Under conditions of destabilization, propaganda and military pressure from Indonesia, Fretilin finally proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor on 28 November 1975 with Xavier do Amaral as President and Nicolau Lobato as Prime Minister.

To combat this force, the East Timorese resistance creates the Revolutionary Front of Independent Timor-Leste (FRETILIN).

The fighting between Fretilin and its military wing took place in the interior, the Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Timor-Leste (Falintil).

decrees and I proclaim, unilaterally, the Independence of East Timor which will be, as of 00:00 today, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist.

Long live the FRETILIN!The Proclamation of Independence Day had been made as the national holiday in East Timor from 2005.