Event of the Handover of Buses from the People's Republic of China to Transport Cooperatives in Managua
May 24th 2024
Address by Daniel
Nicaraguan brothers and sisters; Families of this Hardworking, Heroic and Peace-loving Land.
Beloved Ambassador, Comrade Chen Xi, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China. When I greeted him, after the message he gave us Nicaraguans, when he spoke knowledgeably and with mastery of our reality, just now as we parted, he remarked to me, my only problem is that I can't speak Spanish very well. No, I told him, in fact you speak it much better than many of us. He really does speak Spanish very well.
And we say to our Compañero Ambassador, to all the Staff of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, to the compañeros who are also involved in this Transport work; to Compañero Santi Zhou Qing, who is the representative of the Yutong Company, we say thank you for the discipline you show in your work, for the selflessness with which you work.
After all, if we want to cultivate the land and then have food, we have to work hard, we have to combat pests, we have to be prepared to be able to save our crops; if the rains come, if we have flooding, we have to make extraordinary efforts to deliver water when there is drought, or the high temperatures that have been affecting a good part of the planet.
That is to say, if we want results, if we want Well-being, if we want a Nation at Peace, if we want Health, if we want Housing, if we want Roads, if we want Education, that all has costs. It is true, there are budgets, but a budget means nothing if those who are going to execute the budget do not do so with Fortitude, with Courage, with the Spirit of Victory, despite the rain, despite the mud, despite the pains and difficulties.
Today, May 24th 2024, and here we are with our Brother Germán Pomares Ordóñez. Germán Pomares Ordóñez was born among our People, there in El Viejo, he worked in the fields, being a boy, from a poor, humble family, and when he encountered the Sandinista Front, he decided this is the way to escape from poverty, from misery, to overcome ignorance, and immediately he joined the Front, became one of the Founders of the Front, and becoming, we might well say, the most outstanding and heroic combatant Nicaragua has had, that the Sandinista National Liberation Front has had. Hero of a thousand Battles, survivor of a thousand battles!
And as Victory was approaching, on May 24th, June, and the Triumph of July 19th, at the gates of Victory, he had a mission, because we were already calling then for Insurrection, he had the mission of taking over the Jinotega Barracks with the Sandinista units. And he went there, with all the impetus, with all the courage, under conditions in which the Army the Yankees supported here was much larger than the Sandinista Front.
They had more and better weapons than the Sandinista Front, they had long-range cannon; they had aviation, aviation that had been given to Somoza by the rulers of Israel, because the rulers of Israel have always been characterized as being on the side of the Imperialists, on the side of Dictators, of Tyrannies. And they had also delivered some Dabur launches to Somoza's Army, which we later found there on the Caribbean Coast after the Triumph.
And as another means that the Yankees used to arm Somoza, apart from what they gave Somoza in armaments, in equipment, they also used other countries subordinate to them, such as the rulers of Israel and Taiwan. Taiwan gave armaments to Somoza's Army, and sent specialists too in order to train in the knowledge of that armament, the handling of the armament.
And on a day like today, in an attack against the Jinotega Barracks, Germán Pomares Ordóñez was in the lead, and really he has to be recognized as a Compañero with courage, with fortitude, who threw himself on the thorniest thickets, for which we called him “El Danto”; because we all know what the dantos are like. And “El Danto" stuck, he was “The Danto”, and he was proud of that of course.
And there in the fight that he was leading he was wounded. The compañeros who were there accompanying him in the battle managed to rescue him and take him still alive to the Loma de la Cruz, in Jinotega, behind it lies that height; that is to say, here’s Jinotega and then comes that height, the forested height.
They took him there to see if they could take care of him, to see if he could be saved, and there on a day like today he gave up his life for Nicaragua, for the impoverished, for the Peasants, for the Workers, for Peace.
Germán Pomares Ordóñez “El Danto", Brother, here are your fruits, here are your fruits!
Everything that is happening in Nicaragua today for the Well-being of the People, for the Betterment of the People, are the fruits of Germán Pomares Ordóñez and the Heroes like him, who gave their Life and gave their Blood, and also the Heroes who did not fall in combat but fought firmly. And that is why this Victory is the Victory of the People, that is why it was called Insurrection, because it was the People who rose up to free themselves, to break their chains.
To the Brothers and Sisters of El Viejo, to the People of El Viejo, to everyone, to the Family of Germán, our Embrace full of Love and full of Combativeness. So as to tell Germán Pomares Ordóñez that he is present and will continue to be present in all the struggles that we are waging, in all the areas where we are in combat.
The struggle being waged in even the most remote areas of Nicaragua, for example by artisanal fishermen, now with more resources, with more capabilities, is a struggle for Life, a struggle for Peace.
The struggle being waged by the Communities that live along the Wangki River, the Coco River, Communities that have been there for centuries. They are Communities of our Original Peoples, and the fruits of the Revolution are reaching them now: Schools, Housing, Training to work with Livestock, Agriculture.
And I would say that a decisive strategic element for the Northern Caribbean Coast to be able to work more Joyfully, with more Fortitude, with greater Strength, with greater Security today is that it has finally been possible to break the isolation of the Caribbean from the Pacific.
The first road connecting the Caribbean with the Pacific is the one now built with concrete, with cement, because there the rains quickly destroy tarmacadam, and it is the one that has connected for the first time in history the Peoples of the Pacific, to Managua, from where you can get by land, over a modern road you can get by land, without a pinch of dust, you can get to Bluefields and from there to the communities around.
And the other road, which seemed impossible a few years ago, impossible to make that connection, is the one that has also been built in concrete, reaching and connecting Managua with Bilwi, and now connecting also with the Communities.
All the communities in the Caribbean today have that encouragement, they have strengthened Heart, because the fact that those roads have arrived means they are no longer isolated and is the result of the combative peoples of the Caribbean, of the Northern Caribbean, of the Southern Caribbean, united with the combative people of the Central Region and of the Pacific Region. It is the unity of all Nicaraguans that allows us to achieve these Victories.
The Hospital that is now about to be completed in Bilwi, a modern hospital. We knew that the hospitals in Bilwi were pitiful. But now, a hospital as modern and well equipped as the best hospital in Nicaragua is being built, is being completed in Bilwi. Modern hospitals are being built everywhere. But who is decisive in all this? It is important to be clear about this, the Government, the Ministers, it is true, but more important than the Government and the Ministers is the People, they have defended Peace and will know how to defend Peace so that Nicaragua continues to improve.
And today we are receiving these 250 buses that are going to be handled, managed by the Transport Cooperatives, the Marlon Zelaya Cooperative in Ciudad Sandino; the Legendary, Historical and Combative Parrales Vallejos, of which I was also a member when we were in those battles.
The 21 de Enero Cooperative, the Iván Montenegro, the Ricardo Morales Avilés, the Colón Cooperative, the Omar Baca Cooperative, the Unitarios Cooperative, the Transportes Unidos Cooperative, the Camilo Chamorro, the Nicarao, the Sol de Amor, the Divina Luz, the Casimiro Sotelo, the Andrés Castro... Andres, cast the Stone, throw it!
The Samuel Mairena Cooperative, the COTRASUDE Cooperative, the Let's Make a Nation Cooperative, the Reconciliation Cooperative, CONEPRAS, the Camilo Ortega Cooperative, the Nueva Nicaragua Cooperative, the 12 de Octubre Cooperative, the Las Jagüitas Cooperative, the 22 de Octubre Cooperative, the Milagro de Dios Cooperative, the COOPIRO Cooperative, the 30 de Mayo Cooperative, and the 17 de Octubre Cooperative.
29 Cooperatives, working on behalf of the Nicaraguan People, on behalf of the Parents of Families, on behalf of the Students, on behalf of the Workers who use buses as a means of transportation, we say to you, Beloved Brother and Sister Transport Workers: Thank you, Blessings, and Onward.
I cannot but repeat, there is no alternative for humanity but Peace. And in these times when, in the name of democracy, war is multiplying, aggression is multiplying, on the part of the Imperialists of the Earth, yes, the Imperialists of the Earth, and I never tire of repeating it, those who started making wars among themselves to dispute the domination of Europe when the United States did not yet exist, before the United States Government existed, they were killing each other.
One of those notorious wars was the war Napoleon Bonaparte launched, when he thought, just like Hitler, that by defeating Russia he would make himself master of Europe, and who went into Russia but did not achieve Victory, what he achieved was defeat. And Russia saved the Europeans from domination by the French, by Napoleon, who already felt he was the King of Europe, and from there to take over all the Colonies, to go and colonize the rest of the world. That is what these gentlemen who present themselves to us as “great Democrats”, as the “great pacifists” were arguing over.
And then they started competing over how to take over the African Continent, which they took over at the point of blood and fire. And the European democrats set up a big business enslaving the population, Human Beings from the African Villages, chaining them up, putting them in points of sale, which were horrible fortified prisons where they kept them there in chains.
We had the opportunity to visit one of those horrible castles, in Senegal, where they chained them up there; men and women enchained, children, old people, all enchained. It was a point when the economy of the time needed to buy slaves, and so there they came then from the European Nations, to buy slaves, selling Human Beings. And those who call themselves human rights defenders have committed the greatest crimes against humanity.
And so the inhabitants of Africa came, not as immigrants, but as slaves brought to the market. And who was buying them? They were bought by European countries that already had Colonies in Latin America and the Caribbean, and where they had already settled in the United States, the North American Empire began to settle and grow, which was nothing more than Europe transferred to the United States.
And there also buying slaves, and especially in the Southern part of the United States, where there were cotton plantations and they needed slave labor. And the slaveholder had such rights over the slave, that the slave was obliged to do as the slaveholder ordered, and if the slaveholder considered that one was not obeying him, then came simply lashes and even death.
They murdered thousands and thousands, that should not be forgotten, because those scoundrels, murderers, today want to present themselves to us as meek little doves who have helped humanity.
And perhaps better not to mention the wars they had in the United States itself, those from the South defending slavery; those from the North, out of tactics, not out of Humanity, but seeking to weaken those from the South who had fewer fighters, because the North also used the slaves as cannon fodder; while they, the Yankees from the North, said they were freeing the slaves. Why did they do that? So that the Army of the South would lose strength, which was where William Walker came from here to Nicaragua.
Then came the Second World War but no Court in the World, no Human Rights Organization, no European Country, nor even the Government of Japan itself, dare sue the United States for that horrendous crime of having dropped two atomic bombs on two Cities that did not represent any military position, leaving more than 250,000 dead.
It is a lie, it is hypocrisy that the so-called “democrats” practice wanting to democratize us all; that is, to enslave us all, the word democracy they use to enslave Peoples. But the world’s Peoples have enough strength, enough intelligence, to decide their own future.
We see in Venezuela that elections are coming, and they are attacking Venezuela from all sides. They want to defeat Venezuela any way they can, they have tried with coups, they have tried with assassinations; now they are saying these Elections are not democratic, they have already disqualified them, saying they are not going to recognize them. And they apply more sanctions than they have applied against Venezuela. Sanctions that are aggression! Every penalization hurts the people.
So the battle is being fought in Venezuela, the battle for the Independence of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples is being fought, and we are certain, very certain, that our Brother, President Nicolás Maduro, who today is brandishing the Sword of Bolívar in Latin America, is going to succeed in getting ahead with the support of the Venezuelan people and with the support and recognition of the Peoples of Our America, even if there are a few Governments that want to ignore it.
Now too, the Europeans and the Yankees have taken it upon themselves to attack the People's Republic of China as the great threat, the People's Republic of China; the great threat, because it has brought Well-being and Progress to the African Peoples, where they themselves brought only horror, slavery and death.
The fact that the People's Republic of China has a Supportive, Constructive, Peaceful Policy... Where the People's Republic of China arrives, not a single shot is fired at the Peoples because they come seeking how they can help, as they have done and are doing here in Nicaragua.
They haven't brought cannons here, they haven't brought artillery. They have not brought warships here as like those the US deploys all around Latin America. They have not come here to install military bases. The People's Republic of China has not installed a single military base in any country in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Let those people tell me, let them show me, let those who live inventing falsehoods against the world’s Peoples prove to me. And now they dare to invent falsehoods against the People's Republic of China, which is, today, the Nation with the utmost Moral Power, with the utmost power of Solidarity, developing Programs in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America and the Caribbean.
But still they make accusation, when the European presidents meet, or the Yankee President, meeting to talk about the threat of China, that China is a threat. Why? Because China is developing an economy not only for the benefit of its People, but for the benefit of the Peoples of the World; that is, for the benefit of Peace.
We would like the Europeans, the Yankees, to develop such programs. But what they are selling are weapons, bullets, and they want more wars, because that is the economic structure that dominates the US State.
The military structure, the military industry, the big capital of military businesses, those are the ones that govern the United States, presidents do not govern a thing, Presidents do not govern anything; they simply have no alternative but to do what those Powers tell them.
I remember when the Revolution triumphed in '79, the Revolution triumphed in July and a few weeks later there was a Meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries in Cuba, in the first days of August was the Meeting and we went there to join the Non-Aligned Countries, that was the place that suited Nicaragua, the Non-Aligned Countries, that were not subordinate to the Yankee Empire, nor to the European Empire.
And there, after that Meeting we were going to the United Nations, but first we went to Mexico where we were received by President López Portillo, a great friend of Nicaragua, who was in solidarity with the Sandinista Revolution; then from there we went to New York, to the United Nations, really, to present ourselves in New York, to present the Sandinista Revolution.
Then, from Washington we were invited to a Meeting with President Carter, and we went to the Meeting. And at the Meeting, what did we hear from the Ministers who accompanied President Carter there? Already giving us the orders of how we should behave, with whom we should not have relations.
And the Army didn't have anything here, it had been totally left with very few weapons, which had been taken from the National Guard, and the rifles that we brought with us as the Frente, but it was an Army really in precarious conditions. Then I said to President Carter: And why don't you help us with weapons, to arm our army? No, no, no, he said, not that, that won't do, that's not allowed. That was the answer. It was a response that we had already expected, it was a way of trying them out; after all, if you are trying give us orders for everything, then give us the weapons for an Army. Oh no, under no circumstances.
Then too, it should not be forgotten, because we are hearing talk of negotiations everywhere now, and while there is all this talk of negotiation, there are more dead people there in Palestine, killed by the Yankees and the Europeans who are the ones who have armed, trained and created the State of Israel ignoring Palestine. And they don't want to recognize the Palestinian state.
The Government of Israel is a government just like the Yankee government, of course there is a population in Israel that has a different attitude, but unfortunately it’s just like the United States, we have many friends in the United States, but those who have the weapons and have the millions of dollars are the military, it is the military industry, and they have Presidents installed after the simulation of elections, simply to do what they are told.
And I cannot fail to mention because to forget is death for Peoples, if peoples forget then they are victims. The campaigns no current, that there have to be negotiations, that matters have to be negotiated, that things have to be negotiated. But what a better example do we have than here in Nicaragua of what a negotiation with the Yankees means.
Our General Sandino, when he defeated them, because they couldn't defeat Sandino, and since they couldn't defeat Sandino and didn't want to keep suffering fatalities they preferred to withdraw, so they changed strategy and put Sacasa as President, and Somoza as Chief of the Army, an Army led by Yankee Army officers, not an Army led by Somoza with Nicaraguan soldiers. No, it was dominated by the Yankee army, armed by the Yankee army, trained by the Yankee Army, with a detachment here from the Yankee Army, a base, Nicaragua was a Yankee Army base.
So Sandino was in those very difficult conditions, because with whom was he going to fight with the main enemy now disappeared from sight, and as he said himself: Now it's our turn to fight an enemy that the people are neither seeing, nor feeling; and this is more dangerous, he said. And that was when he agreed to negotiate.
He agreed to negotiate, and the other Generals told him: Don't negotiate, General, they're going to kill us, they're going to kill you and they're going to come and kill us. Because the detachments of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty were still in the Segovias. But Sandino said he preferred to take the risk, and he came to Managua; he was up in the mountains but he came to Managua.
The first meeting took place, and to make Sandino believe that everything was already all right, Somoza came, approached Sandino, greeted him and embraced him, and they took a picture like two brothers. Somoza and Sandino, the criminal Somoza taking the photo with Sandino to make him believe that everything is over and that there is no problem with Peace. That surely must have also had an impact on Sandino's mood in terms of believing that in reality Peace had already arrived, and they had already signed it.
Then President Sacasa invites him to the Presidential House for a dinner, and they go to the Presidential House, Sandino with two more of his Generals, and there is President Sacasa who was a civilian, someone who was used, someone with no idea of what was going to happen, they used him, when they told him to invite Sandino, as a gesture of Peace. And so he invited Sandino to dinner, Sandino came to the Presidency; Sacasa invited his daughter to dinner, as a gesture as well. I mean, look at how many gestures they made enough to fool anyone.
Then they had dinner, talked quietly and there was no problem, there at the Presidential House; then they say goodbye late at night, and Sandino then left in his vehicle with his Compañeros, he comes down on Sandino Avenue, which used to be known as Roosevelt Avenue, it was Somoza's servility to put the name Roosevelt; so then they were coming down and when they come by the Campo de Marte, where the Army installations are now, there was a detachment of the genocidal Somoza Guard...
Meanwhile Somoza has already been coordinating the plan with the US Ambassador here in Nicaragua, Bliss Lane, the Yankee Ambassador.
And when they were arrested, Sandino was surprised: What is this? Since we are coming from there, let me contact President Sacasa. At that moment, Sacasa's daughter came down from the Presidency and on finding that Sandino was being detained she comes up and demands of them: Why are you stopping the General if he’s coming from having dinner with us, with my father? Well, they took Sandino and the Compañeros and led them to a place, which is said to have been where the “Ajax Delgado” is today, a place where they put them against some stones and shot them.
Who can have faith in negotiations with the Yankees? Who? Who here in Nicaragua believes that by negotiating with the Yankees we will achieve Peace? Negotiating with the Yankees is a negotiation with death, because they are traitors, they are not human, they are diabolical. In the name of democracy and negotiation, how many crimes, how many deaths have they not caused in the world? Millions and millions...
And here, Peace, Stability, Democracy, among our Peoples, in Venezuela, in Cuba, here in Nicaragua, Peace is defended by the Peoples, built up by the Peoples, organized by the Peoples. Peace will not come out of a negotiation with criminals.
So finally, beloved Ambassador Chen Xi, please give our heartfelt Message of Affection to President Xi Jinping, with whom we had the honor to talk as you reminded us, and to the Heroic People of the People's Republic of China.
And to the Nicaraguan people, now, today, on the 45th Anniversary of the fall in combat of Comandante Germán Pomares Ordóñez, “El Danto", long live El Danto, we say to our People and together with our People, we say:
Here, No One surrenders!
Not a single step back!
A Free Nation or Death!
And Long Live Peace!
Remarks by Compañera Rosario, Vice-President of the Republic
after the Handover of Buses to Cooperatives of Managua and Ciudad Sandino
May 24th 2024
Good evening. What a message from the Comandante...! Here No One Surrenders! Here we have a People and a Country moving forward. Here we have the Paths and Ways of Prosperity, of Work, Security, of everything that we defend.
I want to pay tribute to the Nicaraguan Transport Workers, who in the most difficult moments, when the enemies of Peace and Progress wanted to destroy us, and used violence against us for a while, because They Could Not Prevail, Nor Will They, just as our Transport Worker Brothers and Sisters defended Peace, and our Right to live in Peace.
And how the enemy threw themselves against them, with their characteristic hatred, with the evil that characterizes them; however, how strong we were and how strong they were confronting those demons. Because, thanks to God, to Christ Jesus, we are a Blessed People, Blessed with Character; Blessed with Strength of Spirit, Blessed with Fortitude, Blessed with a Revolution that we ourselves, the People of Nicaragua have been making since Time immemorial.
Because this Revolution is the Synthesis of all the Struggles for National Dignity that Nicaraguans have waged at every moment of our history. This Revolution is the Synthesis of the Struggles of our Native Peoples, of our Caciques, of our Andrés, of our General Estrada, of Zeledón, of Sandino, of Umanzor.
Daniel mentioned the Generals who were shot alongside Sandino for seeking Peace, seeking Peace with Dignity. Well, here are the People of Nicaragua, following that Indelible Trail of Sandino and the Army in Defense of National Dignity, National Decorum.
Here we are...! We are an Army, an Army of the People, who labor to defend Peace and the Right we have to live in Peace, to choose our Paths, our Ways, advancing through our Labor, that Work of which we are so capable, because we are an Industrious People as everyone recognizes. To advance from our Industriousness, from the Dignity of all our Skills. Moving forward, thriving.
And so, on a day like today, how can we not also bless, each of us giving thanks for someone like Germán Pomares Ordóñez “El Danto”, for so much that he taught, so much that he enlightened us, so much that he gave to us.
We are a Privileged People, we have Heroes everywhere, Great Heroes, Great Combatants, and Great Gatherers of the Future that we are installing now today. We are a Privileged People... How Much Heritage is ours, Heroic Heritage!
In these days, as we head towards the 45/19 anniversary, every day we pay Homage, offering Honor and Glory to each one of our Heroic Combatants, to their Relatives, to their Mothers while they are still on this Plane of Life, to their relatives, to their descendants, recognizing them as the Sun that illuminates us, and that does not set
Because all those hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans who have defended this Blessed Homeland with Integrity, with Fortitude, without hesitation, without capitulation, deserve everything from us. They deserve that we dedicate ourselves day and night to work defending and strengthening Peace. As Comandante Daniel says: Peace is the basis of the Future of Humanity, of the survival of Humanity.
We are a People of Peace, we are a People of Faith, we are a People who Trust in God, we are a People of Love, Love and Peace, and of that Assured Hope, of that Certainty, out of the Mysteries of the Strength that each one of us, the Nicaraguan People, has, We Go Onward and Always Further On, without hesitation, without capitulation, without cowardice, without surrender.
We are moving onward, building the Future we deserve...! That is why we have given so much, as Nicaraguans, as a People, as a Nicaraguan Family, and as part of this very difficult, very complex world. But in this America of Ours, in this Caribbean America of Ours, we are fighting all our Battles here, with the certainty that we are achieving Victory in them all.
Compañer@s, have a Good Weekend, with the Joy of Living in Peace. Let's enjoy and thank God for the Peace and for those feelings that each of us has for our Homes, Feelings of Goodness. And of increasing Love.
Love is stronger than Hate...! We say this every day, we think on it every day and that is how we act, from the Love that is Powerful, Forceful, Wonderful, Formidable... The Love that guides us, the Love of God, and the Love between us as Neighbors.
We are Going Onward, Always Further On, grateful for all these Victories which are Victories of the Nicaraguan People, of the Heroic People of Nicaragua, of the People who have been able to face every turning point, every difficulty. Above all, of the People who have managed to fight all our battles with the Hope, with the Certainty that we are Fighters for Love and for the Future.
Warm embraces to everyone, Compañeras and Compañeros. Thank you very much.