Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann (February 5, 1933 – June 8, 2017) was an American-born

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

n diplomat,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

of the

Maryknoll Maryknoll is a name shared by a number of related Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (also known as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America or the Maryknoll Society), the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Mary ...

Missionary Society. As the President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009, he presided over the 63rd Session of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

. He was also nominated as Libyan Representative to the UN in March 2011."Nicaraguan U.S. critic made U.N. assembly president"
Reuters, June 4, 2008. He died on 8 June 2017, having suffered a stroke several months earlier.

Early life

D'Escoto was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

."FACTBOX-Facts on new UN assembly head D'Escoto"
Reuters, June 4, 2008 on February 5, 1933. His father was Miguel Escoto Muñoz, a Nicaraguan diplomat. His mother was Margarita Brockmann Meléndez. Through his father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann was descended from

Nazario Escoto Nazario Escoto Donaire was acting President of "Democratic" Nicaragua after the death of Francisco Castellón Francisco Castellón Sanabria (18158 September 1855) was president of "Democratic" Nicaragua from 1854 to 1855 during the Granada-Le ...

, acting president of Nicaragua in 1855. He was then raised in Nicaragua but was sent back to the United States to begin his high school studies in 1947.

Priesthood

D'Escoto felt called to serve as priest and entered the seminary of the

Missionary Society in 1953. He was ordained a priest of the Society in 1961 before becoming engaged in politics. He earned a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

the following year, and was a key figure in the founding of the Maryknoll publishing house, Orbis Books, in 1970. He served as an official of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

. As an adherent of

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...

, he secretly joined the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto C� ...

s. D'Escoto formed the Nicaraguan Foundation for Integral Community Development (FUNDECI) in January 1973 to promote a nongovernmental response to the displacement of thousands in the December 1972 Managua earthquake. He continued on as President of FUNDECI, which operates in several departments in Nicaragua until his death in 2017. On August 5, 2014, the Vatican announced that

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

had reinstated D'Escoto as a priest after he had been suspended for thirty years for taking up office in Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government. D'Escoto had been banned from celebrating Mass by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

for defying a church ban on priests holding political office. D'Escoto served as Nicaragua's foreign minister from 1979 to 1990. He welcomed the news and said his punishment had been unfair. D'Escoto, 81, had written to Pope Francis asking to be allowed to celebrate

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

before he died.

Nicaraguan Revolution

D'Escoto first publicly expressed support for the FSLN as one of ''

Los Doce ''El Grupo de los Doce'', or Group of Twelve, were a dozen members of the Nicaraguan establishment whose support for the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) against President Anastasio Somoza Debayle played a pivotal role in the acceptance ...

'', in October 1977, and was appointed foreign minister after the Sandinista triumph in 1979. He served as foreign minister in Daniel Ortega's FSLN government from 1979 to 1990. During a visit to Central America,

publicly admonished him for his political activity. In 1985, the pope denounced him and two other priests, the brothers Ernesto and

Fernando Cardenal Fernando Cardenal Martínez (26 January 1934 – 20 February 2016) was a Nicaraguan Jesuit and liberation theologian. Family Fernando Cardenal was born into a wealthy and influential family in Granada, Nicaragua, as the fifth son of Rodolfo Car ...

. All three served in the Nicaraguan government but did not resign from office and so in violation of

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. D'Escoto was suspended by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

in 1985, together with the two other priests. The suspension stayed in place until August 2014, when

lifted it. Early in the war, the

Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...

perceived D'Escoto as a relative moderate who might break with the regime. As foreign minister, D'Escoto received the

Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (russian: международная Ленинская премия мира, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a pane ...

in 1985 and 1986 and the Thomas Merton Award in 1987. In 1999, then Archbishop of Managua, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, criticized the priests who became involved with the Sandinistas and abandoned their priestly ministry for politics. He said the priests never denounced the injustices that took place at the time.

Political activity

On March 3, 1986, D'Escoto gave a speech on Nicaraguan television publicly insulting and condemning Cardinal Obando for not siding with the Sandinista regime against the Contras: "There is no word uttered by human mouth, no adjective that we could use to truly describe the horror produced by this brother of ours." After the Sandinistas lost the

1990 Nicaraguan general election General elections were held in Nicaragua on 25 February 1990 to elect the President and the members of the National Assembly.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p489 The result was a victory for the Na ...

, D'Escoto led the Communal Movement but resigned that post in December 1991 after his support within the organization waned. He supported Daniel Ortega against the

Sandinista Renovation Movement The Sandinista Renovation Movement (''Movimiento Renovador Sandinista'' or MRS, in Spanish) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on 21 May 1995. It defines itself as a democratic and progressive party, made of women and men, which promotes the ...

dissidents.

United Nations

President of the General Assembly

The

Latin American and Caribbean Group The Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries, or GRULAC, is one of the five United Nations Regional Groups composed of 33 Member States from Central and South America, as well as some islands in the West Indies. Its members compose 17% of a ...

selected him as their candidate to become the president of the UN General Assembly. On June 4, 2008, he was elected by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

to preside over 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009."UN Elects Ex-Sandinista as Assembly President"
Shortly after his election, D'Escoto stated during a

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

: D'Escoto stated that addressing rising energy and food prices around the world would be priorities. His other priorities would include

hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic Human nutrition, nutritional needs for a sustaine ...

, poverty,

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as ...

, nuclear control,

cultural diversity Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution. The term "cultural diversity" can also refer to having different c ...

, the

rights of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and children and the protection of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. He designated 16 senior advisers:

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

(USA),

Maude Barlow Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is a founding member of the Council of Canadians, a citizens' advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue ...

(Canada),

Mohammed Bedjaoui Mohammed Bedjaoui ( ar, محمد بجاوي) (born September 21, 1929 in Sidi Bel-Abbes) is an Algerian diplomat and jurist. He served as Algeria's ambassador to France and the United Nations among other places. He also served as a judge on the I ...

(Algeria), Leonardo Boff (Brazil), Kevin M. Cahill (USA), François Houtart (Belgium),

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

(USA),

Ramsey Clark William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021) was an American lawyer, activist, and federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal, he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Pres ...

(USA),

Richard Falk Richard Anderson Falk (born November 13, 1930) is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor's Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In 2004, he was listed as the autho ...

(USA), Michael Kennedy (USA), Eleonora Kennedy (USA), Olivier De Schutter (Belgium), Joseph Stiglitz (USA), Sir John E. Sulston (UK), Francisco Lacayo Parajón (Nicaragua) and

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...

(USA). In June 2010, D'Escoto was elected by acclamation to the Council Advisory Committee to the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

Reform of the United Nations

D'Escoto criticised the

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

power wielded by the

permanent members of the United Nations Security Council The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, ...

. Therein he said "I hope my presidency will address what has become a universal clamour all over the world for the democratisation of the United Nations. I promise to give full support to the working group on the revitalisation of the General Assembly."

Relations with the United States

Described by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

as "a fierce critic of the

foreign relations of the United States The United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. This includes all UN member and observer states other than Bhutan, Iran, North Korea and Syria, and the UN observer State of Palestine, the last of which the U.S. does not rec ...

(he referred to Ronald Reagan in 2004 as "the butcher of my people"): "Because of Reagan and his spiritual heir

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, the world today is far less safe and secure than it has ever been." Following his election to the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly, he offered a statement interpreted as renewed criticism aimed at the United States: "The behavior of some member states has caused the United Nations to lose credibility as an organisation capable of putting an end to war and eradicating extreme poverty from our planet." He denounced what he called "acts of aggression, such as those occurring in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

." However, he expressed his "love" for "the United States as a country" and added: "I do not want to turn this General Assembly presidency into a place to take it out on the United States." Reacting to those comments, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Zalmay Khalilzad Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad ( ps, ځلمی خلیل زاد, prs, زلمی خلیل‌زاد; born March 22, 1951) is an Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve as U.S. Spec ...

responded: "We have been assured that a page has been turned and that he understands his new responsibilities.... We will wait and see."

Richard Grenell Richard Allen Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American political operative, diplomat, TV personality, and public relations consultant who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2020. ...

, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, added: "The president of the General Assembly is supposed to be a uniter. We have made it clear that these crazy comments are not acceptable, and we hope he refrains from this talk and gets to work on General Assembly business." However, Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations, said: "It's hard to make sense of Mr. D'Escoto's increasingly bizarre statements."

Relations with Israel and Iran

On September 17, 2008, Israel's Ambassador to the U.N Gabriela Shalev called D'Escoto an "Israel-hater" because D'Escoto "hugged" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after Ahmedinedjad's strongly anti-Israel and anti-Zionist September 2008 speech to the UN General Assembly. D'Escoto's spokesman responded by saying: "He cannot respond to each and every speech made by the leaders of these states." The Israeli ambassador also criticised D'Escoto for attending a dinner marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan with a number of Middle Eastern leaders, including Ahmadinejad. D'Escoto's spokesman responded by saying: " 'Escotowill join the dinner because he believes in dialogue, an issue which he had highlighted, and thinks that he should deal with all member states."

Libyan ambassador

On March 29, 2011, during the 2011 Libyan civil war, Libyan Foreign Minister

Moussa Koussa Moussa Muhammad El-Haj Nemr Koussa ( ar, موسى كوسا, ; born 1949?) is a Libyan political figure and diplomat, who held several high-profile positions in the Libyan government, lastly as Minister of Foreign Affairs from March 2009, into the ...

wrote to United Nations Secretary General

Ban Ki Moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

, nominating d'Escoto as Libya’s new ambassador to the UN. The letter stated that he was nominated, as

Ali Treki Ali Abdussalam Treki ( ar, علي عبد السلام التريكي‎; 10 October 1937 – 19 October 2015) was a Libyan diplomat in Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Treki served as one of Libya's top diplomats beginning in the 1970s and ending wi ...

, also a former General Assembly president who was Libya's first choice, was denied a visa to enter the United States under

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 Resolution 1973 was adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 17 March 2011 in response to the First Libyan Civil War. The resolution formed the legal basis for military intervention in the Libyan Civil War, demanding "an immediate ceas ...

. US ambassador Susan Rice claimed that he did not possess the proper diplomatic visa to represent Libya and suggested Mussa Kussa's recommendation might be void because of his resignation on March 30 from the Libyan government.

Death

On June 8, 2017, Brockmann died at the age of 84 after suffering a stroke several months earlier. He was buried in the Cementerio General in Managua.

References

External links

Official Website as president of the UNGA

Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations
opening the General Debate of the 63rd Session, September 23, 2008
Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations
closing the General Debate of the 63rd Session, September 29, 2008 * . From

The Real News The Real News Network (TRNN) is an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, MD that covers both national and international news. History TRNN was founded by documentary producer Paul Jay and Mishuk Munier in September 2 ...

. Published October 11, 2009.
Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann discussing the need to reinvent the United Nations
interview aired on Democracy Now!, April 26, 2010
Fmr. UN President d’Escoto: "The U.N. Is Beyond Reform, It Has to Be Reinvented"
- video by ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Escoto Brockmann, Miguel d' 1933 births 2017 deaths Politicians from Los Angeles American people of Nicaraguan descent Maryknoll Seminary alumni Maryknoll Fathers Nicaraguan Roman Catholic priests 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests 21st-century American Roman Catholic priests Catholics from California Liberation theologians Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Book publishers (people) Nicaraguan diplomats Foreign Ministers of Nicaragua Human Rights Council Advisory Committee experts Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly Lenin Peace Prize recipients Permanent Representatives of Nicaragua to the United Nations Sandinista National Liberation Front politicians People of the First Libyan Civil War People of the Nicaraguan Revolution American emigrants to Nicaragua