International Complicity in Denying Independence for East Timor

A portion of a small island located within the Indonesian archipelago, East Timor voted to become an independent nation in 1975. In the year prior, the Carnation Revolution had overthrown the incumbent fascist government of Portugal, which counted East Timor among its colonies. Isolationist sentiment from the new government of Portugal inspired the decolonization of their overseas assets, leading to the independence vote in East Timor. Unfortunately, independence for East Timor would not be achieved until 2002. Violating international laws of self-determination, Indonesia occupied East Timor for nearly thirty brutal years in which upwards of 25% of East Timor\u27s citizens were murdered or starved to death. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how the United States and other entities, inspired by economic and political self-interest, implicitly and at times explicitly condoned and supported Indonesia in this act