Abstract
The thousands of people who welcomed Nobel prize-winner Bishop Carlos Belo back to Dili on 24 December were also carrying posters of Xanana Gusmão. The charismatic former leader of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) has been in prison in Jakarta since 1992, serving a 20-year sentence for rebellion and possession of firearms. Gusmão, a poet and former seminary student, spent 11 years leading the armed resistance in the Timorese jungle. In 1989 he became leader of the National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM), a newly formed alliance of pro-independence groups. ‘Maubere’ is a name adopted by Fretilin to signify ‘the oppressed’. Below are excerpts from conversations with Gusmão in Cipinang prison over the last Christmas holidays