East Timor - Climate of Fear by John Stanmeyer

East Timor - A Nation Screams
Photograph by © John R. Stanmeyer / VII Photo Agency
To view more photos from this essay - http://www.viiphoto.com/

Climate of Fear - Before the Independence Vote

For 25 years, Indonesian troops and secret police ran a terror campaign to keep control. The resistance movement, the FALENTIL, fought a guerrilla war in the mountains but never succeeded in getting Indonesia out of East Timor. Then the improbable happened: President Suharto fell in 1998, and incoming President B.J. Habibie offered the East Timorese people to vote on whether to stay with Indonesia as an autonomous region or to seek full independence. So began East Timor's bloody process toward freedom.

Mother mourns the death of her son - photo by John Stanmeyer

At a memorial in their home, a mother mourns the death of her son, a pro independent supporter, who was killed by pro otonomi militia members in the street.

Credits:
EAST TIMOR, A Nation Screams - Mother mourns the death of her son; photograph by © John Stanmeyer / VII. Used by permission of John Stanmeyer; photo can not be used without written permission of the photographer.

EAST TIMOR, A Nation Screams - text and photo information, courtesy of the © VII Photo Agency web site. Used by permission of John Stanmeyer.

VII Photo Agency - http://www.viiphoto.com/

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