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Dear Friends:

In the enclosed writings Ramsey Muniz shares very spiritual sentiments inspired by his favorite author, Carlos Fuentes. We were fortunate and perhaps
destined to hear him speak at Del Mar College more than twelve years ago. Please distribute.–Irma L. Muniz

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Carlos Fuentes, Liberation, and Spirituality
6/25/06

“The key to understanding ourselves as a people today
remains in discovering and living our Mexicano spirituality and cultura. Today we are in the actual visible process of building our spiritual temple in our hearts in all Aztlan. We are unconsciously working together and assisting each other for the new millennium by growing in love, character, awareness,
sharing Mexicayotl, and preparing ourselves for the liberation of all Aztlan.”

–Tezcatlipoca

I can never forget when we met Carlos Fuentes in
Corpus Christi, Texas when he spoke at Del Mar College. We took photos with the author as I shared with him the importance of his words and wisdom for our people.

“Every single person in the valley of Morelos, Mexico, from the old veterans of the Mexican Revolution to present day schoolchildren, still believes that Zapata is alive. And perhaps they are right. Zapata will live as long as people believe that they have a right to their land and a right to govern themselves according to their deeply held beliefs and cultural values.”

The Buried Mirror. Carlos Fuentes.

During the late hours confined in these dungeons of the oppressor I was enlightened by the written spiritual words as expressed by Mr. Fuentes in his book entitled I Believe. I could feel the spirituality of our ancient Mexicano past enter into the brick walls of this realm of injustices and sorrow. Never before in all his writings had he expressed the reality and truth of our
spirituality as a people, as a race, and as a nation.

“The singularity of Jesus is that the permanence, fame or value of his work arises from obscurity and anonymity. Had he not been rescued by the apostles and propagandized by St. Paul, it is highly likely that the preacher from Galilee would have become lost
among the hundreds of holy men who traveled the paths of the ancient world. But nothing – not the gospels, not St. Paul, not even the Christian church itself can divest Jesus of his condition as a humble man, stripped of all power, unadorned by luxury, a man whose humility and poverty transform him into the most powerful symbol of human salvation.”

This I Believe. An A to Z of a Life. Carlos Fuentes. 2006. p. 39

There is definitely an aura of spirituality among our people like never before in our history. I can sense and feel the same positive spiritual attitude among those who find themselves in solitary confinement. I can feel the outcry and yearning of Mexicanos in the so-called free world as they too reach out for our spiritual
ancient power and resistance. Yes, it is and was part of us from the beginning of our creation. We can no longer deny that spiritual power which lies in our hearts and minds. We must rise again!

“Even during the times of sickness, pain, and suffering, the dreams were so vivid about us from the beginning to the end. It is truly an endless love between two hearts that were destined to meet before their births. The dreams during these times of sorrow and
loneliness were so clear and visions came into my heart about our direction and shining path that we must take as a people during this era of despair and destruction. We must once more seek the means of understanding each other as a race of humanity, harmony, peace,
and spirituality.”

–Tezcatlipoca – R. Muniz. 2005

The visions, dreams, and spiritual messages that I receive in this harsh debilitating incarceration bring joy and happiness to my heart, because I know that the “time” has come for us to rise once again in this world of our. At times tears will come from my heart as I feel the spiritual power of justice and liberation becoming a
part of us once again in all Aztlan.

“Was he, like Saints Francis and Augustine, a sated and reformed sinner? Precisely because he works within the constraints of time, Jesus encourages us to believe in time. His words reveal an extraordinary
temporal faith, for even when eternity seems to appear at the horizon of his words, the goal of Christ’s faith is the future of the human race. Jesus’ faith exhorts us to work in the world. The heaven of
Jesus Christ is found in solidarity with one’s brothers, not in some kind of celestial empiricism. And his hell is found in earthly injustice, not in some bottomless pit consumed by flames. Jesus does, however, extend the values of life on earth to the realm of the eternal:
‘For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me; ill and you cared for me; in prison and you visited me.’ ‘When did
we give you all this?’ His listeners asked him. And Jesus replies, ‘Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

This I Believe. An A to Z of a Life. Carlos Fuentes. 2006. p. 41.

In conclusion, I thank the Creator and the power of our ancient Mexicano spirituality for the experience of feeling such spiritual emotions that come from my heart notwithstanding the fact that I reside presently in the world of hatred, cruelty, oppression, injustices, confinement, and loneliness. It is this Mexicano
spiritual love that has overcome the hatred and inhumane suffering of one’s life. This love that I have for Citlalmina, “illuminating star,” is like the universal cosmic visions of another world. This Mexicano love that I possess for my people is the reason that the
Creator of all things universally presents to my life in prison, joy, sadness, happiness, suffering, forgiveness, laughter, sorrow, hunger, love, loneliness, life, sacrifice, and the power of ancient Mexicano prayer. All Mexicanos know deep in their hearts that our time has come. We must no longer be afraid.

In exile,
Tezcatlipoca
Mexicano political prisoner
http://www.freeramsey.com

Recieved via email from Irma L. Muniz, July 22, 2006.

By Luissana Santibanez

13 months ago, because of her “illegal status,” my mom was taken away and sent to an Immigrant Detention Center where she awaits her deportation. She sits in her jail cell as if she were a criminal and is being deprived every type of meaningful contact and physical activity.

Hace un ano, por ser “illegal”, se llevaron a mi madre al Centro de Detencion de Inmigrantes donde espera su deportacion. La tienen detenida en la carcel como si fuera una criminal y la depriven de cualquier foma de contacto phisico significante.
We, her children, cannot hold or hug her during visitation hours. Instead, we are forced to communicate through the censored phones that have been place in between the bullet proof barrier that separates us.

Nosotros, su hijos, no podemos tocar ni abrazarla durante las horas de visita. Enves, estamos forcados a comunicarnos por medio de los telephonos censurados que estan hubicados en hambos lados de la barrerra de vidrio que nos separa.

I have watched the color of her skin turn from a beautiful dark and roasted color brown to a pale and lifeless, sickly white.

He visto como el color de su piel ha cambiado de un color de Tierra Hermosa a un color palido y sin vida.

My mom, once a proud and hardworking Mexican tells us she is fine and that she is strong enough to make it through the process, but I know better. I know better because even though she does not tell us, I can see it through her eyes, screaming with raging anger and indescribable pain the horrible hardship that she has been forced to live under.

Mi Jeficita, antes una Mexicana fuerte, trabajadora y orgullosa nos dice que esta bien y que tiene las fuerzas para continuar este processo, pero yo conosco la verdad. Yo lo reconosco, porque aunque no nos quiera decir, lo puedo mirar en sus ojos, que gritan con rabia y un dolor indescriptible de la terrible realidad que la han forzado a vivir .

Even though she does not tell us, I can sense it through the words written in all of her letters that we, her children, are the only thing keeping her sane.

Yo lo reconosco, porque aunque no nos quiera decir, se siente en las palabras que nos escribe. Y es claro que nosotros, sus hijos, somos lo unico que le da la fuerza de vivir y seguir luchando.

This is what the prison system does to you!
It dehumanizes the individual by ripping and tearing apart the very spirit that keeps him/her alive.
It demoralizes the human body and sentences him/her to a life of complete silence and compliance; a life of social death.

Esto es lo que el sistema de prision nos hace!
Dehumaniza al individual, destruyendo y derotando el mismo espiritu que nos da fuerzas para vivir.
Demoraliza al cuerpo humano y lo condena a una vida de silencio y inexistente. Los condena a una muerte social.

They cage and handcuff you behind thick cemented walls and electric barbed wire fences with rifled security guards posted on high towers… then turn around and tell the public that they are “correctional facilities” or “temporary detention centers”

Los enjaulan detras de paredes cementadas y cercas electricas de alambre con guardias armadas fijados en torres altas……y les dicen al publico que son “instalaciones correccionales” o “centros temporales de detencion”

Bullshit! They don’t give a damn about the people of color locked desperately within their cells and could care even less about the families (like ours) that are separated and often times destroyed during this time.

A ellos no les vale madre las personas de color que se encuentran desesperadamente dentro de sus celulas. Ni les vale mucho menos las destrucción y separacion de las familias como la mia.

Huge companies like Halliburton and Wackenhut Corrections Corporation profit from our pain and denigration in their cells.

.Las companias higantes como Halliburton y Wackenhut Corrections Corporation se benefician de nuestro dolor y denigracion en las celulas que ellos construyen.

This is not a new issue, it hasn’t been for the Chicano in this country and it definitely hasn’t been for the African American, but it is in many ways a new issue for this generation because every day we begin and live through a new struggle. This is why we are here today! To unite our struggles and to go forward.

Esto no es una nueva batalla porque es una lucha que han peleado los Chicanos y AfroAmericanos en este pais por muchos anos. Pero SI es una nueva lucha para la nueva generacion porque cada dia se empieza y se vive una nueva batalla.

If only I were strong enough to break through the barriers that separate my mom from us….
If only I were powerful enough to legalize every undocumented immigrant in this country…
If only I were radical enough to overthrow the system that has intended on keeping people of color in levels of extreme poverty and marginalization.

Si tuviera la fuerza para romper la barrerra que nos separa de nuestra madre……
Si tuviera el poder para legalizar a cada uno de los migrantes indocumentados en este pais….
Si fuera mas radical mi esfuerzo para derrotar el sistema que intenta mantener la gente de color en niveles de pobreza extrema y marginalización……

I am just one person, but together, VICTORY can be achieved. Hasta la Victoria Siempre!!!

Note: For a while I felt a little uncertain about exposing my family’s hardship because of my and my younger siblings’ sensitivity to the issue. In fact, I wrote this piece after failing to find someone to speak on campus for the May 1st Peace and Justice Day [at the University of Texas at Austin.] The event was being organized by the Center for African and African American Studies and took place a couple of hours before the larger march at the Capitol. My intention was to connect the African American struggle against prison systems to the current crisis that entire immigrant communities are facing in regard to Immigrant Detention Centers.

I don’t mind if my name is posted with the publication. My main objective with this is to promote awareness about the mass incarceration of immigrants in private prisons while also addressing the physical, emotional and financial distress that the families of those being detained must also live through….

–Luissana Santibanez

“I happen to still believe in the open records law in Texas,” says Mayor Will Lowrance of Hillsboro, 55 miles south of Dallas. He’s referring to the Governor’s steadfast refusal to disclose “proprietary” documents related to planned construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The Mayor says he’d like to see the documents before making an informed decision on the mega-highway-railroad-real-bad-news-for-racoons plan.

Meanwhile, “Grandma” Carole Keeton Strayhorn is also dogging the Gov at mega-highway hearings, criticizing him “for his ‘secret contract with a foreign company’ — the U.S.-Spanish consortium that the state has approved to build and operate the $184 billion corridor, which would parallel Interstate 35. The Perry administration is now battling an attorney general’s ruling to fully disclose the contract.”

Which reminds us that we also would like to see some documentation from the Governor’s office: plans for Operation Jump Start. We agree wiith the Mayor: citizens ought to be able to watch their democracy at work, the better to tinker with it as they see fit.
If the Governor is going to tell everybody that Operation Jump Start is on schedule, and if the Governor is going to retain formal command of the troops, then doesn’t it follow that the Governor should show us the schedule we’re on? Instead, he says he doesn’t have one.

We were just about to give up on higher principles during the coming campaign season. Thanks, Mayor. Thanks, Grandma.

See AP story: “Corridor could be roadblock for Perry: Plan nettles more than just farmers, but aide dismisses campaign risk” posted at WFAA com.

Also: “Strayhorn becoming a regular at highway public hearings.” Tuesday, July 25, 2006. By Noelene Clark. Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer.

Dear Friends:

We wish to thank Univision, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the American GI Forum for a successful press conference held in San Antonio, Texas. Our deepest gratitude goes to Rosa Rosales, Rolando P. Garza, Joe Ortiz, Sam Alvarado and all of our suporters who continue to work for the freedom of
Ramsey Muniz. Below are writings received from Ramsey. Please distribute.–Irma L. Muniz

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July 9, 2006

“The Mexican problem is not really a problem incumbent only to Mexico; it is a universal problem. It is the problem of hunger, the problem that the disinherited of all the world have to resolve under the penalty of living with their bodies bent down under the yoke of the master class. To deny solidarity to the Mexican workingmen who are struggling to conquer their economic freedom is to stand against the labor cause in general because the cause of the wage-slave against his master has no frontiers.

It is not a national problem, but a universal conflict. It is the cause of all the disinherited of the world over, of everyone who has to work with his hands and his brains to bring his family a loaf of bread.”

Ricardo Flores Magon
1914. Mexicano Revolutionary

Around one hundred years ago, nuestra gente, nuestra raza, and our sisters and brothers from the Holy Land of Mexico who journeyed across the borders of Aztlan, find ourselves in the same struggle that Flores-Magon spoke and wrote about during the 1910 Mexican Revolution. It is not only an immigration
problem on behalf of America, but it is the all embracing quality that is absolutely necessary for us to embrace as the consciousness of a mission pertaining to life, equality, justice, spirituality, and in becoming one once again. It is our moral and conscious duty to provide the necessary element for our sisters and brothers to become part of us here in Aztlan. In
reality, we of the 21st Century are simply fulfilling the
prophecies of our ancient Mexicano past, which has not passed at all. It is a Mexicano spiritual mission that cannot come from human resolve. It can only come as the emanation of a super Mexicano personal soul – the organ of a higher destiny – a divinity.

And that super personal Mexicano soul is called “Mexicayotl” (me-shee-ka-yotl). In our ancient Mexicano spiritual/cultural lives, Mexicayotl was the Nahuatl organ of a higher destiny for the future of our people. It was to become a divinity with the essence of Nahuatl power. It is a power to be embraced and
shared by all of us, not only here in Aztlan, but with our sisters and brothers from our Holy Land of Mexico. This same consciousness which is spiritual in nature is the same that Ricardo Flores Magon, Zapata, Villa, Chavez, Hidalgo, Juarez, and Marcos shared with all Mexicanos/Mexicanas who seek justice, liberation and land in their lives. Mexicayotl is spiritual in origin and nature simply because of its suffering, sacrifices,
and the eventual task of becoming free once again.

“As I embrace our ancient Mexicano indigenous spirituality, I’m transformed by a passion I have discovered from our past. Now I perceive it in my own Mexicano soul. During this mode of confinement and darkness, chained and shackled of my soul, I have been given access to a great and profound secret. Now I know the imprisonment, suffering, sadness, sorrow, grief, and sacrifices of my ancient ancestors, and it has become my own.”

Ramsey Muniz – Tezcatlipoca
7/9/06

The time has come for us Mexicanos, Chicanos, Hispanics, Latinos, and Mexican Americans to reunite as a people, as a race, and as a nation. As long as we think that we are different, we will continue to be divided, defeated, and conquered once again in the 21st Century. It is my present mission and spiritual
destiny to share with all Mexicanos in the prison system of America that in reality “todos somos uno.” At times I can feel the ill feelings and hatred in the hearts of many, due to past experiences and teachings. But once we are able to communicate as we did in our past, the present and future will become the prophecy that I have fulfilled for our ancient spiritual ancestors.
At times I can feel, dream, and see that we are at the peak of becoming one once again. The elements of self-hatred, jealousy, envy and prejudice are gradually becoming a thing of an American past.

It is our duty as Mexicanos here in Aztlan and America to open communications spiritually, culturally, and politically with our Holy Land of Mexico. The cold Berlin wall they speak about structuring is for the purpose of dividing us once again as a people. Every congressional bill or law proposed against our people
is anti-spiritual, anti-raza, anti-cultural, anti-heroic, and anti-Mexicayotl. But since the past can never destroy the future, only attempt to thwart it, there lies the possibility that Aztlan and all Mexicanos in America will follow many decades of degradation, chaos, imprisonment in vast numbers, darkness, stultification, miseria, and wasting away. What can we do? Que vamos hacer? The answer once again, as we have done in our past, is the power of
spiritual/cultural/political mobilization. Why do I share the existence of this topic on this night of 7/10/06? Because the spirits of our ancient ancestors have become my own, and the motivation of our power struggle in our age of absolute politics lies in our spiritual/cultural divinity.

In conclusion, many will agree and disagree with my writings on the forthcoming of our Mexicano spiritual/cultural mobilization throughout Aztlan and in our Holy Land of Mexico. Many will think that
because I’m confined in this mode of darkness that I am unable to personally witness the injustices and oppression of our people in the so-called free world. The spirits, the prophecies, and the messages
of our ancient spiritual ancestors have become a part of my life. I have been chosen and destined to write, to share and to embrace with all Mexicanos the forthcoming “spiritual/cultural mobilization” into
the 21st Century, “armados con Mexicayotl.” I have accepted Aztlan’s world mission of justice, liberation and land. Mi gente, mi raza, solamente por medio de Mexicayotl realizaremos el llenamiento de la mision Mundial de Aztlan.

In exile,
Tezcatlipoca
(Ramsey Muniz)

“Infinite pain: For the pain of imprisonment is the harshest, most devastating pain, murdering the mind, searing the soul, leaving marks that will never be erased.”

http://www.freeramsey.com