Francisco Xavier do Amaral

Francisco Xavier do Amaral (Turiscai, December 3, 1939-Dili, March 6, 2012) was a politician from East Timor. He is one of the founders of FRETILIN (Revolutionary Front of Independent Timor-Leste).

Biography

He was sworn in as President when the country, which was a Portuguese colony, made a unilateral declaration of independence on November 28, 1975. Nine days later the Indonesian army invaded the country and Amaral fled into the mountains, where he took refuge for three years and being captured in 1978. He then lived under house arrest in Bali, until Indonesia left East Timor in 1999.

In April 2002, he faced Xanana Gusmão in the presidential elections but was defeated. He ran again in the 2007 elections, coming in fourth with only 14.39% of the vote.