Nicaragua Loses Historic Academic Carlos Tünnermann
Tünnermann was the founder and former president of the opposition Civic Alliance. He served as the Rector of UNAN-León, Minister of Education, and Ambassador to the United States.
HAVANA TIMES – Nicaraguan intellectual Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim, 90, passed away on the night of Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the Vivian Pellas Hospital in Managua. An opponent of Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship, he was the president of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy and one of the participants in the national dialogue, in which a series of agreements were signed that the regime failed to fulfill.
The intellectual’s family stated in a press release that his death occurred “after a long illness,” emphasizing that they could not “be prouder of his life and his legacy, a life full of commitment and dedication.”
“As a husband, father, grandfather, educator, and great human being, his example will endure through the years. He will always be a reference for all of us, and we are proud to have been part of his life,” the statement reads.
In the statement, the family also thanked all the expressions of affection and love and requested privacy “during these painful and difficult times.”
Carlos Tünnermann was born on May 10, 1933, in Managua, and leaves behind an enormous legacy in the fields of education, human rights defense, and civil society organizations.
In 2018, he told Niú magazine that his “great ambition is that if someday he is to be remembered, it is to be remembered as a citizen. Nothing more. As a citizen who tried to fulfill what it represents to be a citizen. It is the most honorable thing.”
Relentless fighter for democracy
Opposition politician in exile Juan Sebastián Chamorro said that above all Tünnermann was “a lawyer,” and he cared a lot about what he said, wrote, and signed. “I find it ironic that he passed away five years after the signing of those agreements respecting constitutional guarantees and that the regime violated the next day,” he emphasized.
Chamorro also recalled that Tünnermann “defined the agenda of that first national dialogue (in May 2018), which included democratization, something that —as we know— the regime did not want to fulfill.”
The Blue and White Unity grou expressed their condolences for the death of Dr. Tünnermann, describing him as an “outstanding citizen, jurist, academic, human rights defender, and tireless fighter for freedom and democracy in Nicaragua.”
Paradoxically, the Ortega regime, which in recent years dedicated itself to persecuting Tünnermann, also expressed condolences for his death.
“We recognize the contribution of Dr. Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim, who as Minister of Education made a special contribution to the epic of the National Literacy Crusade. Those contributions will be remembered with gratitude in the epic history of the revolution,” the regime’s note says.
An intellectual from a young age
Tünnermann made his debut as a lawyer after the assassination of Anastasio Somoza García in 1956, at the hands of Rigoberto Lopez Perez, defending his classmate, Tomas Borge Martínez, accused of complicity in the assassination.
At the age of 24, he was appointed Secretary-General of UNAN-León. A year later, on March 27, 1958, by decree, Luis Somoza approved university autonomy. In the following years, he moved to Costa Rica to hold various positions within the regional academy.
He was the Rector of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-León) for ten years (1964-74). He promoted important changes such as the construction of campuses, buildings, and secured the land where his successor would build the Medical school. He led the investigation that led to the discovery of the ruins of Leon Viejo, while also negotiating with Somoza for the release of students imprisoned and labeled as terrorists for joining the Sandinista guerrilla.
Carlos Tünnermann had won a Guggenheim fellowship, which allowed him to write a book on the history of the university in Latin America in one year. The academic would return to Nicaragua again on the afternoon of July 5, 1978.
An academic in the Group of The Twelve
He was in Colombia working for UNESCO when his former student Sergio Ramírez came to talk to him about the revolutionary project that would soon triumph in Nicaragua.
“The Government Junta established in exile appointed me Minister of Education. Immediately, I began to work with Miguel De Castilla on the plan for literacy,” the former minister said in 2018.
The National Literacy Crusade meant that the illiteracy rate in Nicaragua dropped from 50.3% to 12.9%. Under Tunnermann as minister, 1,400 schools and 41 high schools were built. He also managed to incorporate preschool education into the educational system.
Tünnermann also served as Nicaragua’s ambassador to Washington, from where he was expelled by the US government in 1988.
Carlos Tünnermann dedicated his last years to working with organized civil society, in organizations such as Ethics and Transparency, the Movement for Nicaragua, the Citizen Union for Democracy, and from 2018 in the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy.