Celebration of the XXV Graduation of Cadets
from the “Walter Mendoza Martinez” Police Academy
Address by Daniel
Good evening, good evening to all of you, beloved relatives, mothers, fathers, brothers, wives, children, of these young people who have the wealth of Dignity, of Love for the Nation, of Service to the Community. They are young men and women, young people from working families, from humble families, ready to give themselves fully to the defense, to the security of all Nicaragua's families.
To you, our recognition, beloved relatives of these young people who are graduating today. And we thank God, that you have formed young men and women, willing to love others as oneself.
Beloved Nicaraguan brothers and sisters; beloved Nicaraguan Families; beloved Compañera Rosario, Vice President of the Republic; beloved Compañero Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz, First Commissioner General, Director of the National Police; beloved Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander-in-Chief of our Army.
Beloved brother Commissioner General Horacio Sebastián Rocha López, Minister Advisor for Security Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic; beloved Commissioner General Zhukov Serrano Pérez. Zhukov did specialized studies in the Russian Federation, in Russia, 2 years, and surely you learned Russian there too; and you bear a Russian name, from Marshal Zhukov, yes, I know that your father had a great admiration for Marshal Zhukov, a Hero.
And there is our beloved brother, Hero, who was put to the test long with the compañeros who were in the police command in Masaya, put to the test on what discipline really is. Because it is not easy to be in a police station, to be armed, with enough weapons and personnel to sweep away those who were attacking that police station every day, encouraged by those who have no Love for God, encouraged by the Cains and attacking every day.
And we were in touch with General Díaz and I was also communicating with them in Masaya, insisting to them: Don't shoot! We have to bide out time! We have to hold on! That is a difficult order to comply with, and there the police gave a demonstration of discipline, all in order to avoid a greater tragedy than the one that the terrorists were already provoking.
They thought that the Police were defeated, and attacks were made in different police stations, every day, they came out of some of the churches, not from all the churches, but from some churches,Temples of the Pharisees, the whited sepulchres, they came out of those churches, and there were departments pf the country where some priests even came out openly, with their cassock, manipulating the Saints, calling for bloodshed, and in other places even some bishops did so.
Those priests, those bishops, and I say this as a Christian, I was raised in a Catholic, Christian family, but I learned over time that, after all, behind a cassock there is a human being, the cassock make no one a saint, the habit does not make the monk; a true principle.
Since childhood I have always had great faith, great admiration, great respect for Christ. Christ was my first inspiration to fight for the impoverished, because in Christ I saw the Son of God, who had come down to Earth to fight for the poor, not for the rich, not for the capitalists, not for the Roman Empire, which is what is equivalent to the Yankee Empire in these times, and I could not trust the priests. There were some priests for whom one had respect, affection for them, others I could not have respect or affection for them, because of their attitude.
Because you see, the leadership of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, the leadership, the bishops, all they were somocistas, they preached somocismo, in the Name of God they sanctified Somoza... Yes, they were somocistas! And the greatest shame, when the Yankee troops, during one of the many interventions in our country, formed and set out their rifles, and the troops in formation here, the rifles presented out there, the rifles stacked together, in clusters, let's say, then the Archbishop appeared, the very first bishop that this Country had, Monsignor José Antonio Lezcano y Ortega, to bless the Yankee troops and to bless their weapons. How can you call someone a Christian who acts that way!
And I was ashamed because he had been my father's uncle and therefore our great-uncle. Well, he was the bishop, but I could not respect him as a religious authority, I could not see in him the Word of Christ, no matter how much they spoke in the name of Christ, they were simply blaspheming every time they spoke in the name of Christ.
And that's how I grew up, studying in Catholic schools, yes, I studied in Catholic schools, where they told us about the wonders of President Somoza, they taught us about the wonders of the Government, they taught us about the wonders of the Yankees, who had intervened in our country; while they were quite unable to condemn the crimes committed against our People during that entire period, much less had they the courage to condemn the murder of the General of Free Men, Augusto Calderón Sandino, rather they applauded Somoza, all those crimes they applauded.
I remember, at the funeral of the dictator Somoza, at the funeral of Somoza, executed by the heroic Rigoberto López Pérez, I remember we were curious about the passage of the funeral, and there were the bishops burying the dictator with honors as a Prince of the Church... Imagine, a tyrant, a murderer was buried with the honors of a Prince of the Church!
So, what respect could I have, I never respected the bishops, I could not believe in the bishops; with some priests there was rapprochement, priests who practiced Christianity were the exception, like Gaspar García Laviana, who without being Nicaraguan had more commitment to the People, to the poor, to the peasants, to the Dignity of this attacked Land, than most of the priests and bishops of Nicaragua. Gaspar was the exception!
And we met Gaspar, he came from a mining region in Spain, Asturias, from there he came as a priest, but Gaspar didn't need the cassock to act as a Christian, and he went preaching and visiting the communities in the department of Rivas, visiting the peasants, and there he met up with some young people, with some young Sandinista people, and he identified with them, he identified himself with Camilo, Camilo my brother who at that time was clandestine there in the Department of Granada and active in the Rivas area; so there Gaspar protected him, always officiating and preaching the gospel. A real priest, a consistent Christian!
Then, to the extent that he saw and experienced the anguish, the pain, the tragedy of the peasants, we read Gaspar's poems and they are dedicated for the most part to the peasants, how he denounces the conditions in which the peasants lived, how their lands were stolen, how they were overexploited, how they were humiliated, how they were abused... Gaspar saw all this and described it in his poems.
And there came a moment when he made the decision that led him to give up his life for the Nicaraguan People, to offer his life for the peasants, and he joined the Sandinista Front, and he made public a letter in which he explained his reasons as a Christian, he assumed that attitude as a Christian, he assumed it, and he gave up his life, but he continued to live in the conscience and in the heart of the people, and in the battles that we continued to fight until Victory. And Gaspar was present on July 19th accompanying us from that other Plane of Life, where I am sure he is always, under God's protection.
And today, you, beloved Cadets, are dedicating this graduation to Gaspar, and I am sure that Gaspar is watching us, listening to us, and that he is glad to see you young people dedicating this graduation to him.
Well, we are also joined here by Compañera María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, Minister of Governor; the Commissioner General Jorge Cairo Guevara Cajina, Director of the Police Academy “Walter Mendoza Martinez".We are also accompanied by Commissioner General Aldo Martín Sáenz Ulloa, Deputy Director General of the National Police; Commissioner General Jaime Antonio Vanegas Vega, Inspector General of the National Police; Brigadier General Spiro José Bassi Aguilar, Second Chief of the General Staff of the Nicaraguan Army... Good to see you, General! I hope you are in better health now. Major General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez, Inspector of the Nicaraguan Army.
Compañera Ramona Rodríguez Pérez, President of the National Council of Universities; Dr. Maribel Duriez González, President of the National Council for Evaluation and Accreditation; the Members of the National Council of the National Police; the Members of the Military Council of the Nicaraguan Army.
We are also accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Martínez Gelado, Naval and Air Military Attaché of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba... Welcome! Commissioner José Luis Mancía Valle, Police Attaché of the Embassy of the Republic of El Salvador.
Colonel Oleg Surov, Director of the Specialized Training Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Nicaragua. They have done a great job here, for the whole region and beyond. This Center is to education and training, to protect families, to protect the People. Thank you, Colonel.
Police Colonel Gulyaev Gorli, Head of Logistics of the Specialized Training Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Nicaragua. And Police Colonel Yirin Aleksei, from the Specialized Capitation Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Nicaragua.
We greet all the Brothers, Sisters, who are joining us at this Graduation Ceremony.
We have congratulated the First Cadets, Natán Misael Romero Ulloa, Walter José González and Johana Ivette Chavarría Chavarría. We congratulate their families, as well as congratulating the families of all the young people who are graduating.
Let's now fulfill the Promise of the Law. beloved young people, do you promise before God, before the Nation, before Nicaragua's People and Families, before our Heroes and Martyrs, to respect the Constitution, the Laws, the Rights and Freedoms of the People, and faithfully fulfill the missions entrusted under the fundamental principles of action of the National Police, to defend the Peace, Security and Stability of our Nation, all under the motto of: Honor, Security and Service?
Graduates: Yes, I promise!
If you do so, may the Nation and the People reward you, because you will be defending the Sovereignty of the Nation, if not, may they reprove you.
On this day we say: Gaspar García Laviana you are present here... priest, guerrilla Comandante Gaspar García Laviana, your thought is present for each and every one of these young people. What does Gaspar tell us from what he thought? "My real contribution in this process is to offer a sign of Christian solidarity with the oppressed and with those who struggle to liberate them."
Long live Commander Gaspar García Laviana!Long live priest and guerrilla Comandante Gaspar García Laviana!
Long live his Thought!
Long Live his Example!
Long live the National Police!
And long live the Cadets who are graduating today!
Sandino Lives, the Struggle goes on!
A Free Nation or Death!
Long live the peace!
And Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Always Free!
Remarks by Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the Act of the XXV Graduation of Cadets
from the Police Academy “Walter Mendoza Martinez”
December 19, 2022
Good evening. An embrace to all the families of our Blessed Nicaragua, Always Dignified, Always Sovereign, Always Free, Always full of Faith and Love... Our Nicaragua!
Comandante Daniel spoke and evoked all the circumstances that we have had to live through, face courageously, and transcend, even very painful circumstances, not only because we have faced heartbreak and hatred and what the consequences of the lack of fraternal spirit, the lack of Solidarity, and the failure to recognize that we are all Sisters and Brothers, that we are all neighbors, and that the first command of our Christian faith is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Looking back on those terrible, stormy, disconsolate days always moves us, because it is difficult to accept, internally in oneself, that there could be so much evil and wickedness in some people's hearts that they are willing, out of ambition, out of treachery, out of dishonor, out of dishonesty, to attack, torture and murder, destroying their own People. It is difficult to accept it and it is even more difficult to understand that some of these individuals say, declare, or have made statements, still claiming to be people of faith. If one is a Christian, one knows that Love is not only the Kingdom of God on Earth, but the first and fundamental law of our Faith. And when one sees some odious, very hateful Characters who still pretend to have some moral authority, who wear their gowns as costumes, because they appear disguised dressed in a way that doesn't belong to them out of their lack of good heartedness and moral authority .
How much we suffered...! We suffered because we saw those individuals sowing discord out of hatred, sowing discord not from convictions... I don't think they have real convictions, but rather beliefs typical of the Somoza political tradition that some Nicaraguans followed, including, as Comandante Daniel said, some Nicaraguans who claimed to be religious authorities.
The somocismo that impregnated so many brothers and sisters with hatred, impregnated so many brothers and sisters with contempt for the most impoverished. Somocismo was not only a philosophy, a practice and an inculturation, but also a way of seeing the world from a presumed superiority. We are superior, they said, and, therefore, to us belongs the right, as they argued, the right to oppress, to assault, to exclude, to discriminate, to steal.
And so many People said they had religious faith, but in fact blessed that inculturation, that wrongdoing, that inhumanity. But after all, we have had to learn that this exists, and that throughout our history we have had to face those terrible and painful truths, with more work and above all with more heart, to live, despite everything, with Faith and Love.
To live the Faith, Christian Values, Love for our neighbor, and to press forward, building Justice and Peace, which is what we have done in our Nicaragua. Justice, for the oppressed, to stop being oppressed. Justice, so that we stop living in the capital sin of Poverty. Justice, so that we share the world in solidarity.
We met, we had the privilege of knowing Gaspar and of seeing in him the spirit, which really means Spirit, the Joy that Faith gives, the Conviction, the Strength that Hope gives, the certainty of a different future that confirms that one is fulfilling a Mission, a duty of Christian Faith, which is Solidarity and above all Brotherhood.
He transmitted to all of us that vitality, that commitment from Joy, that commitment from the Knowledge that the Human Being comes to this plane of Life, to transcend, to fight and to seek to do things better, create a Better, Just and Supportive World. To be better. That is Gaspar's Teaching: To commit ourselves, to commit ourselves all the time to the Struggle, so that Life may be better for everyone, so that Justice may be full, and so that genuine Truth may shine out, enlighten us, fill us all.
These are December Days, and perhaps, at least for the families of Managua, it will always make us feel a little sad these days of December, recalling the anniversary of the earthquake and this year it is 50 years, and I want to send a very warm embrace to so many Families who lost so much then, but who knew how to overcome. Dejected, but not defeated, and that's what we Nicaraguans are in the face of misfortune and the blows that might bring us down...
That is to say, the song of the people of León: ”León can be beaten down, but never beaten", reflects us all, that's how we Nicaraguans are, we may feel temporarily beaten down, but not defeated...! We feel the adverse circumstances, the adversities, the sufferings, the pains, but we know how to transcend them, because we are full of Faith and Trust in God, and in Humanity.
So, an embrace to everyone, and an embrace to all of Nicaragua, in this celebration of Family Joy, of Christmas, to close the year well, God Willing, and to prepare ourselves to keep striving, to keep pressing forward, to keep growing, to keep learning, to keep living for the Common Good.
This Friday, the 23rd, we are going to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of that terrible earthquake, now that we are better prepared and more organized to ensure we protect Life, whichwe must ensure in tragic moments like those, of destruction, of disaster... And to continue advancing!
Let's prepare ourselves to commemorate those 50 years, knowing that everything we do should be such that we learn more, so that we live better knowing how to face all kinds of circumstances, difficult, adverse, threatening, challenging, or joyful and celebratory, with courage and strength. Because that is what we Nicaraguans are: A People of Courage, of Spirit, of Strength, a People of God!
An embrace to you all. Thank you, Compañer@s.