Sofía Clark, April 12th 2021
Dearest Ramsey,
It tickles me to see how people around the world feel entitled to claim a little piece of you as their own, but then it is to be expected. You travelled the globe to places under siege, to bear witness, seek justice and promote the rule of law.
When an entire people were under U.S. assault, feeling vulnerable or abandoned, you brought solidarity, legal counsel, and compassion.
So, Ramsey, let me remind you of just some of the reasons why we Nicaraguans feel entitled to call you one of our own, “a son of Sandino”, our brother, our friend.
You returned to Nicaragua in the early days just after what one friend described as “the harshest month of the planting season”, when the wounds of war were still fresh and the promise of the future seemed boundless.
They were the first years of the Revolution and Daniel opened our country´s doors. It wasn’t long before you met Tomas and he asked you…”What would you like to do?”. Without batting an eyelash, you responded… “Well, I would like to visit the prison.” Within 20 minutes both of you were inside a vehicle on route to the very prison where Tomas himself had been held by Somoza.
You had a habit of visiting prisons. It was your barometer for measuring the general health of a society.
And what you saw impressed you. Upon opening the main gate, at a time when inmates were still maintaining military discipline, dozens of former National Guardsmen came up to the window to greet Nicaragua´s Minister of the Interior.
That afternoon the former U.S. attorney general and the new Nicaraguan minister spent time talking with different prisoners. Tomas reiterated his commitment to avenge their crimes by guaranteeing education for their children, healthcare and security. You discovered shared ideals: an abhorrence of the death penalty, the need for rehabilitation over punishment and to guarantee humane treatment and respect for the human rights of all, even for—especially for—the unpopular, the undesirables and criminals.
That afternoon marked the beginning of a deep friendship, one that later crossed generations and continued through to the present with Tomas's daughter, Michelle. You visited the new monument erected in the Central Park of the Plaza de la Revolución, together, to honor Comandantes Carlos Fonseca Amador and Tomás Borge. The caricature, the one Tomas gave you several years ago, was hanging in your living room the evening you left us.
That was just the beginning. You cultivated many other friendships in Nicaragua throughout the 80’s and afterwards, with “regular folk”, grassroot community organizers, as well as notables such as Nora Astorga, Comandante Omar Cabezas and Padre Miguel d’Escoto.
I was privy to glimpses of you during that period, occasionally accompanying staffers on subsequent prison visits in Nicaragua, or meeting you in the home of Padre Miguel.
My uncle spoke fondly of the privilege of both knowing and collaborating with you for more than 40 years. Your collaboration took on multiple forms and spanned an array of different causes, but all against the backdrop of U.S. efforts to maintain its imperial hegemony.
It was you whom Miguel first approached to discuss Nicaragua´s decision to take the United States to court. You discussed the invasion of Grenada and the U.S. government’s total disdain of international law. You felt a shared urgency to take a firm stance to promote the primacy of the rule of law in the relations between States. From that moment forward you served as his personal, albeit informal, advisor on international law.
Your ongoing collaboration included international efforts to prevent and oppose the first Gulf War. Together with Ben Bella (Algeria), Tony Bent (UK) and Karmenu Bonnici (Malta), you formed part of the Coalition to oppose the Gulf War and the Commission on the Impact of the criminal and illegal U.S.-led sanctions against the people of Iraq—that killed more than 1.5 million people—and marked only the beginning of the U.S. war against that country.
When Daniel won the presidential elections of 2006, you were here for his inauguration, together with old friends from Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, as well as Ghana and Zambia and elsewhere.
During Padre Miguel´s tenure as President of the UN General Assembly, you and your wife Georgia read through and commented on different drafts of his opening address. You served as Miguel’s key Senior Advisor on international law, providing valuable insights into the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, so-called “Responsibility to protect”—the new jargon to mask to the old practice of wars of aggression—and the sorely needed democratization of the United Nations.
Not only did you review and provide counsel during the drafting of Miguel´s ambitious Proposal for Reinventing the United Nations, you actually wrote the Prologue and even looped your son Thomas into process, getting him to comment on the legal aspects relating to the creation of an International Tribunal on Climate Justice and Environmental Protection and codification of international environmental law.
When Daniel sent Padre Miguel in an attempt to fend off the impending U.S.-NATO aggression against Libya, you met and strategized on how to bring ethics and the rule of law into the equation. And you wrote and called each other to provide insight and moral support in your individual efforts at citizen diplomacy in Vietnam, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Over four decades you never stopped visiting Nicaragua. In 2012 you were awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities by the UNAN-Managua in recognition of your life of service to the most vulnerable and in defense of Human Rights around the world but your relationship with students also included small group dialogues at the home of Padre Miguel.
During your final visit to Nicaragua, in 2014, you were accompanied by your granddaughter Taylor, daughter-in-law Cheryl and other family. It was a joyous and healing encounter of love and admiration between our two families. Highlights included visiting potters in San Juan de Oriente, long leisurely conversations and exploration in Selva Negra, and, as always, it included a visit to Los Pipitos. I remember our sheer delight as we watched a beautiful little girl with her braids and folklore costume dance “El Solar de Monimbó”. How she beamed when we applauded. How we beamed back basking in her success. On our last night, we celebrated mass in the rancho at Padre Miguel's to remember your son Tom and our friend Barbara who both passed away the previous year. The bonds forged during that visit continue.
Ramsey, I was fortunate to see you in your New York apartment on several occasions since, including in the blizzard of 2018. We discussed the civil rights movement, watched a documentary on Vincent Van Gogh and ate hot dogs and ice cream.
You, Ramsey, are a part of us and we are the better for it.
Vaya con Dios mi amigo.
Sofía