The tragedy of East Timor is one of the world's best kept secrets. The Indonesian dictatorship is a favored trading partner of most Western countries because of cheap labor and resources. That's why so many governments, have helped keep this genocide a secret. Today thousands of Indonesian troops and secret police watch over the East Timorese. No one, especially a journalist, is allowed to enter or leave the country without permission.
Resistance is rewarded with disappearance, rape, torture, arrest or murder.
Despite the risks, the East Timorese believe that to resist is to win, and defiantly continue their struggle. The pro-democracy movement in Indonesia supports East Timor's struggle. And, internationally, East Timor solidarity movements are becoming too large to ignore. The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in two equal parts, to Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor. Carlos Belo, bishop of East Timor, has been the foremost representative of the people of East Timor.