Ramsey Muñiz

Ramiro Muñiz, known as Ramsey Muñiz (December 13, 1942 – October 2, 2022), was an American political activist. Muñiz was a Mexican American who ran for governor of Texas in 1972 and 1974, each time as the nominee of the Raza Unida Party. He lost both elections to the Democrat Dolph Briscoe, a wealthy banker and landowner from Uvalde, Texas. He is the first Hispanic whose name appeared on a Texas gubernatorial general election ballot.

Background

Muñiz was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, one of five children of Rudy G. and Hilda ( Longoria) Muñiz. To help his financially struggling family, he took many jobs while he was a boy. He wrote: "During the summer my mother would be up by 3 a.m. preparing breakfast and lunch for us, as we would depart from the house at 5:00 and arrive at the cotton field by 6 a.m. She would pick cotton with us. I can still see her face sweating and pulling the 12-foot cotton sack. When it was time to eat lunch, we would all gather under the cotton trailer as she would distribute the food she had prepared. Thereafter, we had half an hour to rest or nap because by 1:00 PM we hit the field once more until 4:30. Even as I share these historical memories, I can envision her face, which is full of love, pride, strength, faith, and a 'never give up' attitude like no one else in this world. By the time I was fourteen years old, Bobby and I could pick 1,000 pounds a day. I would not even take the time to eat. I wanted my mother to be proud of me. That's how much love I have for my mother."

Education and career Even in junior high school, Muñiz worked to procure equal representation for minorities on the student council at Miller High School in Corpus Christi.

While living in Waco, Muñiz spent years with his mentor and friend, William V. Dunnam Jr., with whom he later worked as an attorney. Muñiz subsequently relocated to San Antonio, where he continued his law practice with Sandoval and Peña. He then worked with attorneys Albert Huerta and Albert Peña in Corpus Christi.

Incarceration

In 1976, the U.S. government brought felony drug charges against Muñiz for allegedly attempting to smuggle 6,500 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico. He pleaded guilty to one count and served five years in a federal penitentiary. This effectively killed the Raza Unida Party. Its 1978 gubernatorial candidate, Mario Cura Compean, polled only 14,213 (barely one-half of 1 percent), as Republican Bill Clements became his state's first Republican governor in 105 years.

After his release, Muñiz worked as a legal assistant to several attorneys. In 1982, he pled no contest to a possession of cocaine charge and served two years. In 1994, he was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration in a rental car with 90 pounds of cocaine. He was serving a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, without the possibility of parole.

Muñiz considered himself a political prisoner incarcerated on false charges. He maintained a website asking interested persons to petition former U.S. President Barack H. Obama for his freedom.

Ramsey was released on compassionate grounds under federal supervision on December 10, 2018. He died on October 2, 2022, from complications of myasthenia gravis.