Catechists and church workers have been killed and attacked throughout the territory in recent weeks, he added. On Aug. 8, a catechist was killed near Liquisa, the site of an April massacre of at least 25 people inside a church. This was followed by the killings of two student organizers from an electoral monitoring group supported by the Irish Catholic aid agency, Trocaire, the bishop said. Indonesia militias, said Bishop Belo. The militias threatened the church workers with guns and took the emergency food, the bishop said.
Every day there are provocations.
The violence continues. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and unilaterally annexed it the following year. Neither the United Nations nor the Vatican has recognized the annexation, and most countries still view Portugal as territorial administrator. Thomas Quigley, policy adviser on Asian affairs for the USCC, said the threat against Bishop Belo was reminiscent of the threats made against Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, who was assassinated while celebrating Mass in 1980. Anti-Romero fliers were circulating the streets of San Salvador the week before Romero was killed.