President Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
on the 89th Anniversary of the Transition to Immortality of General Augusto C. Sandino
February 21st 2023
Address by Rosario
Sandino lives on, and the struggle continues...!
Sandino lives on and the struggle continues...!
It continues on, and on, and on, because Sandino lives throughout our Blessed, Dignified and Sovereign Nicaragua, Forever Free!
We are here, Compañer@s, accompanying each other on this Day of Celebration of Light, of Life, of Truth, of the Birth of our General to Eternity, and of True Life, in this Nicaragua that is of Everyone, for the Good of Everyone!
Nicaragua's families preside over this Event from their homes; Nicaragua's Youth who are represented here by these young men and women who are the future of our nation.
Presiding over this event are our Comandante Daniel; our compañero, Dr. Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly; compañera Vice President of the National Assembly, Darling Alonso; Dr. Alba Luz Ramos, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, and Dr. Marvin Aguilar, Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice; Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, and a large delegation of Generals of our Nicaraguan Army, the historical continuity of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty. And the First Commissioner General Francisco Díaz, of our National Police, Chief of a large delegation of compañeros and compañeras General Commissioners of our National Police, as well as brothers and sisters of the main branches of our country's Ministry of the Interior, including compañera Minister María Amelia Coronel, compañero Luis Cañas, compañera Karla Salinas, and Commissioner General Róger Ramírez. To all of them our warm embrace.
This is a Day of Celebration, in the way we celebrate, celebrating ourselves, always recognizing our Historical Legacy and the Heroism of our People, present every day, the Historical Heroism of our People that has allowed us to transcend all the difficult circumstances that have been imposed on us; to transcend, always striving and conquering.
We are going to read the Decree that our President signed today, recognizing in these brothers and sisters here with us, all of our Heroic, Combative, Revolutionary and Evolutionary People.
“The President of the Republic and the State and Government of Reconciliation and National Unity, on behalf of the Heroic People of Darío and Sandino, today, February 21st on the 89th anniversary of the Birth into Immortality of the General of Free Men and Women and of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty of Nicaragua, gives the Highest Recognition of this Free, Sovereign and Glorious nation, to Guerrillas and Militants of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, who have always known and continue to know how to hold aloft the banners of our General Sandino, out of fidelity and loyalty, that is love for our Nicaragua.
The President of the Republic and Head of the Nicaraguan State, today presents the Augusto Sandino Order in its Highest Degree, to compañeras and compañeros who notably represent the Courage, Nobility, Sacred Ideals and Values of our Liberation Struggles and National Dignity :
Guerrilla Comandante Lumberto Campbell Hooker, Leader and faithful Combatant of the Sandinista Cause on our Caribbean Coast. Today Vice-President of the Supreme Electoral Council.
Compañera Ana Julia Guido Ochoa, Guerrilla of undoubted courage in all moments and circumstances, today Attorney General of the Republic.
Compañero Orlando Tardencilla, Defender of the truths of Nicaragua in the most extreme situations.
Compañera Brenda Rocha, Undefeated, Heroic and Victorious Guerrilla, today President of the Supreme Electoral Council.
Compañera Alma Nubia Baltodano, fearless fighter and of great audacity, today a Magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Council.
Each and every one of them is one of the proud and uncompromising sons and daughters of our General Sandino, and each and every one of us continues to make our way together towards the Sun of Freedom, defending our Sublime Cause that stands magnificent and triumphant, because it is the Cause of Justice and it is the Cause of Love.
Managua, February 21, 2023
At 89 Years from the Birth into the Immortality of General Augusto”.
Address by Daniel
Good afternoon, families of Nicaragua. Good afternoon, women and men of this land of Darío and Sandino. Good afternoon to the children who are growing up, who are shaping themselves, going to school; to the workers who labor in businesses, who work in the countryside, who work in the cities, and to the proliferation of young business people no multiplying throughout our country.
In this way, without stopping studying, without ceasing to prepare themselves, without stopping seeking to become professionals, our young people; and we know that the vast majority of Nicaragua's population are not wealthy, it is not a capitalist population, but one that goes to school with great efforts on the part of their parents, and of course with all the support and with every effort on the part of the People-President.
They go to primary school, they reach secondary school, some get their baccalaureate, others fail to get their baccalaureate, others manage to enter university careers, and now we have multiplied the doors open for university careers, in such a way that all these initiatives are open for young people and adults to enter for training, to go on to acquire knowledge, to create their own ventures, their own businesses, to strengthen productive activity.
Peasants, the children of peasants who work on small farms now have the opportunity to also receive knowledge, so that productive activity gives them a higher and better return for the benefit of their families. That's the principle of socializing. Socializing what? The resources of the State.
Because as we know there are private schools, of course, they are within their rights, but how many people can get into a private school, how many people can pay for a private university? The vast majority cannot do so. Therefore, for the first time in the history of our country, now in times of Peace, the People as President, exercising their Rights, are managing to open the doors of education to all families, to all young people, to all those who wish to qualify in different technical careers, even taking university to the countryside.
I would say that this is a task, it is a path that imparts knowledge, giving people the ability to create, giving them independence, such that a young person with their business can now support themselves. And that also gives them the possibility to go on to further training, in the multitude of subjects that these times have come to offer young people; from children they have been able to have the possibility, the capability of greater knowledge.
Knowledge is fundamental to escape from poverty, and knowledge has to be accompanied by healthcare , without healthcare, there can be no knowledge. If there is no healthcare, children perish for lack of medical care, because their families cannot pay for a private doctor.
In my own life experience, my parents met in La Libertad, Chontales; there are located Juigalpa, which is the departmental capital, La Libertad, Santo Domingo, there are all mining towns, La Libertad and Santo Domingo. My father was born here in Masatepe, in a small village that is still there called Las Rinconadas, in a hut where my grandmother lived, a hut with a dirt floor.
Well, such are situations that come about, because my father for his part also had a father who was an eminent person in Granada, that is, my grandfather, Marco Antonio Ortega, who was the director of the Granada Institute, much admired, very well respected, especially well respected and admired by what they called in those days “High Society”, the bourgeoisie, the rich, the landowners.
That allowed my grandfather to marry a young woman from a very rich family. Well, he married, and they were married in the cathedral and they married with a big wedding party. Then, in such a conservative town, the town's conservative families expected my father's wife to have her first child quickly, that's what they expect in Families and even more back then, and they wanted to see a first child very soon.
Time passed, time passed and a year passed and no child appeared, so then people started to murmur, because that's the way of small town people, they start to whisper, what problem could they have? And my grandmother who was the cook of my grandfather's house started showing a little belly that grew, and this was noticed by the lady, my grandfather's wife, who immediately started questioning, investigating, and it turned out that the cook was pregnant by my grandfather. Naturally she was sent away into the street, to the countryside, that's why my father was born in that rural area, there in Masatepe.
And he made it to Sixth Grade, he got to Sixth Grade, since his father was director of the Institute; that is to say, the conservative mentality of the time did not allow him, even if he had wanted to continue his studies, of course his father's wife would not allow it since it would have been a scandal in Granada.
Well, after finishing Sixth Grade, my father started work there in Granada. It was the time of Sandino's struggle, and he started writing in favor of Sandino. In other words, my father turned out to be an autodidact with an incredible genius, because he learned English without going to a school; in the places where he worked he sought out how to learn.
And he wrote to Sandino and Sandino answered the letter and there I have the letter that Sandino sent in reply to my father. He was discovered and imprisoned, and they sent him then to Jinotega where the National Guard detachments patrolled with the gringos pursuing the soldiers of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, and the order was to execute him!
But, as my grandfather was director of the Granada Institute, he had taught Somoza there, Somoza the father, had been there as a student, and they told him that they were going to kill Daniel, as my father was called, “they were going to kill him,” he related. So he decided to act and he called Somoza, and Somoza then ordered my father to be brought from the mountain where he was mong a group of prisoners who were being used as porters, and when there was nothing for a prisoner to carry, then they were shot. That's how they deal with the prisoners, and there was my father as a porter.
So, Somoza had him brought to the Field of Mars military base, and there Somoza began to insult him, demanding how it was possible that he was defending the bandits, that's what they called them, "the bandits”, criminals, bandits, insulting in that way. Then Somoza said to him: This time and for the sake of your father Marco Antonio you are not going to lose your life, but if you repeat it, then there'll be no alternative. My father listened to Somoza but did not answer at all.
Finally, Somoza took out an envelope and handed it to him, and saying you know, "forget about Sandino!" My father was surprised and doesn't know what might be in the envelope, what note Somoza might be writing to him, and on going out, a few steps away outside Somoza's office, he opened the envelope and saw that it was full of money. Then he sealed it, returned and told someone who was at the entrance: Take this to the General. What's this? Just take it to him! And away he went.
Then Somoza was upset because my father had returned the money, and my father kept a telegram Somoza sent him, and showed it to us, I do not know if the telegram may have survived among the historical materials of the time. And the telegram said: "Daniel Ortega Cerda”" which was my father's name, and then in capital letters, "EAT SHIT!, A. Somoza”. That was the answer that Somoza sent to my father, an answer that very naturally filled my father with pride when he talked about it.
Well, then he went to La Libertad looking to earn a living, because it was a mining area and it was, as people say, a pole of attraction. The people of Granada, both rich and poor, set out for there, because for Granada, for the Granada merchants there were good sales there, so they went to La Libertad. And poor people also set out for La Libertad and that's where my father went looking for work, and he began working in the mines, and there he met my mother.
My mother had already undergone another story... My mother had studied as a teacher with Doña Chepita de Aguerri, the famous teacher of the time, and she helped in a shop my grandfather had, she helped selling rice, beans, what gets sold in a shop. There was my mother, this was before she met my father, my father had not arrived in La Libertad.
It happened that she had a boyfriend who had gone to Costa Rica and they wrote to each other, and at one point they prepared short messages where they wrote in code, a game of young people, but since Somoza had extensive surveillance, when they discovered the letters and read the code, given that the boyfriend was in Costa Rica and they couldn't throw him in jail, Somoza had my mother thrown in jail!
Well, that caused a controversy in the town. My mother was recognized for her qualities as a teacher and no one in the town understood what was happening when they came to arrest her, there was no explanation whatsoever. And they took her from La Libertad to San Miguelito, there were no roads at that time, they were carts that were used to travel along those routes.
She was taken into custody, well guarded by the National Guard, and they took her to San Miguelito. Why did they take her there? To embark a boat, since that was the fastest way to get to Managua: To embark in San Miguelito which for centuries has been a small port, and from there they reached Granada, and from Granada then to Managua and to the Field of Mars military base to submit her to interrogations. And they didn't believe her. She spent quite a few days there.
Both my father's arrest and my mother's arrest were news, but my mother's more so, because no one explained why a teacher was arrested in La Libertad, Chontales. It was in the newspapers of the time, if you go to look in the newspaper archives you will see the reports. At that time they had a space that said: "Today”, covering the day's news, and there the news item appeared: "Lidia Saavedra arrested". Then, when they finally accepted that there was no conspiracy, they released her and she returned to La Libertad.
Then my father arrived, she met my father and they got married, and this is the point I wanted to get to, what health care was like in those years, a century ago. First a girl was born, my little sister, whom of course I never got to know I didn't get to know. The child is born, there with the care that they could take of her. There was a photo of the girl, I keep it there, we kept the photo of the girl, my father named her Germania, because he was very well-read, he liked Theosophy, he liked Science, he liked Literature and he liked German Literature too, and he named the first girl Germania for that reason.
At the age of 4, almost 5, she caught one of those diseases that the health care system fights today so that children do not die. And the disease killed her. Diseases that could have been avoided if there had been a health system serving the poor, serving the People, but then that did not exist. And the girl died.
Then a boy was born, so, my older sister is Germania, who is buried there at the entrance of the village, there she is. And then a boy was born. The boy, my father, always inspired by the German tales of "The Nibelungs” , where the hero was Siegfried, named the boy Siegfried.
The child was growing, growing, growing, and at the age of 3 or 4 the same disease attacked him, one of those diseases that killed hundreds, thousands of children, every year here in Nicaragua, also attacked the boy and he died. There was nowhere to take children to find out how to save their lives, there was no Health Service like the one we have now, much less doctors searching house to house so as to care for and vaccinate the population to save lives, to save children. There was no such thing.
So I have two older siblings already living on another plane of Life. And their third child was me. And I was the third, and now God wanted, because there was no way medicine might help, now God wanted me to survive; I was the third who was born in La Libertad, Chontales, and I survived, but since I was still quite small they decided to move to Juigalpa. And there in Juigalpa, 2 more brothers were born.
Then they decided to move to Managua, renting rooms, there we slept on folding beds, the whole Family made do on two folding beds . And then here in Managua in a residential area where they charged 25 pesos to rent a couple of rooms, 25, 50 córdobas or so. In the residential area called Colonia Somoza, Camilo was born there, in poor conditions of course. But Camilo was born and managed to survive.
Once here in Managua my father became friends with a doctor, Doctor Arostegui, I remember, and he was concerned about giving us medical attention. That is to say, it was a personal question for the Doctor, there was no Health System concerned about Children. That just didn't exist here in Nicaragua.
That's why I said that Health and Education are fundamental in the world, since for the life of Human Beings to be guaranteed, Healthcare and Education are fundamental. First of all, of course Healthcare and then too alongside it, Education, fundamental! That's why I have great respect and appreciation for teachers and also for health workers.
Think about it, anyone who thinks about studying, a young woman or a young man graduating who wants to study Nursing, which is also a long career, taking 6 years, but since the family is poor and it is costly to enter Nursing, perhaps it doesn't cost as much as in private universities, but it does cost money of course.
So, anyone who goes on to study Nursing, male or female, does it mainly by vocation, because they could well look for something else. They do it out of vocation, because they know that nursing is a highly caring service for patients. How much patience does a nurse need to take care of a patient after they have been operated on! They have to administer the medicines, take care of them, cleaning them, keeping them clean.
They are really Heroic Workers, and they know that perfectly well that when they set out to study Nursing and it does not occur to them to think they are going to make a lot of money and become rich... No! They simply go ahead because they want to serve families.
Doctors undoubtedly also have a capability of service, but it is not the same. Doctors are already another category, already doctors earn more, doctors can set up their clinic, some doctors make a lot of money; a nurse will never be able to make a lot of money with her nurse's salary; of course, now with these small business ventures, nurses will also have the chance to develop their entrepreneurship and develop them via the social networks, as they do, selling, marketing.
The other work that is very caring is that of teachers, teachers who have to put up with so much from us students. I remember as a child how we used to drive the teachers crazy. And teachers also seek teacher training by vocation, because just as the nurse does, teachers know that graduating as a teacher and going to teach elementary or secondary school children, they are never going to become rich, or materially wealthy. They become rich in Spirit! Teachers and Health Workers have a great wealth of Spirit, a great dignity, a spirit of service. They are really the most noble careers.
And so too, there are workers, and every worker seeks to earn money, they do not work just to serve, they want to earn and they are absolutely right and have the right to wear, because they are making money for the factory owner, they are making money for someone else. And now, in these other activities, the earning principle comes into play. Workers seek how to earn and they are within their rights to earn.
Today now you have the issue of the minimum wage, people are discussing the issue of the minimum wage and workers are right to seek the maximum increase, one which will not to affect the country's Social Programs, because Nicaragua's budget really is the smallest in all of Central America. So we are looking for how to multiply the loaves and fishes and we are seeking to attend first of all to Healthcare and Education, to budget for Health, to budget for Education. These are large budgets but they do not enough to be able to pay the workers a big salary, otherwise the State would run out of resources.
So, now they are discussing, working out an agreement to increase the minimum wage for this period of the year 2023, and I am sure that the labor union leaders know very well that their wage demand has a limit; if the wage demand is too high, then what employers end up doing is to start dismissing workers.
Indeed, wages can be raised much more, but at what cost? Dismissing workers, and here success means ensuring salary adjustments are applied that help workers while guaranteeing they don't cause workers to be laid off. So, that is a task that is being worked on at the moment.
Beloved brothers and sisters, beloved Nicaraguan Families, I would say that today the best tribute we can pay to our General Sandino, who is present in Healthcare, present in Education, present in House building, who is present in Highway construction, present in all the productive activities of this country, the best tribute we can pay to the General, is to tell him: General Augusto Calderón Sandino, we are meeting our commitment to you, because you are incarnate in us. We are fulfilling our commitment to you!
And let us not forget that the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty did manage to defeat the Yankees and to expel the Yankees. The Yankees were defeated here in Nicaragua with the Nicaraguan People's telluric force, which is a Force that is born out of the very roots of our Identity, which comes from our Indigenous Ancestors, as Darío said well and Sandino also said, who were both proud that Indigenous Blood ran in their veins. Because it's true, the struggle, resistance of our Indigenous Ancestors and I never tire of mentioning Diriangén, among other brave Caciques, Nicarao, confronting the invaders.
Then, when they were already taking away the Language from our ancestors, our Culture, they were imposing a regime allowing them to dominate, using religion as an instrument, the indigenous population, our Ancestors, our great-great-grandparents had their gods, but the invaders did did not respect them, they had their Languages, but the invaders did not respect them, and came with the Cross and the sword.
And who can deny that the Catholic Church, the Vatican was complicit in all these crimes! In what way? Because they sent the priests and gave the right to the kings to decide about these lands, to decide about their populations, how to divide up lands that were not theirs, how to divide up whole populations and subjugate them in what they called the "encomiendas" as real slaves. By what right did they do so? Oh, with the blessing of the Popes and the Kings...
Ah! If we go through the history of Popes and Kings, of crimes, of persecution, of burning those who did not think like them, they burned Joan of Arc, a true Heroine, and how many scientists, how many people who were contributing to knowledge, did they not also burn.
And they were allies of Nazism and Fascism, in World War II the Papacy gave every support to Mussolini, a leading criminal, the main ally that Hitler had in Europe. And the Papacy supported Mussolini, there are some images, just look a little in history, in books, and we see the horrors perpetrated by those who are presented as saintly, presenting themselves as the representatives of God. No! They have not fulfilled that principle of representing God, much less representing Christ.
Christ was never arrogant, Christ was never aggressive, Christ was always supportive... His message was one of Peace! And so they tortured him, tormented him, tortured him, and murdered him. But Christ did not die, he was physically killed on the Cross, but Christ was resurrected in the People, and he lives among the Christian peoples, not by the example set by priests, bishops, cardinals and Popes, who are a mafia.
Look at the crimes they have committed! How many crimes have they committed, and crimes still coming to light every day, and they are being tried, crimes committed because of absurd regulations; crimes they commit in the financial field. There they have some trials under way now in the Vatican involving the embezzlement of millions, because they have always handled millions.
What respect could I have for the bishops I came across here in Nicaragua, if they were Somocistas! I was a child when Somoza's funeral happened, I was with my father, with my brothers, with my mother, watching the funeral go by, and there the bishops buried Somoza as a Prince of the Church. That is to say, as if he was a cardinal of the Church, simply because Somoza was a henchman who gave every facility to the Church, and was a servant, an agent, an instrument of Yankee imperialism; so then they gave him that respectful treatment.
I don't believe in popes or kings. Who chooses the Pope? How many votes does the Pope get from among the Christian people? That is, if we are going to talk about Democracy, the People should first of all elect the priests of the People, the People who decide if this or that priest is okay with them; the People should elect the bishops and the one who gets most support from the population will be their bishop.
The people should elect the cardinals, and there should be a vote among the Catholic People in this case, everywhere, so that the Pope is also elected, by direct vote of the People, so that it is the People who decide and not the organized mafia there in the Vatican.
You see, I was formed as a Catholic, but ever since I was a child, well, I was baptized, made my first communion and was confirmed, but I never had any affection or respect for most Priests and Religious, with some exceptions, there are always exceptions, we know, there are always exceptions, exceptions like Father Gaspar García Laviana who came from Spain to give his life for Nicaragua. There are exceptions! Like the priests who were killed by Somoza's National Guard in Estelí.
But really, what stayed in my Soul, in my Heart, was Christ, from the first moment I could read, that I came across Christ, he was my inspiration, he was the force that drove me to study, to understand the complexities in which we lived, the poverty in which we lived. Then, with the passage of time, seeing the injustices, listening to my father, then I was gaining awareness, awareness of Solidarity with the poor, with the People, with the oppressed, I gained that awareness.
And what inspired me to achieve that awareness was Christ! Christ! Yes, Christ! Because let us remember that Christ never went around dressing as bishops dress, with their hats and the luxurious vestments; much less that he dressed as the Pope dresses; much less that he lived in palaces like the ones the Pope lives in, or in palaces where cardinals live. Christ was born poor, he lived poor, he was an example of humility, and that's why he was murdered.
And may I tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, they say that I am a communist, and I have already mentioned this on other occasions when people have asked me, since the 1980s when they used to ask me, I have always insisted: I am a revolutionary thanks to Christ, for Christ I became a revolutionary. And then, being a revolutionary, I became familiar with revolutionary thought in the World, and I got to know Marx, I got to know Engels, I got to know about the revolutions in the World where people were fighting for the poor.
But the inner strength that I have had all these years to survive, I owe to Christ, to what end? To serve the People, the impoverished, the peasants, the workers. I owe it to Christ and it is Christ that I have always carried in my heart!
Of course, it is good to read, to know economics, and it is necessary, but to put economics into practice there has to be a principle, it cannot be Capitalism, because Capitalism makes the rich richer and the impoverished poorer. It has to be the practice of Solidarity, the distribution of wealth, Socialism, that is Christianity and that is what we Nicaraguans defend and the Sandinista National Liberation Front defends.
On this day we tell our General Sandino that we are fulfilling our commitment to him with all these works we are doing, and above all because we have achieved, despite everything and the difficult situations we have lived through, we have managed to protect Peace. Because our General, when he was assassinated, he was here meeting with the president and with Somoza, a couple of traitors, agents of the Yankees, because they were signing a Peace agreement, they had signed the Peace agreement and then they murdered him, and they believed that Nicaragua was back once again to being a slave of the Yankees.
And how wrong they were! Why? Because they did not realize that Sandino comes from our ancestors, comes from our roots, and is, therefore, all over Nicaragua, he is in the lakes, he is in the rivers, he is in the volcanoes, he is in the People, there is Sandino, and he is in the struggle of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
He gave us the Flag, Sandino gave us the Flag with which to defend the Blue and White Flag, as the song Soberanía says. Sandino gave us the Flag and we knew how to take back Sandino's Flag. And, beloved General, here is your People, here is your Youth, here are the Women, all ready to keep striving in defense of Peace, Peace and Peace.
Sandino Lives on, the Struggle Continues!
A Free Nation or Death!
Remarks by Compañera Rosario after the Central Celebration
in Tribute to the 89th Anniversary of the Transition to Immortality of General Augusto C. Sandino
February 21st 2023
Good evening, compañero. We have said Enough is Enough! We have said They Could Not Prevail, Nor Will They! We say: They Could Not Prevail, Nor Will and, There Is This Nation! This Nicaragua is Blessed, it is Glorious, It is Sovereign, It Is full of Dignity, it s Always, Forever Free!
Here we are, everyone united, all of us united. Here we are, conscious every day, with every step, to Move Forward, Always Further, with our Infinite General, who taught us to live as Courageous, Valuable, Worthy Human Beings.
How Much Teaching! I always, always mention this, I did so earlier today and never tire of saying it, of repeating it: Sandino has been an instrument of Divine Justice for our Nicaragua. That is what we perceive, what we know, because we believe, because we feel and move in that Spiritual Dimension that leads us to fulfill the Divine Mandate.
Because it is a Divine Mandate, a Christian Mandate, to be as brothers and sisters, to live like brothers and sisters, to live in Solidarity, as Daniel said, and every day to love tis Nation, every day to know that we have the mission to protect and defend it with Love and though Love. Others, those possessed by hatred, have fallen from grace. We feel ourselves to be fortunate, lucky to keep our hearts clean, strong and vigorous because our hearts are full of love.
From Sandino we inherited our National Identity at its highest. We inherited so much Way Ahead from Sandino, that we can make our way with Pride and a Sense of Nation, Freedom, Sovereignty and Dignity.
Transcendent Sandino...! For me Sandino is transcendence, he teaches us to know how to take on all the tasks ahead, all circumstances, all challenges, first of all with love. And that Love fills us with Energy, fills us with capacity, strength, force, because Love is Faith, because we do have Faith, and because we know also that we are fulfilling Spiritual Missions. Loving the Nation is a Spiritual Mission, defending the Nation is a Spiritual Mission, being Sovereign is a Spiritual Mission.
Not being subservient or submitting as slaves to any imperialist master is a Spiritual Mission. Simply to be as we are. To be as we are, humble. To be as we are, great in Soul, yes, great in Spirit. And to be as we are, in Solidarty, brothers and sisters. To be as we are, Nicaraguans by the Grace of God!
Today is a day for all of us to celebrate, because we have a Soul, because we have a Nation, because we have Dignity. And we say: Sandino Lives On, and the Struggle Continues, because we say too, Life is made of Struggle and Honor, it is made of brilliant challenges. Every challenge we take on and transcend, makes us better, makes us vibrant, more vibrant. It makes us brilliant!
Those who do not love their Nation live in spiritual disgrace, and those who, obeying their imperialist masters, seek to impose the permanent disgrace of being subject to Powers who may only be rich thanks to all they have stolen... On what is the wealth of the great Powers based if not on the plunder of the world's Peoples? But they are never strong of Soul. We the Peoples have the strength of Soul, for which we know about Honor, Glory, History and Victories.
A warm embrace, compañeras and compañeros. With more Strength every day, to go Always Further On, Forward, All of Us Together, as a People that Overcomes. And we do Overcome. We will Overcome... They Could Not Prevail, Nor Will They!
Long live Peace!
Long live Sandino!
Long live the Sandinista National Liberation Front!
Long live the Youth!
And long live Nicaragua's Families!
An embrace to everyone on this splendid day, this day that fills us all with Greatness... Greatness of Soul, Historical Greatness; this day that unites us all around a Great and Prosperous Future, Always with Dignity. Embraces to you compañeras and compañeros.
Thank you.