João Crisóstomo

In 1994, the Portuguese Government was preparing to order the submersion of one of the largest archaeological finds of Rock Art in Portugal.

Thanks to the contacts he was able to build as part of his professional services to New York High Society (he was a butler to millionaires in American society, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), Joao Crisostomo was decisive through "The Times" of London in the internationalization of the issue of the prehistoric engravings of Foz Côa and the suspension on 1995 of the construction of the dam that would submerge them.

His contacts with Rupert Murdoch to whom he used to work occasionally as a butler, led him to contact him asking for his help. Rupert Murdoch referred him to the editors of his London Times, thus beginning the international pressure to save the Foz Côa Engravings. Today the space occupied by the engravings is declared by Unesco a World Heritage Site and, as always happens, the initial role of João Crisóstomo has been forgotten.

Still, within the scope of this movement, he created the “Save the Coa Site Movement, USA” in 1995 and promoted demonstrations in New York and raised awareness among several media outlets and political and cultural figures in Europe, (namely the Unesco) and the United States obtaining support for the safeguarding of the Foz Côa engravings, through articles published in the international press. His efforts were credited by "The Times" of London, "Le Monde", and others, as being the international coordinator of this movement.

The philanthropic action of Portuguese diplomats concerning Jews living in Europe during WWII, largely unknown in the United States, attracted his attention in 1996, a cause he had learned about through Californian lawyer Anne Treseder. Even among the Jewish circles he contacted, the only ones who knew the story of the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux were Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Baruch Tenembaum, founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

In 1998 he became involved in the preparation of the exhibit ‘Visas for Life” which opened at the UN headquarters in New York on April 3 (the date of the death of Aristides de Sousa Mendes in 1954) 2000 and, among 52 diplomats from 18 countries, would refer to the role played in granting visas to Jews and other refugees, by Portuguese diplomats Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Sampaio Garrido, Teixeira Branquinho, and Carvalho da Silva.

This “Visas for Life Exhibition" promoted by Eric Saul and Rabbi David Baron of Beverly Hills and sponsored by five of the largest Jewish organizations in the United States deliberately opened on the day 46 years passed since the death of Aristides de Sousa Mendes who spared saved the lives of at least 10,000 Jews, included in the 30,000 free transit visas carried out from Bordeaux, where he was consul of Portugal during WWII.

Thus, associating himself with Jewish Organizations, João Crisóstomo raised the level of the campaign with events at the United Nations and other venues remembering the action of Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Sousa Mendes’ action would be the one that would get the most attention in this Exhibit.

In the 1990s, neither Portuguese nor American ( nor most other nations’s ) foreign policy included East Timor Independence on their agendas. João Crisóstomo, for a long time ignorant of the situation, 1996 suddenly aware of the tragedy that the Timorese people were being victims of, and decided to help work towards the holding of a referendum under the auspices of the United Nations, which João Crisóstomo believed to be the best, perhaps the only way for a solution. And soon, through articles on radio and Television, he began to raise awareness among the Portuguese communities, at the same time that he worked with the international media with the same objective.

With a group of friends, most of them the same butlers who with him had recently fought successfully to save the FozCoa engravings, he created in 1998, in New York, the association LAMETA (Luso American Movement for East Timor Auto-determination), through which he personally supported Timorese nationalists who visited the United States and promoted actions in support of Timorese Independence in the media (CNN, New York Times and others) and in American bodies of political power, namely President Clinton and the American Congress, as well as world leaders, such as President Nelson Mandela. At the same time, he organized pro-independence manifestations in front of the United Nations and the Indonesian Consulate in New York (1999). With the support of Portuguese Associations and individuals, LAMETA sent to East Timor four containers of goods and channeled a succession of donations totaling over $200,000 dollars at the time— to associations that on the Timorese soil respond to the social problems of the territory that would regain its independence on May 20, 2020.

Thanks to his efforts and those of political figures he contacted, the American Senate approved Resolution 237 of May 22, 1998, supporting the holding of a referendum in Timor Leste. The Resolution was introduced by Senators Reed, Feingold, Moynihan, Kohl, Harkin, and Wellstone.

Going down to small details at a time when little existed in Timor Leste, he took upon himself the task of buying a pair of glasses that Taur Matan Ruak, who would latter be a President of Independent East Timor,( 2012-2017) and prime minister ( 2018-2023), and who was then linked to he command of the Nationalist guerrilla, urgently needed. The glasses were purchased at a store owned by Peter Pantoliano, located at the intersection of Niagara Street and Ferry Street in Newark, New Jersey.

Since 2004 João Crisóstomo has been committed to making June 17 of each year the “Day of Conscience”. June 17 1940 was the date on which, contrary to explicit orders from Lisbon, but obeying his conscience, Aristides de Sousa Mendes began granting mass visas to Jews and other refugees from WWII.

Similar events occurred in other countries and in the Parliament of Canada there was a motion introduced by the Portuguese Canadian legislator, Mario Silva, “ encouraging all parliamentarians to recognize this devotion to conscience by supporting my motion to designate June 17 each year a "Day of Conscience” consistent with the international efforts of João Crisóstomo".

In April 2008, Portuguese communities in the United States were experiencing some anxiety about the fate of Portuguese-American Marc Gonsalves, who had been a hostage of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since February 2003. Taking advantage of the visit that Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates was going to make to Venezuela, João Crisóstomo launched an action to mobilize Portuguese associations, 33 of which wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take steps in favor of the Portuguese-American hostage with the Venezuelan leader, who maintained a good relationship with the FARC.

“These associations from 6 North American states, representing thousands of Portuguese and Portuguese-Americans, gave their immediate support to this effort that emerged in the Portuguese associative circles of Newark, NJ, and which I limited myself to coordinating in obedience to imperatives of conscience, out of a duty of human solidarity and for not being unaware - as a former combatant in Guinea-Bissau - what the horrors of isolation and the tensions of a climate of war must be for one of our own - Marc Gonsalves -”

– wrote João Crisóstomo in the letter he addressed to the Portuguese Prime Minister.

Marc Gonsalves and other hostages were released on July 2, 2008, following an operation by Colombian military forces without the need for pressure from the Portuguese Prime Minister.

In September 2016, João Crisóstomo met in New York with the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Rui Maria Araújo showing him documentally what the Portuguese-American communities had done, almost anonymously, for the independence of Timor-Leste. The head of the Timorese government confessed that he was also unaware of these efforts, but encouraged the activist to put into a book this long journey that he had led or encouraged in the difficult years that preceded independence. The book was printed in 2017 (“LAMETA, the Unknown Contribution of the Luso-American Communities for the Independence of Timor-Leste”) and the prime minister wanted João Crisóstomo to launch it in Dili.

While passing through Lisbon on his way to Dili, he had the opportunity to meet Professor Rui Chamusco, a native of Sabugal and former teacher in Lourinhã, Portugal. Glória Sobral, married to East Timorese Gaspar Sobral, raised Rui Chamusco's awareness about the situation of forgotten children in East Timor. It was Professor Chamusco who told João Crisóstomo about a project for a school in the distant mountains of Liquiçã, to the construction of which the Timorese couple Gloria and Gaspar Sobral were also willing to give their full support in every way. João Crisóstomo says: “When I arrived in East Timor, I looked for and found João Moniz (Eustáquio), Gaspar's brother, who took me to the mountains of Manati-Boibau, province of Liquiça, where I ventured to see the place I had heard of. There I found hundreds of " forgotten children" and the need for something to be done, and also realized the great interest of the people in the Boebau mountains in building a school. That same moment, I and my wife Vilma who had come with us to these mountains, decided to make a contribution to this project so that it could begin immediately and I informed Rui Chamusco of this decision.”

The result was that after two weeks the place, under Eustáquio's supervision, was already a hive of activity. Construction of the school had begun in full swing.

At the beginning of 2018, the school was a reality. It was inaugurated on March 19th with the presence of Ambassador José Pedro Machado Vieira; Mons Mario Codamo, Vatican representative in Dili; Dr. Rui Acácio director of the Portuguese school in Dili and others who, demonstrating will and inspiring courage, faced the difficult access to the place to be present that day.

Despite several attempts and requests, the Portuguese authorities did not show any interest in this completed project and the school's promoters are still financially responsible for the teacher's salary and expenses related to keeping the school running. After the school a residence for teachers and a small side kitchen for the school use were built; a pickup was also purchased to minimize the isolation of the place and facilitate the communications between the school with Liquiça and Dili.

The school is a simple building with 3 rooms, allowing, when fully operational, to serve 120 children, in two shifts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The nearest school is a two to three-hour walk each way, and access is by goat trails. The current attendance is 84 children, and it is still not possible to receive more children, given the present circumstances. This school, and similar ones will help to give a future to the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste. 45% of the Timorese population is under 50 years of age) and is under great pressure to exchange Portuguese for the English language of its powerful neighbor Australia.

As happens so often in people's lives, João Crisóstomo has launched himself into and fought for these and other causes through the imposition of his civic and Christian conscience and has never claimed credit.

Like his hero Sousa Mendes, peace of mind and the certitude of following his conscience are enough for him.