Message from President Comandante Daniel in Commemoration of the 127th Anniversary
of the birth of the General of Free Men and Women, Augusto C. Sandino
May 18th 2022
Beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, beloved Families of this Free Nation, today, on this day we commemorate the Birth of our General of Free Men and Women. May 18th 1895 he was born in what was then called Villa Victoria, as if announcing that from there would emerge the one who would defeat the invaders; later it was named Niquinohomo. There in Villa Victoria our General Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino was born.
And on May 18th when our General was still a young man, in 1927, he got married, a marriage at 2 in the morning, he got married, on the same day as his birthday, with Blanca Estela Arauz Pineda, Blanca Estela, born in Jinotega, Blanca Estela, the “Telegraphist of San Rafael”.
Later Blanca Segovia would be born, with whom we share on this day, Blanca is watching us, she is listening to us, Blanca has sent us her reflections, her message, to the Nicaraguan people; just as we greet all the Family of our General of Free Men.
On May 18th 1960, the Martyrs Edwin Castro, Ausberto Narváez and Cornelio Silva; Edwin, Edwin's father, our Deputy, Head of the FSLN Caucus, were murdered in the "Aviation" prison where the "Ajax Delgado" station is today. I met Cornelio, as a child, I met him there in Chontales, he was from Chontales... General Halleslevens, Cornelio, chontaleños too. There I met him, we were friends, families, we bathed in the river, we swam in the rivers of Chontales, and then, over time, after all there came the pain, the grief.
They had already spent 4 years in prison, they had been tortured until they could do so no longer, and so they decided to apply what was then known as the Flight Law, which was regarded as something normal. There were no Human Rights, neither nationally, nor internationally, no U.S. government, no European government, denounced or protested these crimes; for them it was something natural, why? because Somoza was the child of imperialism, at the service of imperialism, the very one who had assassinated our General Sandino.
In those years, 1960 and approaching the year 1961 the first guerrilla actions of the Sandinista Front took place, in the year 1960 the first Sandinista guerrillas began to concentrate in the area where they would later operate in Patuca, Bocay, all that border area with Honduras. The one who led those units of Revolutionary Fighters when the name of the Sandinista Front did not yet exist, was Colonel Santos López.
In the year 1979, on May 18th Comrade Eliseo Antonio Duarte Talavera fell heroically in the Zaragoza region.
And on May 18th 1980, the brigadista of the People's Literacy Army, the EPA, the heroic Comrade Georgino Andrade, who had set out with the Literacy Brigades to combat illiteracy in our country, was murdered. He was responsible for the Literacy Brigades in those rural areas teaching people to read and write. And so many more cases that we have of heroic deeds, of their murder, committed in year after year against the People.
Today, beloved Brothers and Sisters, we continue to fight the Battle for Peace, for Stability, for our Nation's Security, and to do so defending our Sovereignty is fundamental, as we Nicaraguans have indeed defended it.
And in this World in which we feel, everyone on the Planet is feeling the effects of the Expansionist Policies of Imperialism, the wars that the Imperialists decide on, decide to impose, which disturb the whole world, affect the whole world, and even affect the economy of those same Imperialist Countries.
And as the last straw, news comes out in the United States that there is no milk formula for children, formula production has been exhausted, a result of the terrorist policy launched by the United States and Europe against the World. In fact, it's affecting them, too.
They have not been able to consolidate their policy of total blockade against the Russian Federation, and they are annoyed at some leaders of the European Union, because Italy has decided to sign contracts continuing to buy gas from Russia, and other countries in Europe are doing so even when they had all agreed not to buy anything, no gas, no oil, and you know how costly that is for productive activities around the world.
Here we have made an extraordinary effort, and we will continue to do so, to maintain the basic conditions that allow our economy to develop, allow the economy to advance, so that the economy does not contract, and starting from the principle, and this is important for all Nicaraguans to be clear, starting from a Principle: “Whoever takes on too much, gets few results”. That's a principle.
So, in all the Programs that we are working on from our various Institutions, in the Programs that we are developing with municipal authorities, in the Programs that we develop in our country's various Regions, in the Autonomous Regions of the North Caribbean and the South Caribbean, we have to readjust the Programs we have been working on, because times have changed.
That has to be made very clear, times have changed, the World was different before this confrontation between Yankee Imperialism, European Imperialism, NATO, against the Russian Federation, and with the multitude of sanctions they have launched, affecting the World.
We had an excellent Program, with an excellent Budget, but we have to adjust it to circumstances, concentrating resources where they give us the best outcomes, the best result. And the first thing we have done and will continue to do, is to ensure that fuel, gas, and therefore Energy Bills, Water Bills, everything that depends on Energy, are not increased.
That is the starting point of our Economic Strategy in these new circumstances, which is fundamental; that is, concentrating our efforts and concentrating efforts means a policy of making savings, readjusting budgets, to ensure that the engine of this economy is not weakened.
We already know that, if fuel costs go up, as they are going up, every week they go up, fuel prices rise, then immediately, and quite rightly, those who buy fuel for their vehicles, say: Well, either subsidize me, or I have to charge more. That is, the end users would have to pay more.
Anyone using fuel, an every business does so in their activities, there is no business that does not use fuel, there is no business that doesn't consume Energy, every business needs Water, small, medium or large businesses, asking us to keep prices under control, so they don't rise, so then, business cannot come to us arguing, as businesses in other countries are now doing, that because fuel prices raising energy costs and water costs, then production costs have risen and so they have to charge more for the products they are processing.
No, here there are no such arguments, there can be no such arguments for that here and the effort we are making, the sacrifice we are making is enormous. It's millions of dollars, week after week, that the People are making available via the Government, for what purpose? So that Fuel prices, whether Gas, Diesel, Regular Gasoline or Super Gasoline, do not increase.
That is calculated every week and every Friday we then get the result of the calculation and we can say: Well, it takes 4 million, 5 million, 6 million dollars, every week, to keep prices frozen, and that Policy has worked so far, thank God . A savings policy to ensure that they all economic activities can keep going and that businesses do not have the excuse of saying that now everything is more expensive.
No one can say now that everything is dearer because gasoline prices went up, because they are not going up. No one can say that everything is more expensive because diesel prices have gone up, because they are not going up, or because the price of liquid gas has gone up, because it is not going up, or because electricity prices have gone up, because they are not going up either, or that water prices have gone up, because they are not going up. Those who say so would be lying, they would be behaving so as to take advantage of situations like these, being dishonest and saying they are losing money, and then starting to ask why should keep on producing, which is what they should be doing under these circumstances.
And on this day when we commemorate the Anniversary of the birth of our General Sandino, really, that is a Central Message that we want to make clear to the whole country, to all of Nicaragua's people.
Of course, there are those who are betting that we cannot sustain this effor, and who even invent the claim that prices have increased, because it is true, they did go up on the World Market, but what are we doing in this case? What did we do when prices went up in the world market so that they would have to be applied here to the gallon of fuel, to the gallon of Diesel, to liquid Gas, what did we do?
Immediately with funds from our Budget, which are already organized for different activities, in fact, they are assigned, they are placed to cover this component that is basic. Because by keeping the cost of fuel stable all our other activities can be carried out, any challenges can be met with greater flexibility. This is a strategic point and is the Achilles heel for any economy.
On this day I want to send a greeting, on behalf of our People, to our Brother Aldo Díaz Lacayo, for whom I ask for a round of applause, for Aldo. Aldo is watching us right now, he has a television, a television was set up there; he is under medical care, but he is very conscious, very lucid, I talked to him the other day by phone, he was very animated, very happy, as Aldo always is, with a great deal of strength, with a lot of will power.
Aldo is himself a historic cadre of the Revolution, he was at El Chaparral, and after El Chaparral he met Carlos in Havana. Because after the El Chaparral massacre, the Comrades who survived were reunited at different points, some in Mexico, others in Venezuela, others in Havana, and in his case Aldo was reunited with Carlos in Havana.
Aldo is a Militant, a Sandinista Combatant, a Combatant who is able to combine Culture in the battle of ideas to strengthen the Struggle of the Nicaraguan People. And he is an extraordinary historian, all of us have heard him when he appears on television, when he is interviewed, when he elaborates on different topics, and he does so, really, with Sandino of course, at the center of his thinking.
And from Aldo we have this book called "Sandino, Plan To Realize the Supreme Dream of Bolívar”, in which Aldo makes a historical analysis of what that proposal meant, that vision of Sandino, which was to embody the Project of Bolívar under the new circumstances when it was Sandino's turn to carry on the battle along with the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples. In other words, what Sandino did was adapt Bolívar's Program for Latin American and Caribbean Unity.
Sandino had the courage, because it took a lot of courage, a lot of self-assurance in his thinking, to send letters to the Presidents who were meeting in the Latin American Meetings at that time. He sent them letters, sometimes calling them to condemn the Yankee intervention in Nicaragua, he did so at the Havana Conference, but of course, Countries subject to the Yankee Doctrine could hardly show their Solidarity, although deep down they admired and respected Sandino's deeds.
Then, when he had this plan for the constitution of Bolívar's Supreme Dream ready, he circulated it among all Latin American Presidents. And what were the fundamental Principles of this Plan? “
One. To declare the Monroe Doctrine abolished, and consequently to annul the force by whcih this Doctrine seeks to interfere in the internal and external policies of the Latin American States.” The first Article.
This is still going on, this battle is still in force and this Bolívarian approach is still in force, because the Yankees think they own our Peoples, they think they own Latin America and the Caribbean, and one day they say we are their backyard, another day they say we are their front yard, but for them we are nothing more than a patio or backyard where they toss all their garbage.
"Declares express recognition of the Right to Alliances that incude the 21 States of Latin America's Continent and Islands". In other words, there he is including the Caribbean as well, he is talking about Latin American and Caribbean Unity; and of course he does not think at that moment, nor does it occur to him to think, that the United States is going to be part of that Alliance, of that Union.
"It is proposed to establish a single Nationality called the Latin American Nationality." Take a good look now because, this is in the year 1927, back then in 1927 the European Union was not even a dream, at that time the Europeans were killing each other, killing each other while disputing the domination of the World, the hegemony of the World.
What European Unity could there be when they were constantly at war, and the most well-known terrifying war was still to come, which was a monstrous child of Democracy; Hitler was a child of that Democracy, and it is all too true that even now in the United States, in Europe, Nazi-fascist groups, Political Parties, have the Right to march carrying weapons, to march with their symbols and to reach Government.
And Sandino was really proposing something that was a truly Visionary approach, and in that sense he was saying: "Let us make Latin American Citizenship a reality."
"Declares to agree on establishing periodic Conferences exclusively of Representatives of the 21 States of Latin American Nationality, without interference of any kind in them by other nationalities.”
He talks about the creation of the Latin American Court of Justice, which would be based in a Latin American Country. He talks about the canal route through Nicaragua and the naval base that could be established in the Gulf of Fonseca.
Sandino said: "The aim is to demonstrate to the World the control exercised by the 21 Latin American States as a whole over that geographical part, which is a strategic point for the Defense of the Integral Sovereignty of the Latin American Nationality.” That is to say, if they touched one, they touched all of us, which is what the Imperialists are doing now, except only that more than there they have not touched of their own, they are touching one that is not theirs and using it to unleash a debacle.
"Declares to recognize as the Supreme and Sole arbitration authority, the Latin American Court of Justice in cases of claims, boundary disputes and any other cause that in one way or another, affects or may affect the close and solid harmony that should regulate the relations of the 21 States”.
So you see, it continues in that way, there are 44 Points that the vision contains, a vision that is worth refreshing and updating in these Times. Because at the moment it seems that in Our Latin America and Caribbean, Independent States do not exist, it seems that we are all a Colony of the US Empire, it seems that there is a King and the King decides when we meet and when we do not meet, and the King decides who to invite and who not to invite to their conspiracies, because they are meeting to plot against the very same Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
It is ridiculous, absurd, to even think that this can happen in our Region at the moment, when to the contrary we have already managed to form a Meeting Point of Latin America and the Caribbean: The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which emerged with the strength and energy of the Revolutionary Processes that were multiplying in Latin America and the Caribbean at the time when this Community of Latin American and Caribbean States was created when the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples had the courage not to say to the Yankee: come, join in here too; which would have been to put our countries as if we were putting cheese in the cat's mouth.
With the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, we have a starting point and we now need strength for this Community to have Sovereignty, have Autonomy, and just as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States holds meetings with the People's Republic of China or with the Russian Federation, or with India, that is to say, as well as holding this type of Meetings, we should invite those who want to have respectful meetings with the CELAC, meetings without conditions, because, here is really what CELAC should say to the Yankee government: You stay there with your Summit, and we as CELAC invite you, we invite you to come and meet with us but you are not going to decide who will be at that Meeting. It's decided by us, the members of CELAC.
Because it would really be the last straw if CELAC were to make the invitation only for the gringo to say: No, I'm not going if the so-and-so is there, or is such-and-such is there. That can't be! That simply can't be! We have to make ourselves respected, we can't be pleading with the Yankee or begging him in order to go to his Summit... No, we are not enthusiastic about their Summit!
We understand the concerns, the attitudes of governments, of Latin American Presidents, that they have been questioning and we recognize this as a brave attitude, really, in these circumstances, that they have questioned the fact that the Yankees are excluding Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. But, I say from here to the Yankee: Forget about it, we are not interested in being at your Summit, we are not interested; going to that Summit would be like going to wallow in, yes, it is to get covered in you know what. Yes, that Summit exalts no one, rather it dirties them, besmirches them.
We Latin Americans have to defend ourselves so that they respect us; we must not forget that we have CELAC, that we have this powerful instrument to say to the European Union: Well, European Union, let's get together. And we are not going to tell the European Union that such-and-such a country should not come, it will come with all those who want to come.
Similarly the United States or Canada, we are ready from CELAC to invite them, but it cannot be that they are going to start telling CELAC: We're not going because there are such-and-such countries present. So, what kind of world are we in? It is really a shame, the spectacle that the Yankee rulers are putting on with this famous Summit that they call “the Summit of the Americas”.
And returning to Aldo, here I have the latest book that Aldo has just written, yes, there he has been working on the book during his medical care, which is another contribution to his political biography of General Sandino. it is in three volumes, we are not going to read them here of course, one volume, here's the other volume, and this one is the third volume. Three volumes.
Aldo, you know, we are going to have it printed so that our People, the Nicaraguan people, Workers, Young People, Students, can learn more about our History.
In volume one Aldo includes some thoughts about General Sandino, by General Ramón Raudales, by Gregorio Selser, by Alfonso Alexander, by Ramón Belausteguigoitia, some of the people who interviewed Sandino. And then too he includes a poem that our Brother Edwin Castro wrote for Sandino from prison, where he spent 6 years in prison. And Edwin says:
Where is Mister Sandino? The little blond soldier asks the mountain (the Yankee asking the mountain if he is Sandino) the little blond soldier with golden stripes, the mountain has closed the mouths of his echoes.
Where is it, Mister Sandino? The little soldier in a well-pressed uniform insists, the Thompson sub-machine gun wedged into his pink arms as the column advances.
The little soldier thinks that he'll find the fighting fronts set out, he will deploy the flanks of his undefeated column and he will march in the center.
The shiny machines and the brand new rifles of his blond soldiers will destroy the ragged and dirty, barefoot and exhausted hosts of that Mister Sandino.
Vain the mestizo who unwilling to surrender to the august might of the gringo eagles.
The little soldier thinks as proudly walks (as the Empire walks) of returning to Kansas loaded with medals and of how the newspapers will report his war exploits.
The little soldier dreams, theThompson sub-machine gun wedged in his pink arms, with his waterproof boots leaking mud from little cracks and the column advances wrapped in the aroma of the green pine forests.
The pines have opened their hidden mouths. The machine guns redouble the fire of their magazines, from every tree they fire. And the little blond soldier in his well pressed uniform with the flanks undeployed of his hitherto undefeated column sees his golden chevrons dyed red against his chest clasps the silent Thompson sub-machine gun, the earth has received his pink back, the sky in the background sketches his little house in distant Kansas braiding with dreams unheard-of memories .
Which means the ambush happened while he dreamed that he was coming for a cakewalk against the Nicaraguans, killing them.
While the pines continue to chime their sounds, the news papers will no longer write of his warrior feats, nor will he return to his ranch loaded with medals, the earth holds him in its brown embrace, the Thompson sub-machine gun clings in his broken arms, and when he was left tying thread of words with blood the soldier asks "Where is, Mister Sandino?" The roadsides respond with a thousand voices: Sandino is in the pines, Sandino is in the mountains, Sandino is in the stones, Sandino is in the rivers, Sandino is in the Villages, Sandino is in the valleys, Sandino is, Sandino, Sandino is Nicaragua.
And to conclude, in the name of the Nicaraguan People, the People-President, beloved Brother Aldo Díaz Lacayo we can see each other and I am putting on your chest the Order of Augusto Sandino “Battle of San Jacinto”, which is the Highest Award, we put it on your breast, Aldo, on your breast, Brother.
Sandino Lives, The Struggle Continues!
A Free Nation, or Death!
Long Live Blessed Nicaragua, Always Free
Always in Peace!
Comments by Compañera Rosario, Vice-President of Nicaragua, after the Event in Commemoration
of the 127th Anniversary of the Birth of General Augusto C. Sandino
May 18th 2022
A very good evening, beloved Families of this Nicaragua of Ours, Blessed, Strong, Brave, Courageous, Hardworking, Combative and Victorious. Our Nicaragua Is Always Free!
May 18th as we said at noon, May 18th as we woke up and May 18th as it is getting dark, a day when all of us Nicaraguans feel so proud of being Sandino, of that Courage willing to give everything out of Love in defense of the Sovereignty of our Nation.
Who in their right mind would not admire a Human Being willing to give up everything to defend their Nation, their Land, the Sacred Territory where we are born, live, pass through and move to another Plane. And how many Nicaraguans have been inspired by that Immortal Example. How many have been determined to fight to overcome, in so many different moments of a History that, if we look at it in that way, has allowed us to grow spiritually, to assume Courage and Honor, to assume the best of ourselves, and learn and grow, as we said.
I think that makes us Nicaraguans special, because that is Strength of the Soul, it is Strength of the Spirit. It is not material, although material things are very important, fundamental, just as improving material life is vital too, but this is a Spiritual Force.
That is why, when we say Always Further On, we know that we are talking about this Strength of Spirit that we have, which enables us to overcome under all circumstances, all the so many catastrophic events that we have had in Nicaragua, of all kinds. War is a catastrophe, those wars that were imposed on us, and how we made ourselves respected... That is Strength of Spirit!
Sandino showed us that ability to dream, to aspire and to dare to fight; that is, he showed us Courage, and that great Strength of Spirit, Courage, Love, Soul, Dedication, knowing that this contributes to more and more Beings having that Courage, Love and Strength of Soul.
Days like these make one reflect deeply, knowing that every Country in the World has their Heroes, their Forebears, but this Country in Central America has always been a Country confronted by the greed of the Imperialists, the ambitions, the Imperialists' desire for domination. And in this Country with a Simple, Good People, a Sandino arises from that Simple and Good People, a Sandino inspired by Benjamín Zeledón, another excellent Nicaraguan, and Andrés Castro and by our Original Peoples, and so many Heroes who came, who emerged, who are present. Because the most important thing about these spiritual struggles is that they prevail, persist, transcend and continue to inspire generation after generation.
That is the privilege and the essential characteristic of Nicaragua: We are inspired by that Glorious, Spiritual, deeply Spiritual History. And we know what needs to be done. We know that to be worthy, to feel that we own our own Land, to claim, to insist on Sovereignty, that is very much our own, it is what we should do. And what we actually do. And it is something we know how to do.
Always with Dignity, Always Strong, Always Great in Spirit, always following the Paths set out by the Heroes, the Martyrs, the Forebears, and always looking towards the Future. Because we have to create, out of National Dignity, out of National Decorum, out of the Consciousness of Sovereignty, the Better Future this People deserves, all Nicaragua's Families, who with so much enthusiasm, so much dedication, work, strive and know that to progress and prosper is the goal.
However difficult the path may be, there it is, first of all there is God, who blesses us, who makes us see clearly, who gives us Serenity and Wisdom, and who gives us more and more Strength. But above everything we are all Nicaraguans who are children of God and who find, in that Infinite Strength of the Spirit, everything we need to go on Overcoming.
Because We do Overcome, because We will indeed Win, because We Are Going Forward, defending Peace, the Right to Work, the Right to Live Securely, the Right to have Decent Homes, the Right to Produce, the Right to move from one place to another that a few pawns of the Empire sought to deny us, believing that doing so was a great feat; the Right to live quietly, studying, working, with Health, with Education, with support for the Work of our Peasants; the Right to Live in our Country with better pospects on the Horizon.
So, on a day like today we live out the Sandino that is Nicaragua, and we live in Sandino and with Sandino, all the National Heroes of all Time. And we live, with Sandino and in Sandino, the Future that we deserve of Prosperity, of Truth, of Light, of Life.
An embrace to all Nicaragua's Families, and Let's move ahead...! Let's move ahead to Mother's Day, let's also mark all the anniversaries that led us to the Triumph of the Revolution.
Imagine, Sandino, a Man from the Countryside, an artisan, who dared to confront Imperialism... And he defeated them! That's what fills us with national pride. From here the Imperialists left this Land defeated, the Nicaraguan people drove them out.
That song, "Que se redamen las copas", tells us so much about who we are and so much about how the Yankees were wrong about Nicaragua. Here they learned about the Courage, the Valor, the Honor, of the Nicaraguans.
We think these weeks, these months leading up to 43/19, are weeks and months in which to revere our Heroes, one and all; to revere them and to clean their Memorials and make them beautiful, or make new Memorials, because they are Monuments to the Nation, to Love, to Peace, to the Victories of Peace. So as to reach July 19th full of Energy, with more Energy having grown, so as to continue striving, to continue fighting, to continue celebrating, by the Hand of God, New Triumphs for the Families of this Blessed and Always Free Nicaragua.
Always Further On, Compañer@s, for the Future belongs to Us! Thank you.