Category: Ramsey Muniz

LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS

RESOLUTION

Introduced by:

Rosa Rosales, Past LULAC National President and President, LULAC Council #4811 and
Irma Mufriz. LULAC Council #4811

Resolution in support of the humanitarian release of Ramsey Muniz

WHEREAS, Ramiro “Ramsey” Muniz, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, received a Juris Doctor Degree from Baylor School of Law; and

WHEREAS, Ramsey Muniz, a leader during the Civil Rights Movement, fought for justice and equality for Mexican Americans, Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latinos; and

WHEREAS, Ramsey Muniz was a Texas gubernatorial candidate in 1972 and 1974 for La Raza Unida Party, an independent political party; and

WHEREAS, Ramsey Muniz gave Mexican Americans, Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latinos a voice in the political arena and his contributions are recognized and noted as part of Texas history; and

WHEREAS, key information was withheld in the Ramsey Mufriz trial and he was denied his constitutional rights granted by the sth Amendment – Due Process of the Law, and the 14th Amendment – Equal Protection Under the Law; and

WHEREAS, Ramsey Mufriz is serving a sentence of life without parole, which constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; and

WHEREAS, Ramsey Mufriz, who is 68 years of age, and others who are wrongly incarcerated endure great suffering as well as their families; and

WHEREAS, LULAC is the oldest and largest Latino organization that supports civil rights for all citizens including those who are unjustly incarcerated; and

THEREFORE BE lT RESOLVED, that the League of United Latin American Citizens supports all efforts to free Ramsey Mufriz and requests the support of President Barack Obama in granting him an immediate Commutation of Sentence.

Executed this 1″ day of July, 2011, at the 82no LULAC National Convention, in Cincinnati. Ohio.
Rosa Rosales
President. LULAC Council #481 1

---

Dear Friends:

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) was founded in 1929. It is the oldest and most respected Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States which defends civil and human rights.

The National Committee to Free Ramsey Muñiz, represented at the 82nd LULAC National Convention, spoke with LULAC members throughout the country and gained support for the humanitarian release of Ramsey Muñiz, who is remembered as a leader during the civil rights movement.

National LULAC supports all efforts to free Ramsey Muñiz, as stated in the resolution passed at the national convention. ( the attached). We request his immediate freedom, and seek assistance from congress, organizations, and Washington D.C.

We thank LULAC for supporting the humanitarian release of Ramsey Muñiz, and we extend our deepest gratitude to Rosa Rosales, past president of National LULAC, for her assistance in this effort. We also thank Margaret Moran, National LULAC President, and all LULAC officers and members for their continued support in obtaining the freedom of Ramsey Muñiz.

For more information, contact the National Committee to Free Ramsey Muñiz at imuniz1310@earthlink.net or (409) 363-1878.

–Irma Muniz

---

Dear Friends:

The National Committee to Free Ramsey Muniz seeks the assistance of others, especially the youth and young adults, in the case of Ramsey Muniz. The young are most proficient with technology, and we ask for their involvement by forwarding messages (such as the three paragraphs below) through Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of electronic communications.

Ramsey is a graduate of Baylor School of Law. At the age of 30 he ran for governor of Texas. His activism during the civil rights movement made a positive impact in that improved the quality of life for Mexican Americans, Hispanics, and Latinos throughout the Southwest who now hold prominent positions as a result of his efforts. The contributions that he made are profound.

Today Ramsey Muniz is incarcerated for life without parole for a crime he did not commit. Errors were made during his arrest and in trial. We will continue to publish information about this case until an investigation can be made about his conviction in order to obtain his freedom!

For additional information go to http://www.freeramsey.com. Contact the National Committee to Free Ramsey Muniz (imuniz1310@earthlink.net)if you are able to take an active role in forwarding our information to others.

Thank you for your assistance!

–Irma Muniz

Recent correspondence from Irma Muniz, including background on Ramsey, a note from federal prison, and announcement of a new blog to follow–gm

Dear Friends:

Tomorrow I will depart for Cincinnati to attend the LULAC National Convention. I am excited about the opportunity to share information about the case of Ramsey Muniz, and to increase my knowledge about others issues pertaining to our people.

Please go to our new blog at http://freeramsey.blogspot.com and click the Follow button on the left. The next screen will ask you to click on a service that you are registered in. There will be several buttons. If you have not registered in any of them, I recommend Google. You will need to LEAVE the blog site and go to Google to register for a login and then return to our blot to click Follow again. Click on a button and on the next screen, click Follow This Blog.

I will be at the convention through Sunday, and it is my hope to provide information on things that I encounter as well as things that I learn. If you are not successful in clicking the Follow button, just be sure to go to our blog on a regular basis for current information.

Sincerely,
Irma Muniz

---

In the 1960s and 1970s, during America’s era of civil rights, Ramiro “Ramsey” Muñiz was a national Chicano leader who brought political awareness to the legislative power on behalf of the entire Southwest.

The contributions of Ramsey Muñiz are respected by many, as he contributed his time and talent to assist people. Through his activism and leadership in the political arena, he brought about positive changed for many, by giving them a voice and representation that previously were non-existent, and this improved the quality of life for many.

In the words of Geeta Mohan Gurnaney,

“In 1974 the Democratic Party co-opted Muñiz’s agenda to a large extent. In fact, since 1972 [Governor Dolph] Briscoe had appointed more Chicanos to state boards and commissions than every Texas governor in the 20th century combined. Also, the Democratic Party was fielding more Mexican-American candidates for public office than ever before. Even the Texas Rangers awarded scholarships for two Chicanos. Muñiz’s gubernatorial campaigns of 1972 and 1974 helped Chicanos gain greater visibility and representation in political circles, but ironically, these strides came at Muñiz’s expense in 1974.”

Today, Ramsey Muñiz, a leader during the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, is serving a sentence of life without parole on false charges. He states, “I am 68 years old and after 18 years of suffering and devastating cruel imprisonment, I do not want to die in the prisons of America for a crime I did not commit. This imprisonment for life is the most punitive and atrocious injustice committed against me, my family, and all humanity.”

Ramsey Muñiz has served his time and his family seeks his immediate release! For additional information, visit www.freeramsey.com. Forward this information to civil rights organizations and to your senator and congressman or congresswoman, asking them to get involved in this humanitarian issue!

---

The excerpts below describe the impact made by the Ramsey Muñiz gubernatorial campaigns. They also describe the horror of imprisonment and suffering that followed, and continues today.

Please distribute and ask organizations, your senator, and congressman/congresswoman to become involved in this humanitarian issue seeking the immediate release of Ramsey Muniz!

******************************

“Muñiz’s gubernatorial campaigns of 1972 and 1974 were not simply politics as usual with a Chicano face. They couldn’t be because Muñiz was more than a Chicano politician trying to succeed in the Anglo political world. His 1972 and 1974 campaigns were an attempt to harness a latent power base that had long been either co-opted or ignored. Also, Muñiz was a symbol and a standard-bearer for Chicanos trying to gain power in an Anglo-dominated system without denying his Mexican heritage. Ultimately, His candidacy was a reminder that the history of Texas must include its Mexican legacy.”

Geeta Mohan Gurnaney, One Candidate, Two Approaches: the Ramsey Muñiz Gubernatorial Campaigns of 1972 and 1974.

******************************

We are now getting close to all of those that created history and its all coming back, and God knows why He has kept me alive knowing that for months and months I was chained and shackled and at times naked for days, weeks and not even counting the months. I would cry and scream yet I was so deep in those dungeons that no one would hear my cry for freedom, for justice, and the removal of the cold chains and shackles on my God-given body. Yes, God-given, because your father has shared with me that they were there, but it was time for me to journey into the spiritual world that is only for us that were destined from the time of their birth.

The message that I receive everyday from your father who is in heaven is that our lives have just begun!

Amor,
Tez
(Ramsey)

From the Cross to the Dungeons of America

by Raul Garcia

As I prepared to visit Ramsey Muniz, a political prisoner for the last 17 years, I thought about the many years we have known each other. In fact, we go all the way back to high school and university days.

Though each visit through the years has been educational and inspirational, there seemed to be something different and special about this visit. We had scheduled the visit for April 22, 2011 without my realizing it would fall on Good Friday. Maybe that’s the reason why as I dressed that morning there seemed to be an invisible hand guiding me toward my black clothing, a symbolic color of what happened on Good Friday in 33 A.D.

When I saw Ramsey and we sat down he said to me: “Do you realize today is Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified”? I knew then that this visit would be different because on close reflection I realized that prison is like being in what the Hebrews called “Golgotha” and Latin Rome called “Calvary”, a place to suffer and die. All over the world, including America, the Christ is being crucified, particularly the innocent ones who are thrown along with the criminals and crucified along with the Christ.

Ramsey believes that the arrest of Jesus was a political event, given that the Roman Empire felt threatened by a young revolutionary who would say, “It has been said of old, but I say unto you……” The Jesus movement had grown so big, that a new direction, a new vision, a new ethic was coming out of the firy lips of Jesus. The authorities had to get rid of him, so they monitored him wherever he went.

Muniz feels that his own arrest was also a political event in order to silence the leaders of the Chicano movement. Reies Lopez Tijerina, a leader of the Land Grant Alliance in New Mexico, once said to me that authorities were always monitoring leaders of “El Movimiento”. He showed me evidence which he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Let us also keep in mind that Jesus was betrayed by some of his closest followers, some for money, others because their egos mattered to them more than the One who had come to speak in the name of justice. Yes, justice is also a form of salvation, both individual and social. Muniz feels that he, like Christ, was betrayed as the years went by, as the silence of some who were close to him during the movement ran scared, like the followers of Jesus who ran scared and hid in and around Jerusalem.

It was Mary Magdalene to whom Jesus appeared first after the Resurrection, she whom Jesus loved the most, and in whom he entrusted his deepest secrets which not even the disciples were privy to. Yes, she rallied the doubters, the scared, the deniers. It is no accident that Ramsey’s wife, Irma, has suffered all these years along with her husband, for she knows him like no one else does and has worked tirelessly in his behalf.

Ramsey said to me that he now understands the agony of the Christ on the cross, an agony that is so profound that it pierces the heart of the soul. He understands, he says, why even Jesus felt abandoned on the cross. Jesus, he says, was a thoroughly pure man, made pure through suffering and sacrifice. To which I added that perhaps that is the reason why we can also see Jesus’ divinity, in the strength of his humanity made pure through the holiness of suffering and sacrifice.

But just as Jesus forgave those who denied him and did him wrong, so does Ramsey forgive those who have accused him of a crime he did not commit. In the end, Jesus was given a death sentence just like Socrates. Jesus for rasiing the standard of love and holiness in a world intoxicated with wars, violence, and racism, while Socrates for raising the standard of intellectual freedom and tolerance. Ramsey believes that he has also been sentenced to death by having him sent to life in prison without any possibility of parole.

After our theological conversation Ramsey touched on other matters. He said he’d been thinking of Cesar Chavez, the great civil rights leader. He was remembering the day when Chavez told him that La Raza was no longer afraid, that the people would no longer hold back and would speak without fear, and that the future was ours.

Tez says that we need to reach the young, for they appear to be clueless about our history and of what is going on in the world. There is no excuse for this, given the power of the Internet as a vehicle for research and communication. In fact, Tez has come to view the great importance of the technological revolution in communication. I mentioned to him that this is how the Zapatistas in Chiapas had gained world support, through the power of computerized technological modern forms of communication. The young, he says, must become experts, masters, of this technology, and those of us in the field of education must emphasize this to them.

Tez says that history is on our side, that the rising speed of the growing raza population is overhelming the centers of power, for they know not how to handle us other than by passing more and more irrational and silly laws. When Ramsey says that history is on our side, I keep thinking of the great prince Cuauhtemoc who rallied the Aztecs when the Sun seemed to be in an eclipse, and though defeated temporarily, he prophesied that the people of the Sixth Sun would rise again!

Finally, before we ended the visit, my friend of 50 years asked that we pray, which we did. We had visited on Good Friday, the day of the crucifixation of Christ. But we both knew that histsory does not end with the crucifixion, that it does not end with a tear or with suffering, for there is always an Easter, always a day of freedom and joy.

*********************
www.freeramsey.com
*********************

Dear Friends:

The spiritual message below was written by political prisoner Ramsey Muniz, who has been unjustly imprisoned for 17 years of his life. He has suffered greatly and as a result he has been blessed with dreams from the spirit world. He feels the need to write about his spiritual encounters as we approach Holy Week.

Please forward this message and invite others to become involved in the efforts to Free Ramsey Muniz. For more information go to www.freeramsey.com.

Sincerely,
Irma Muniz

***********

Before I begin to share the life, death, and life once again of Jesus Christ who suffered and was shackled, chained, and tortured as I have been for the last 17 oppressive, cold, dark years, I will be sharing writings, thoughts, and dreams from our spirits in heaven and from the most powerful spiritual revolutionary in the world and history — Jesus Christ.

Power of humanity as we know it has been and continues to be deformed and not transformed. True spiritual power is devotion to Jesus Christ. Christ is its author, for He gave His life for this power of humanity. Holiness, love, faith, and devotion must be at the base of this spiritual power. Otherwise it loses its foundation.

It has always been Jesus’ world from the time and place of His birth. It has never been ours. We are all here on this earth on borrowed time and on borrowed existence.

We now have almighty Christ and we have one another. Everything on this earth is a state of mind, a state of soul, and a state of time. Jesus is the essence of our existence. To discover that, just as we have discovered spiritually after such continuous suffering, oppression, injustice, and imprisonment, is FREEDOM.

Those who seek and have the power of spiritually in their hearts will know that when oppression and opposition arise, it only means that one has risen from the darkness of life into the enlightenment of Jesus and His love for FREEDOM.

Jesus, during my time in solitary confinement for three years, came and bestowed His power of FREEDOM, JUSTICE, and LOVE upon my heart and soul. I have long accepted this spiritual historical blessing, and share with the world the true meaning of seeking FREEDOM not only for myself but for all humanity.

In this American dark, oppressive, cold imprisonment for the 17 years, I have been crucified with Jesus Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

Ramiro “Ramsey” Muñiz
www.freeramsey.com

Dear Friends:

Many people support the National Committee to free Ramsey Muñiz. Approaching the age of 70, Ramsey has been incarcerated over 17 years for a crime he did not commit. He remains incarcerated in Beaumont, Texas and his placement there makes visitations impossible for close members of his family. How much longer must he and his family continue to suffer?

We continue to petition the Bureau of Prisons to have Ramsey Muñiz.transferred close to his family in Three Rivers, Texas. Below is the sentencing transcript in the 1994 trial. The bottom of page 2 clearly shows that United States District Judge Paul Brown recommended that Ramsey be placed in Three Rivers, Texas. We ask the Bureau of Prisons follow the judge’s order, just as all citizens are mandated to follow the orders of the court.

Final Sentencing Order

The Bureau of Prisons states that Three Rivers is a Care Level One Facility and that Ramsey Muñiz meets the criteria for a Care Level Two facility, such as the one in Beaumont, Texas. We hold that he does merit placement in a Level One facility Three Rivers, Texas. Medical records in Beaumont, Texas will reflect that he takes no medication because he is in good health. Medical staff in Beaumont have stated this.

Ramsey Muñiz was previously in Three Rivers, Texas. Through false pretenses regarding his health, he was transferred away without notice. The Bureau of Prison’s action of moving him away was in violation of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, cruel and unusual punishment, and confirms that Ramsey Muñiz is a Mexican American/Hispanic political prisoner. He has been denied equal protection of the law, in violation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. We now seek due process of the law, a right granted by the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.

To help move Ramsey to Three Rivers, Texas, please write two letters — one to your senator and one to your congressman. Ask them to write to Gerardo Maldonado, Jr., Director of the South Central Region Bureau of Prisons, with a a carbon copy to Jody Upton, Warden of FCC Beaumont-Medium. They should enclose a copy of the trial transcript with their letter. See the attached.

Below is a sample letter for your convenience. Thank you for writing your senator and congressman on our behalf!

Sincerely,
Irma Muniz
******************************
Visit our Updated Website
www.freeramsey.com
******************************

The Honorable John Cornyn
United States Senator
5001 Spring Valley Road, Suite 1125 E
Dallas, TX 75244

Re: Ramiro R. “Ramsey” Muñiz 40288-115

Dear Senator Cornyn:

I represent one of many supporters of the National Committee to Free Ramsey Muñiz. He has been incarcerated for 17 years of his life for a crime he did not commit and he is currently in Beaumont, Texas. He is approaching the age of 70, and he and his family have suffered greatly.

We continue to petition the Bureau of Prisons to have him transferred closer to his family in Three Rivers, Texas. Attached is a part of the sentencing transcript in the 1994 trial. The bottom of page 2 shows that United States District Judge Paul Brown recommended that Ramsey Muñiz be placed close to his family in Three Rivers, Texas. We ask the Bureau of Prisons follow the judge’s recommendation, just as all citizens are mandated to follow the orders of the court.

The Bureau of Prisons states that Three Rivers is a Care Level One Facility and that Mr. Muñiz meets the criteria for a Care Level Two facility, such as the one in Beaumont, We hold that Ramsey Muñiz does merit placement in Three Rivers, Texas. He takes no medication. He is in good health and medical staff in Beaumont have stated this.

Ramsey Muñiz was in Three Rivers, Texas. Through false pretenses regarding his health, he was transferred away without notice. This move was in violation of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, cruel and unusual punishment, and confirmed that Ramsey Muñiz is a Hispanic political prisoner. He has been denied equal protection of the law, in violation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. In order for us to receive some remedy, we seek due process of the law, a right granted by the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.

We seek your assistance in requesting the transfer of Ramiro “Ramsey” Muñiz to the Federal Correctional Institution in Three Rivers, Texas. This will ease the financial, physical, and emotional hardship faced by family members who are unable to visit him in Beaumont, Texas. Write to Mr. Gerardo Maldonado, Jr., Director of the South Central Region Bureau of Prisons and send a carbon copy of the letter to Mr. Jody Upton, Warden of FCC Beaumont-Medium. Please ask for the assistance of his Unit Team by asking that they update his medical recores and report the medical care and medication that he requires. This will solve everything.

Thank you for your assistance in this humanitarian endeavor.

Sincerely,