time leader of the underground movement in Dili. Indonesia placed him on the top of their death-list when it became known that he was the key organizer of the November 12 demonstration in 1992 which ended in a bloody massacre. This incident is widely seen as ‘the beginning of the end’ of Indonesian rule in East Timor. Constancio Pinto was eventually captured, jailed and tortured but he managed to outsmart the Indonesian military and escaped to the US.

Mr. Pinto went to college at Brown University and received a Master’s degree international development from Columbia University. Since arriving in the US in 1993, he has been tirelessly promoting the cause of the East Timorese working with Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta. Mr. Pinto is the author of East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance.

"Constancio Pinto's presence in the nation's capital greatly enhances the chances of the American people, and their elected officials, learning the truth about the Timorese peoples' valiant struggle for freedom and democracy," said Lelei LeLaulu, Vice Chairman of ETDRO, and of Counterpart International, which host ETDRO in Washington DC.

East Timor Development & Reconstruction Organization, Inc. (ETDRO) is a U.S. registered 501(c)3 non-for profit organization. ETDRO received startup funding from the Hotung Institute for International Studies. The distinguished international philanthropist Mr. Eric Hotung is Chairman and Treasurer of ETDRO.

Contact: Tord K. Roe East Timor Development & Reconstruction Organization 1200 18th Street NW Suite 1100, Washington DC 20036 Tel.: 202-296 9676 Fax: 202-296 9679

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