 He was actively involved in the development of political awareness in Portuguese Timor, which caused him to be exiled for two years in 1970–71 to Portuguese East Africa.His grandfather, before him, had also been exiled, from Portugal to the Azores Islands, then Cape Verde, Portuguese Guinea and finally to Portuguese Timor.A moderate in the emerging Timorese nationalist leadership, he was appointed Foreign Minister in the "Democratic Republic of East Timor" government proclaimed by the pro-independence parties in November 1975.