There are people who make history and Guido de Marco was one of them, Suha Arafat said yesterday.
“I cried my eyes out. I feel I’m mourning the loss of a father or a brother,” the widow of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told The Times.
Recalling Prof. de Marco’s unstinting efforts to champion the Palestinian cause, she described him as a courageous man and a great leader.
“When my husband was under siege in Ramallah and everybody was afraid to talk to him because the Americans were putting pressure, Guido de Marco had the courage to call him every day. He was a loyal man when there was no loyalty at all,” Mrs Arafat said.
She cited an Arabic adage that says a person who has children to follow his path will not die.
“Mario, his son, inherited his wisdom and I hope he will continue on his father’s path,” Mrs Arafat said, adding Malta should be proud of great men like Prof. de Marco.
Even as Prof. de Marco’s stature transcended the confines of domestic politics, what always impressed Malta’s ambassador to Portugal and long-time work colleague Joseph Cassar was his ability to communicate with people from different walks of life.
“Irrespective of whether the person in front of him was the Pope or a boy in a Palestinian refugee camp, he could communicate with ease and listen attentively,” Dr Cassar said, recalling one time during Prof. De Marco’s tenure as President of the UN Assembly when he visited Ethiopia and spent a night talking to people at a refugee camp run by the Red Cross and UNHCR.
Prof. de Marco’s ability to reach out to his political foes was another quality cherished by Dr Cassar.
“He used to tell me: ‘You cannot forget but you must try to forget because otherwise you will not move forward.’ The choices he made to go to difficult places, even at a great personal risk, were admirable,” he added.
“He loved his wife Violet and his children. He was also very fond of his mother and at least the consolation I get from his death is that he is now reunited with his mother,” Dr Cassar said.
For Adele Borg it is not quite politics that comes to mind when thinking of Prof. de Marco as much as her relationship with husband and Foreign Affairs Minister, Tonio Borg.
Mrs Borg had started working for Prof. de Marco when she was 18 and did so for 10 years.
“I met Tonio (now Deputy Prime Minister) through him. Guido told me he would introduce me to a cute student and that I will fall in love with him. I told him not to match-make because it will never work. In reality it worked and how,” she recalled.
“I am really emotional because he was a second father to me,” Mrs Borg said, adding Prof. de Marco was always a positive person.
Meanwhile, condolences poured in yesterday from several international quarters.
The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, described Prof. de Marco as “a true patriot” and “an open-minded and committed European statesman who was deeply respected all over Europe”.
Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso sent his condolences to President George Abela.
“He was very sharp, dedicated, and pursued Malta’s cause through his art of persuasion,” Mr Barroso said.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma also paid tribute to Prof. de Marco, describing him as “a tireless and passionate advocate for the voice of civil society”.
The former President served as chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation – which helps civil society organisations promote democracy, development and cultural understanding – between January 2005 and December 2008.
The US embassy and the international governing body of motorsport, FIA, on which Prof. de Marco had served as a judge on the appeals board, also expressed their condolences.
Messages of condolence also came in from various organisations and political parties.
The Nationalist Party, the Labour Party, Alternattiva Demokratika, the Communist Party, Graffitti, the General Workers’ Union, the Forum Unions Maltin, the Campaign for National Independence, the University Students’ Council, Malta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, the Malta Union of Teachers, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin and university students group SDM, all offered condolences.