1975 Council of Ministers of East Timor

The 1975 Council of Ministers (Portuguese: Conselho de Ministros, Tetum: Konsellu Ministrus) was the council of ministers formed by the Fretilin political party in 1975 as the inaugural administration or cabinet of the Democratic Republic of East Timor proclaimed in November 1975.

1975 Council of Ministers
Inaugural (Fretilin) cabinet of East Timor
Memorial to the Council of Ministers in 2022
Date formed	1 December 1975 (1975-12-01)
People and organisations
President	Francisco Xavier do Amaral
Prime Minister	Nicolau dos Reis Lobato
Member parties	Fretilin
History
Predecessor	Portuguese colonial government
Successor	Indonesian occupied East Timor (1976–1999) I UNTAET Transitional Government (2000)

History

On 28 November 1975, Fretilin made a unilateral declaration of independence of East Timor from Portuguese colonial rule. On 30 November 1975, the party caused a "Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL)" to be read out at an inauguration ceremony for Francisco Xavier do Amaral as the newly appointed President of its new republic.^[1]

Article 40 of the new constitution provided for the establishment of a Council of Ministers. On 1 December 1975, Fretilin inaugurated that body.^[2]

By that time, however, Indonesian armed forces had infiltrated significant parts of the territory of East Timor, especially in what is now the Bobonaro Municipality, adjacent to the border with Indonesian West Timor.^[3] Just under a week later, on 7 December 1975, Indonesia began a full-scale invasion of East Timor, focused on Dili, the capital of the territory.^[4]

On 17 December 1975, Indonesia then brought about a de facto usurpation of Fretilin's Council of Ministers, by forming a Provisional Government of East Timor (PGET) (Indonesian: Pemerintah Sementara Timor Timur (PSTT)) headed by Arnaldo dos Reis Araújo [de] of the Timorese Popular Democratic Association (Portuguese: Associação Popular Democratica Timorense, APODETI) and Francisco Lopes da Cruz [de] of the Timorese Democratic Union (Portuguese: União Democrática Timorense, UDT).^[5]

Composition

The Council of Ministers was made up of Ministers and Vice Ministers, as follows:^[6][7][8][9]

Ministers

Party		Minister	Portrait	Portfolio
	Fretilin	Nicolau Lobato		Prime Minister
	Independent	José Gonçalves [de]		Minister of Economic Coordination and Statistics
	Fretilin	Juvenal Maria de Fátima Inácio Sera Key [de]		Minister of Finance
	Fretilin	Eduardo Carlos dos Anjos Kaku'uk		Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications
	Fretilin	Rogério Lobato		Minister of National Defense
	Fretilin	Alarico Fernandes		Minister of Information, Home Affairs and Security[10]
	Fretilin	António Duarte Carvarino Mau Lear [de]		Minister of Justice
	Fretilin	José Ramos-Horta		Minister of Foreign Affairs
	Fretilin	Vicente dos Reis Bie Ky Sahe [de]		Minister of Labor
	Fretilin	Hamis Bin Umar Bassarewan Hata [de]		Minister of Education and Culture
	Fretilin	Mari Alkatiri		Minister of Political Affairs
	Fretilin	Abílio Araújo [de]		Minister of Economic and Social Affairs

Vice Ministers

Party		Minister	Portrait	Portfolio
	Fretilin	Hélio Sanches Pina Mau Kruma [de]		Vice Minister of Economic Coordination and Statistics
	Fretilin	Domingos da Costa Ribeiro [de]		Vice Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications
	Fretilin	Hermenegildo Augusto Pereira Alves [de]		Vice Minister of Defense[11]
	Fretilin	Guido Diamantino Soares Kakeu [de]		Vice Minister of Defense[11]
	Fretilin	Fernando de Almeida do Carmo [de]		Vice Minister of Information, Home Affairs and Security
	Fretilin	Guilhermina L.S. de Araújo Bimali [de]		Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
	Fretilin	Guido Valadares		Vice Minister of Labor and Social Welfare[12]
	Fretilin	Eduardo Ximenes [de]		Vice Minister of Health[13]

See also

• Proclamation of Independence Day