In memoriam: Xabier Gorostiaga

In memoriam: Xabier Gorostiaga
By Kees Biekart, Transnational Institute

Our dear friend and TNI Advisor Xabier Gorostiaga died on 14 September 2003 in Loyola (Spain) after losing a one-year struggle against a brain tumour. Many of us remember seeing him the last time at the Second World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2002, in which he actively participated. The slogan 'Another world is possible' could have been his invention (some even believe he was indeed the source) for he displayed an infectious optimism and a profound belief in alternatives.

Xabier Gorostiaga ('el pitorro' for his friends) was born in Spain but his life and career is closely linked with the recent history of Central America. After his Jesuit formation in philosophy and theology in Bilbao, and his PhD in economy at Cambridge, he arrived in Nicaragua shortly after the Sandinistas had overthrown Somoza in 1979. Initially he worked as the Director of the Ministry of Planning under comandante Henri Ruíz. In 1982, he founded INIES, an independent socio-economic think-tank, which formed the basis for the foundation of CRIES, one of the most influential regional research institutes in Central America and the Caribbean. Its magazine Pensamiento Propio ('own thinking') reflected a critical but commited attitude towards the Sandinista revolution and circulated throughout the world.

In those years, Xabier established contacts with TNI and IPS to work on joint projects analysing the poverty impact of the US boycott and to counter allegations of Soviet-dominated aid flows to Nicaragua. Xabier acquired Nicaraguan nationality and travelled the world speaking at conferences about the situation in Central America, visiting the major international institutions to counter US dominance, while also inspiring grassroots organisations and NGOs with his enormous analytical capacity, humour and strategic vision. He was in fact the intellectual ambassador for Central American civil society, contributing to the regional peace process and taking sides with the poor and the oppressed.

In 1991, the Jesuits asked him to become their regional delegate and Rector of the Central American University (UCA) in Managua. These were difficult years, with the backlash against the Sandinista revolution, internal divisions among progressive forces, violent strikes led by students, the assassination of his Jesuit friends in El Salvador and internal crisis at CRIES. Xabier maintained his positive attitude, however, managing to keep opposing groups together and establishing new academic courses for civil society groups. He spoke at TNI Fellows' Meetings about the opportunities for post-war Central America and the new challenges for progressive forces searching for alternatives to neo-liberal structural adjustment. In the late 1990s, Xabier was appointed Secretary General of the Latin American Jesuit University network, now applying his experience and vision to the entire continent.

With Xabier's departure we lose a brilliant analyst and a strategic and 'globalist' thinker, bridging effectively the gap between academia and political practice. We also lose a remarkable friend, genuinely interested in personal experiences and always searching for light in the darkness. He will be remembered as "the most all-round and happiest priest I ever encountered" (Hugo Cabieses) and as an inspiring example for all those working to make another world possible. Gracias Xabier por la vida que nos diste!

La Biblia de la razón, por Mariano Aguirre

Xabier Gorostiaga falleció, según el testimonio de amigos cercanos, haciendo planes sobre su América Central. Durante décadas este jesuíta dedicó su fé en las personas honestas y sus conocimientos sobre el mundo para analizar la realidad y planificar cambios en la misma. Apasionado por América Latina estuvo en las negociaciones y debates claves entre los años 80 y 90. Asesoró en la mesa de los negociadores del Canal de Panamá, tenía un trato directo con amigos y algunos enemigos en Washington (conservaba unos papeles que había garabateado Henry Kissinger durante una reunión), ayudó a los sandinistas en el empeño por hacer una revolución que encontrase un camino propio entre el modelo insurreccional de Cuba y la vía electoral de Salvador Allende, y dedicó su esfuerzo a reflexionar sobre el fracaso debido a causas internas y externas de ese proyecto. Después de los 80 salió de la denominada década pérdida con la fuerza de la necesidad. Creía firmemente en la educación.

Era un hombre de fé, primero, seguramente, en Dios, pero daba la impresión que su Biblia personal estaba en la razón ilustrada. No le vencían las dificultades, y nunca dejó de tenerlas porque no apostó por ningún proyecto fácil. Como escribió Rossana Rossanda en la muerte de Jean-Paul Sartre: avanzó, cayó en varias ocasiones, volvió a levantarse, una y otra vez. Le recordaremos como un amigo necesario.