Rogério Tiago De Fatima Lobato (born 25 July 1949) is a Timorese politician who was the former minister of defence and minister of interior belonging to

Fretilin The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the ...

who is now the current president of the Special Administrative Region of

Oecusse Oecusse, also known as Oecusse-Ambeno (; ) and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno (), is an exclave, municipality (formerly a district) and the only Special Administrative Region (SAR) of East Tim ...

. He was a founding member of the first independent government of East Timor, in 1975, led by Fretilin. He is also the brother of the late Nicolau Lobato, the second president of the country who was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

by the

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( (TNI-AD), ) is the army, land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,400 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its roots in 1945 when the (TKR) "People's Se ...

in late 1978. In 2006 Lobato resigned as Minister over a dispute with the military over alleged discrimination. Lobato was jailed on five charges of arming civilians during the

2006 East Timorese crisis The 2006 Timor-Leste crisis began as a conflict between elements of the Timor-Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL) over discrimination within the military and expanded to a coup attempt and general violence throughout the country, centred in the capit ...

in March 2007 and sentenced seven and a half years in

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

. The arming of civilians occurred after the country's police force had disintegrated, during a coup attempt. In 2007, Rogério Lobato tried to leave the country to go to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

for heart surgery resulting in a standoff at Dili Airport. In 2008, President

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta GCL GColIH (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician. He has been the president of East Timor since 2022, having previously also held the position from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Mini ...

reduced Lobato's jail sentence by half. Lobato began his political career as part of

when it declared independence in November 1975. 3 December that year he departed East Timor with fellow Fretilin member Mari Alkatiri to promote the interests of the new country. Following the Indonesian invasion of East Timor on 7 December, Lobato and Alkatiri stayed in Africa to campaign for the rights of their home country.Dennis Shoesmith. 2003. "Timor Leste: Divided Leadership in a Semi-Presidential System." Asian Survey, Vol. 43. No. 2. (Mar. – Apr. 2003), pp. 231–252. On 31 January 2024, Rogério was sworn in as the new president of Special Administrative Region of Oecusse by President Ramos-Horta.

References

External links

Report of the United Nations Independent Special Commission for East Timor, 2 October 2006
1949 births Living people Mambai people Fretilin politicians Government ministers of Timor-Leste East Timorese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Timor-Leste {{EastTimor-politician-stub