Falintil

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Falintil (or FALINTIL) is the military wing of the Fretilin political party of East Timor. It was established on the 20th of August 1975 as a response to FRETILIN’s conflicting political interests with the Democratic Union for Timor-Leste (UDT).^[1]

The name FALINTIL is an acronym of its full name in Portuguese, Forças Armadas da Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste. In English this translates as 'The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Timor Leste'.

At the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 FALINTIL consisted of 2,500 regular troops, 7,000 who had some Portuguese military training, and 10,000 who had attended short military instruction courses, a total of 20,000.^[2]

The first Commander of FALINTIL was Nicolau Lobato. Lobato was killed during a battle with the Indonesian armed forces in 1978 ^[3]and Xanana Gusmão was elected as his replacement during a Secret National Conference in Lacluta, Viqueque in 1981.^[1] The last Commander in Chief of FALINTIL was Commander Taur Matan Ruak.

On 1 February 2001 FALINTIL was transformed into Falintil – Força de Defesa de Timor Leste (F-FDTL), with a duty under the East Timor constitution to "guarantee the independence of the nation, its territorial integrity, and the freedom and safety of the population against aggression, which does not respect the constitutional order".^[1] Taur Matan Ruak became the first Commander of F-FDTL and assumed the rank of Brigadier General.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.laohamutuk.org/Bulletin/2005/Apr/bulletinv6n1.html#FALINTIL+(2005). "Transformation of FALINTIL into F-FDTL". The La’o Hamutuk Bulletin 6 (1-2). 
2. ^ INDONESIA INVADES. HISTORY OF EAST TIMOR. SOLIDAMOR (2005). Retrieved on Error: invalid time.
3. ^ Fretilin. FCCN, Fundação para a Computação Científica Nacional. Retrieved on May 30, 2006.