Felipe Stuart Courneyeur and Bill Heffernan, June 12th 2017

Padre Miguel was not just one of our most dedicated, able, accomplished, loving, and beloved leaders, he was a close and dear friend of Bill, Carl, and myself -- from different experiences and backgrounds. Padre Miguel undoubtedly had many hundreds of friends and compas who came together because of our shared goals and cause, friends earned over the course of his unusually productive and meaningful life.

In ways that only future generations will more fully appreciate, Miguel stood above and gazed beyond the horizons of others. He brought together a unique mix of materialist and spiritual awareness. That entailed: spiritual liberation; militant, focused struggle; the personal, the family, the social, from the lonely soul to the human family, of the human family relearning how to live in harmony with our Pacha Mama; the old generation learning to embrace their autumnal years to better welcome the incoming generation, the new born, and the battalions of forever young militants who come to take our place in the common front for human liberation.

He strove towards harmony, not strife and struggle. He knew, however, that struggle and resistance against oppression could not be avoided, just as he acknowledged and acted on the right of the aggrieved and oppressed to self-defense.

Along that firm force field of resolve and wisdom, and of unflinching moral, intellectual and spiritual courage, Miguel became an irreplaceable and indispensable member of the leadership team of Sandinismo in our time.

That is why we, in harmony with so many hundreds of others, loved him in life as we will always do from now on.

Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockman,

•     President of the General Assembly of the United Nations (2008-09)
•     The John Milton/Latin Secretary/ Foreign Minister of the Nicaraguan Revolution and of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN)
•     Liberation theologist par excellence and militant of the Christian Base Communities;
•     Dedicated leader of projects and campaigns to provide nourishment, shelter and love to street lids;
•     Rank-and-file militante and leader of Nicaraguan Sandinismo, then and now;
•     Incessant defender of global peace;
•     Loyal continuator of the great resistance and freedom fighter traditions of Christian liberation, and of the fathers and mothers of our Patria Grande -- José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, ​Cacique Nicarao, Bartolomé de las Casas, Toussaint l’Ouverture, Simón Bolívar, Manuela Sáenz, ​General Pedro Camejo,​ José Martí, la Negra Carlotta,​ ​Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Chief Poundmaker, ​​Ginger Goodwin, William Woodworth, Makhpiya Luta (Red Cloud), Cha-O-Ha/Thasuka Witko (Crazy Horse), Marx, Engels, Vladimir Illich Lenin, Léon Trotski, Rosa Luxembourg, Karl Liebknecht, Mother Jones, Eugene Debbs, Sacco and Vanzetti, ​Antonio Mella, Augusto Sandino, Blanca Arauz, Farabundo Martí, Padre Camilo Torres, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, El Che, Haydee Santamaría, Celia Sánchez, Vilma Espín, ​Rosa Parks, ​Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X., Carlos Fonseca, Silvio Mayorga, Tomás Borge, Arlen Siu, Padre Gaspar García Laviana,​ Carlos ​and​ Rene Núñez Téllez, ​Salvador Allende, Victor Jara, Bautista van Schouwen, Yasser Arafat, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Oscar Romero, ​Sister Maura Clarke, ​ Gustavo Gutierrez, Jon Sobrino, Leonardo Boff, Juan Luis Segundo, Eduardo Galeano, Maurice Bishop, Ho Chi Minh, Ahmed Ben Bella, ​Padre Fernando Cardenal, ​Daniel and Phillip Berrigan, and many others ​ including our anonymous heroes, then and now.​

Padre Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann – ¡a comrade falls, the ranks close up, the fight goes on….AS YOU WOULD HAVE IT!

Padre Miguel, ¡Presente!

¡Sandino Vive, la Lucha Sigue!

¡Ce nést qu’un debut, continuons le combat!

Ever Onwards to Victory ! ¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!

Padre Miguel, ¡Presente! ¡Presente! ¡Presente!

 

Bill Heffernan, Co-founder of CASA PUEBLITO CANADA, and Trucks for Nicaragua, musician, and longtime teacher union activist in the Ontario Catholic school system.

Felipe Stuart Courneyeur, Co-founder Canadian Action for Nicaragua (1978-1990), and CASA PUEBLITO CANADA, in Nicaragua, militante del FSLN.