The November 12 organizing committee has handed over designs to the government for a monument to commemorate the Santa Cruz massacre.
The President of the 12 of November Committee Gregorio Saldanha said it was an ambitious project and would be completed in two phases, with the graves and chapel to be repaired first before construction begins on the monument in front of the Santa Cruz gate.
“It (the design) is finalized and has been approved, we should hand it to the government through the NDA (National Development agency),” he said.
The project will be officially launched during this year’s commemorations.
He said the committee also has talked to the government about building a statue of activist Sebastião Gomes in front of Motael church.
Gomes was the lead organizer of a demonstration against Indonesian forces and was shot dead in Motael in October 1991. Hundreds of students were subsequently massacred by the Indonesian military during a protest on November 12, 1991 after marching to Gomes’ grave at Santa Cruz cemetery.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State for Youth and Sport (SSYP) Leovigildo da Costa Hornai said the government was continuing to make efforts to construct the monument in front of Motael church, the place where Gomes was shot dead by the Indonesian army.
National MP Josefa Alvares Soares said although the budget for the project had already been approved, construction had still not started.
“They need to do a viability study before establishing the monument,” she said.
