Address by Foreign Minister Denis Moncada
to the On Line Meeting of our Units for Victory
Tuesday, April 9th 2024
Good morning Fidel, a fraternal Sandinista greeting to all our Compañeras and Compañeros, and a pleasure to greet you and participate with you in this meeting that has now become an institutional bulwark of our Government and of the Sandinista Popular Revolution. We are at the gates, now, Fidel, Compañeras and Compañeros, of the 45/19 anniversary, in this Month of the Nation that the National Assembly approved yesterday. And as always, onward to New Victories, in this patriotic Revolutionary Sandinista Nation, honoring our Heroes and Martyrs as ever, honoring their immortal memory. Fraternal greetings Fidel, Compañeras and Compañeros.
We are celebrating today, remembering, reinforcing this historical memory of the Sentence, of the Presentation, rather, of Nicaragua’s Demand against the Government of the United States, against the North American empire, against the global, universal power that has always historically maintained domination, control, oppression, committing crimes against the Free and Independent Peoples of the World, including Nicaragua.
And it is an extraordinary fact, and although we constantly remember it, it is important, Compañeras and Compañeros, not to forget this very important piece of our history and our struggle, as it was, precisely has been and is still, the demand that Nicaragua made to the government of the United States at a very important moment in our history.
And the Court, let's remember that it issued its Judgment in that Lawsuit on June 27th 1986, and condemned the United States, and we should not forget this, the International Court of Justice condemned the United States to compensate Nicaragua. That is a historical debt; and as long as the United States, the United States government, the North American empire does not honor Nicaragua with the payment of that compensation ordered by the Court, that Sentence remains pending there.
It is a historic resolution, it is a historic debt, it is a sentence of ineluctable fulfillment, of mandatory fulfillment for the government of the United States. And we have not renounced the right to reparation for the damages committed by the United States to the Nicaraguan people. We insist, we will continue to insist, we continue to insist and persevere in demanding compliance with that sentence.
Tha obligation of the United States government will end when it compensates Nicaragua, it is the only way to conclude, to put an end to the case and to close that sentence. When the U.S. government pays the cost of its crimes, the damages, the crimes against the Nicaraguan people; settling and honoring that historical debt with Nicaragua.
And when we talk about the sentence, the lawsuit; I'm going to make a reference that occurs to me, well, I'm going to try to explain it. We remember the poet Alfonso Cortés with that poem "Ventana“, which begins, I think we all know, ”A piece of blue can be more intense than the whole sky", and I make reference to that because when we talk about the Sentence, this Sentence has an extraordinary intensity for Nicaragua’s history.
That sentence of the International Court of Justice contains and represents as much intensity as a piece of blue and the sky of Nicaragua combined. And I will try to explain myself and why I make that connection, because that Sentence has an extraordinary intensity, a legal intensity, an intensity in International and customary Law; a Political, Sovereign, Dignified, Heroic intensity. It was the moment when the leadership of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, of the Sandinista Popular Revolution, of Comandante Daniel, Padre Miguel, our Team of Jurists, our State Institutions, concentrated their efforts in an extraordinary way to continue in the International Court of Justice, the great battle and the great struggle that our People and our defense and security institutions were carrying out in our country, fighting the aggressors, fighting the Contra, which was their instrument of oppression, terror and crime against our population.
It has a heroic intensity, one of extraordinary sacrifice. The intensity of the sacrifice of our People, of mothers, of families, of our youth. An intensity of flags, flying our flags of the Nation and the Sandinista National Liberation Front. An intensity of justice.
That is to say, we are using all spaces and all fields to continue the military battle at that moment of active, heroic and extraordinary defense; and the international field and the International Court of Justice to continue the combat, the battle in which we also Won, as We do Win, as We will win.
It has an intensity in the struggle against North American imperialism in the legal field, in the field of international justice, against the oppressive empire of the United States. An intensity of vision of our Government, of decision, of defense of the Sandinista Popular Revolution, of resistance, of defense of our Nicaraguan people. An intensity in the conviction to win; because Sandino showed us the way, the way continued precisely by Comandante Carlos Fonseca and the Heroes of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, by our Heroes and Martyrs. Just as today, Daniel, Rosario with the People-President, we continue that route, that path, consolidating our Revolution, our process, our Future and our Present. We continue in victories, we continue in peace, we continue in the search for and the consolidation of the Common Good.
That's why I was making the connection with the poem “Ventana” by Alfonso Cortés "Window" the piece of blue that has a greater intensity than the whole sky, and we relate it to this Judgment of the International Court of Justice, because it has an integral, global intensity, it crosses all spaces: Political, Economic, Social, Psychological, Moral, the spaces of Dignity, of our Nation, of our Revolution, of our Sovereignty, of our Future.
And we have to value that sentence as we really do value it, as we have valued it and as we continue to value it; and we must engrave it in stone, in granite, in steel, so that it remains eternal in the memory of the Nicaraguan people as it really is, eternal.
And let's point out some elements of that sentence that have been pointed out before, but it never hurts to refresh it, recall it, reiterate it, so that we really consolidate these great historical, extraordinary facts of our Government, of how it was shaped, has been shaped and continues to take shape, a political, military, political, diplomatic, economic, social leadership, today led by Comandante Daniel and in the most recent stages also accompanied by Compañera Rosario, by the People-President, by the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
And from that sentence, let us remember that on April 9th 1984, Nicaragua accused the United States before the International Court of Justice of carrying out aggressive policies that violated the norms and principles of international law.
The form of these violations consisted in directly and indirectly supporting the military and paramilitary operations of the Counter-Revolutionary forces, the Contras.
These aggressions materialized in violation, remember, in violation of airspace, let's remember the Blackbird; and too in economic and all kinds of blockades that affected the country in general, including the Nicaraguan population and families and those ports that were mined and destroyed, among other terrorist, criminal actions.
The use of force, interference in internal affairs and violation of other fundamental principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations is what the United States was doing against Nicaragua at that time and what it continues to do so all over the world.
Some aspects that it is also good to refresh ourselves about is that, despite the repeated opposition of the United States of not accepting the jurisdiction of the Court, the Tribunal, using eminently legal arguments, continued with the process, and that was very important, dictating in 1986 a historic ruling, which constituted in its resolutions a Revolution, it seems exaggerated but it really was like that, a Revolution in the Doctrine of International Law, whose interpretations continue in force.
This sentence has become, became, an International and global Standard by which to study specific cases, especially at that time, Nicaragua facing the most potent Great Power in the world, the United States, in all fields, in the military, in the diplomatic and also in the field of International and customary Law.
On what did the Court base its ruling? Well, in broad strokes, the Court stated that the United States, by training, arming, equipping, financing and supplying the "contra" forces and by instigating, supporting and otherwise assisting military and paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua, has violated the obligation imposed on it by international law, the Right of States not to intervene in the affairs of other States; the Obligation of those States not to intervene.
And for us, Compañeras and Compañeros, this topic very much becomes recurrent, repetitive for us; but at that time, these topics were taboo in International Organizations and in the International Court, in the Western sphere, because it was like confronting their own power of domination, of oppression against Free and Independent Peoples.
The Court refers to the United States for the attacks carried out in Nicaraguan territory in 1983 and 1984, against Puerto Sandino on September 13th and October 14th, 1983, against Corinto on October 10th, 1983, against the naval base of Potosí on January 4th and 5th, 1984, against San Juan del Sur on March 7th, 1984, against patrol boats in Puerto Sandino on March 28th and 30th, 1984 and against San Juan del Norte on April 9th, 1984, all of these are acts of intervention that involved the use of force, the United States was doing and did use at that time, undertaking indiscriminate use of force against Nicaragua, which is in violation of international law.
Another of the important aspects that the Court reasons, is that those acts by the United States are a flagrant violation of Nicaragua's sovereignty, by the overflight of that country's aircraft in Nicaraguan sky, as well as a flagrant violation of customary international law for having resorted to the use of force against Nicaragua and especially to the mining of ports, those criminal mines that caused such great damage to our Revolution and our people. These are weapons prohibited by International Humanitarian Law, due to their indiscriminate nature in the damage they cause; indiscriminately affecting the Nicaraguan people as well.
Another Revolution that took place in this trial was the one related to the self-determination of Peoples. The judgment proved Nicaragua right in all the fundamental approaches presented before the International Court of Justice. But the judgment covered more issues that were reflected both in its considerations and in its resolutions. The United States alleged and adduced the most surprising points to justify its illegal activities, such as the type of existing regime and Nicaragua's political and military alliances, in addition to alleged support for the Salvadoran insurgency. All this was alleged by the United States, opposing the positions and approaches of Nicaragua in that court. These aspects were also referred to by the Court.
In relation to the complaint of the United States Congress claiming "the intention of establishing a totalitarian communist dictatorship", on those aspects that the United States Congress pronounced, the Court says the following:
"Whatever the definition of the Nicaraguan regime, the adherence of a State to a particular doctrine does not constitute a violation of International Law (...) To conclude otherwise would be to deprive the fundamental principle of the Sovereignty of States on which International Law rests and the freedom that every State has to choose the political, social, economic and cultural system of their choice".
That's what the Court says in its judgment, besides that International Law expresses it that way, and besides being rights that Nicaraguans defend, and which we have always defended because they are the first trenches in any defense of the existence of our State, the existence of our People, Dignity, Sovereignty and Self-Determination. And this that we are talking about is linked to the latest events that we have been hearing about, about Ecuador and Mexico, about Palestine, about the aggression of the Zionist state against Syria and the Iranian Embassy, and so on...
Continuing with the Judgment of the Court, the Court added that in the new interpretation of the concept of Self-Determination of Peoples, with what the Court says about Self-Determination, it was breaking, as we said at the beginning, those taboos that were untouchable in the Western world, in International Justice Organizations, on these issues that are the sustenance of the existence of States and Peoples, says the Court: "It is sufficient to note that the Sovereignty of a State extends to the scope of its foreign policy and that there is no rule of International Law that prevents a State from deciding and conducting a coordinated foreign policy with other States."
And in this Nicaragua, under Comandante Daniel, there has been coherence in the direction of our Foreign Policy, making use precisely of the norms of International Law, customary law, Dignity, Freedom, Independence, Sovereignty, the principles of the Sandinista Popular Revolution.
And now to conclude, Comrades, because we also have a CELAC meeting later to discuss the issue of Ecuador and Mexico.
By way of conclusion, we can say, Compañeras and Compañeros, that, in short, this is a unique judgment of its kind, really unique in its kind. It developed, for the first time, specific aspects of the principles of Non-Intervention and Non-Use of Force and respect for Sovereignty.
Nicaragua has led the way in the international arena, a lawsuit and an accusation against the North American Empire, and the Court gave it the components, the reasoning, the assessment, the evidence, the foundations such that the Court with support, with objective and scientific responsibility, issued that sentence which we are commemorating today.
Also, in that Sentence, specific issues were examined that usually abused as a pretext to promote and implement imperial policies, to the detriment of Independent, Dignified and Sovereign Nations such as Nicaragua and other Fraternal Countries.
Emphatically the Tribunal, the International Court of Justice, also says the following: "No pecuniary reparation, whatever its amount, can really compensate Nicaragua for the devastation caused in its territory by the unlawful conduct of the United States Government. Such reparation cannot resurrect dead human beings, nor repair the physical and psychological damage suffered by a population that has endured a ruthless campaign of armed attacks and economic strangulation for more than seven years... The global consequences of such a policy on a small country are simply incalculable." That's what the Court said in its Ruling, in its Judgment.
And yesterday Compañera Vice President Rosario Murillo, expressed in her daily communication, tomorrow, says the Compañera, that is, today, "Nicaragua is going to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the presentation of Nicaragua's lawsuit before the International Court of Justice in the Hague, another victory in this Month of Peace, 40 years and we continue demanding, insisting that Nicaragua's right to be compensated be respected... there is no way to compensate for so many lives devoted to the defense of national sovereignty, but the material damages that the United States of America caused to Nicaraguan families and people, which they have caused throughout history and now do so with what they call sanctions, which we have always said constitute aggression."
And Compañera Rosario continues, on this matter: "They continue to cause damage to families, to the good life, damage to the national economy, but too, our families, our people are the owners of their history, the architect of their liberation; 40 years after having introduced this historic demand, we continue to demand compliance from the United States of America, the aggressor State, compliance with the judgment of the International Court of Justice, which sentenced them to recognize those damages and to recognize us, and to compensate us for those damages." So much for yesterday's speech and the comments made by Compañera Rosario.
So we mentioned the sentence, and we are seeing at the moment how the International Court of Justice is also becoming an organ of International and Global necessity, because International Law, International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law continue to be violated.
And we have been observing what seems incredible, we are seeing things that we have never seen in the history of humanity; the genocide of the Zionist state against Palestine, there are no words to express this genocide, these war crimes; for it is not a war, they are committing crimes, it is a criminal mind, inhuman, such that no explanation can be found, for the moment, for that atrocious and terrible behavior. We see the aggression of the Zionist state against the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.
And finally, and implausibly, one is left speechless at the irresponsible action, lacking a sense of State and government, by the government of Ecuador against the Mexican Embassy, kidnapping, invading the Sovereignty, the Dignity of another State, kidnapping ex Vice President Glas. Truly intimidating and assaulting Embassy diplomats in a way never seen. And Nicaragua set an example of how to make use, in the right way, of these Organisms in difficult and complex times of aggression. And today, although we know very well it is sometimes difficult for all things to be resolved through these international legal instruments, but Humanity, States, Governments, resort to them to seek, out of a sense of State and Government responsibility, to contribute to Peace, to Stability that others destroy, that empires destroy, that the United States destroys, that the United Kingdom destroys, that Germany destroys; as we are once again suing that State before the Court, for their support for destroying Peace, Stability, Security and Peoples that they set out to destroy.
And so, Compañeras and Compañeros, let's conclude by recalling our reference to the poet Alfonso Cortés, and let's also remember the poet Fernando Gordillo with his poem “Andrés”, ‘throw the stone Andrés, because the enemy remains the same’.
And after all, we did throw that stone in 1979, but it is important to be clear that the stone of Andrés is there, and we must have it to hand, because the enemy does remain the same and in the face of their decline and the victories of the World in building a new international order to guarantee and ensure peace, they undoubtedly continue to seek the destruction of humanity.
Therefore, we Nicaraguans should keep close the stone of Andrés, confident that we continue to win, continue for new victories, because we have fought to overcome, we did overcome, we will overcome, as we do overcome, because we seek a “Free Nation or Death”.
So then, compañeras, compañeros, thank you very much. We’ll conclude this intervention here, sharing with you these elements of an inspiring review of the policies of our State, of our Government, of the Frente Sandinista, of all of you, all of us, of our People-President.
Best wishes Comrades, successes and victories to all of you, to all our People, to our whole country, to our Government.
Thank you.