Celebration of the 44th Anniversary of the Naval Forces of the Nicaraguan Army
August 13th 2024
Address by Daniel
Good evening, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, families of this Land of Diriangén, of Andrés, of José Dolores Estrada, of Zeledón, of Sandino, of Carlos; a Courageous Land, always fighting for Peace, always fighting for Self-determination, fighting for Sovereignty, and also fighting for the Unity of our Peoples.
Today we are honored with your presence, Central American Brothers, participating in this 44th Anniversary of the Nicaraguan Naval Force, Commander of the Navy of the National Defense of the Army from Guatemala, Edwin Federico Loarca Cifuentes. Welcome to Nicaragua, which is your nation, it is our nation.
Rear Admiral Austacil Hagarin Tomé Flores, General Commander of the Naval Force of the Republic of Honduras. Welcome also to this Nicaragua that is your nation.
Naval Captain Omar Iván Hernández Martínez, Commander-in-Chief of the National Navy of the Republic of El Salvador. Welcome also to this land that is your nation, it is our nation.
As I was saying to you, we are one patriotic Nation, we are one People, and we have to continue striving to strengthen the Unity of the Peoples of the Central American Nations.
Compañera Rosario, Vice President of the Republic; beloved Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo. He has been decisive over all these years making cohere, uniting, strengthening, not only humanly, not only ethically, but also strengthening, building ships to take care of our seas, to protect people in fishing and to defend our Sovereignty.
So, our congratulations, beloved General, for having managed to unite and strengthen this Army, which is the Army of the People of Nicaragua, of this Christian, Socialist and Solidarity inspired Nicaragua of which we are all so proud.
Beloved Compañero President of the National Assembly, Dr. Gustavo Porras Cortez; beloved Chief of the General Staff, Major General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz; Inspector General, Major General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez; Chief of the Naval Force, Rear Admiral Ángel Eugenio Fonseca Donaire.
Minister of Defense of the Republic of Nicaragua, Compañera Rosa Adelina Barahona Castro; beloved Compañero, Brother, Director General of the National Police, First Commissioner Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz; beloved compañero Minister Adviser to the President of the Republic for Security Affairs, Commissioner General Horacio Sebastián Rocha; Deputy Director General of the National Police, Commissioner General Zhukov Serrano Pérez.
Beloved Hero, President of the Supreme Electoral Council, who joins us along with another Heroic Compañera, Public Prosecutor of the Republic, and too another Brave, Heroic Woman, the Attorney General of the Republic. Three Women there in the front line, shouldering enormous responsibilities, offering their lives in the service of Nicaraguans.
Beloved Compañero Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, there, as always, building roads across the country, a Minister of great efficiency, trained of course in the Army, Retired General Mojica.
Compañera Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources; Compañero Minister of Development, Industry and Trade, and our Advisor for Investments, Trade and International Cooperation.
Corps of Generals and Senior Officers, Members of the Military Council of the Army; Mayors of the Municipalities of Bluefields and of Corn Island.
Heads of Naval Forces, as I have already greeted you, from the Central American Countries that are accompanying us.
Former Heads of Nicaragua's Naval Forces in the honorable condition of retirement.
Highly regarded and beloved relatives of General Augusto Sandino, our General Sandino.
Relatives of Comandante Hilario Sánchez, and of Deputy Comandante Mario José Alemán Escobar.
Relatives of the Brothers and Sisters of the Naval Forces who have gone to another Plane of Life, but who all accompany us.
Chief officers, other officers, non-commissioned officers, other enlisted Classes, Sailors, Auxiliaries and Units of Troops of the Naval Force.
Our greetings, we have already greet you personally, as we shake hands, I always ask you: Where are you from? Some come from the northern towns, others from Río Coco, others from the Islets of Granada, others from El Rama, with the water there close by; others from Chichigalpa; others from Managua, a little more numerous those from Managua, who of course also have the Lake nearby.
All of you who have received the Medals that we have placed on your chest and with whom we have sent our congratulations, our embrace, our affection, to all your Families.
Someone here too who was born there on the sea coast, in Bluefields. That is to say, those who make up the Naval Force come from all over our country and all are of humble extraction, who with their spirit of work and their willingness to serve the Nation, Nicaragua, provide service to Nicaragua's Families.
We have already heard the address from the Head of the Naval Forces, a Message that says a lot about what has been achieved with limited resources, because ours are not Naval Forces that have Coastguard vessels like those gigantic ones that the countries of the North have some of which even carry atomic weapons.
Here what gives strength to our Naval Forces is precisely the fact that they are Naval Forces that come from and were born with the Revolution, carrying in their soul the spirit of serving their Brothers and Sister, namely all Nicaragua's Families.
And this year this 44th Anniversary celebration has coincided with the birth of the Comandante of the Revolution that moved all of the Americas and then thanks to that Revolution which managed to resist the onslaughts of the Rulers of the North, the Sandinista Popular Revolution was able to happen and stay. Two Revolutions.
Revolutions that totally broke with the structures of the Powers that had established themselves here, the Powers that imposed the Doctrine of “America for the Americans”, that is to say, America for the Yankees. In Cuba those structures were broken, and in Nicaragua those structures were broken.
And then the Bolivarian Revolution, arriving by different way, another way, with great Heroism on the part of the Venezuelan People, on the part of Eternal Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, who accompanied us here on multiple occasions and who practiced that Christian Principle: Love your Neighbor as yourself. And from the outset, he put it into practice in favor of the poor, in favor of the unprotected, of the Countries that were most impoverished in Our America, there was Comandante Hugo Chavez.
Today, after his departure to another Plane of Life and after having suffered a Coup d'état, they have now started against President Nicolás Maduro, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, elected by the People, by their vote, and now they have now mounted a coup manipulating everything that technological modernity offers which should serve for Good rather than Evil. But we are sure that Comandante Chávez is there accompanying his People, accompanying Nicolás, who are Victorious and will be Victorious.
And on a day like today, notice what coincidences there are, since here we are commemorating the 44th Anniversary of the Naval Forces, and on a day like today, 98 years ago, Comandante Fidel Castro was born, and I'm going to read to you something which in a way is meant for Sailors:
"Granma is the name of a boat acquired in Tuxpan”, they were in Mexico, Fidel with the Compañeros and Compañeras, “acquired in Tuxpan clandestinely by a group of Cuban exiles in Abasolo (Tamaulipas) Mexico, led by Fidel Castro”, who had already formed what became known as the 26th of July Movement, named after the assault on the Moncada Barracks.
This ship, and here comes the part of this story meant to be shares with sailors“ "This ship was later used by 82 expeditionaries of that Movement in the landing for revolutionary purposes headed by Fidel Castro and among those who participated Che Guevara, Raul Castro", greetings to Raul, "Camilo Cienfuegos, Juan Almeida and Ramiro Valdés".
Well, these were, let's say, like the Chiefs, the Comandantes, but they weren't called Comandantes, so really they were Men and Women who participated in the July 26th Movement wanting to liberate Cuba from Yankee domination.
On November 25th 1956, a few minutes into the early hours of the morning, in the rain the yacht Granma began to sail stealthily from Santiago de la Peña, through the still waters of the Tuxpan River, there in Mexico. There they were sailing in the dark, in the early morning.
That is, they started sailing on the 25th, on November 27th they had already managed to enter the Gulf of Mexico; that is, they were advancing and had sailed, from the 25th to the 26th, already for 2 days.
In the early morning of the 28th they had already entered the Caribbean Sea, from the Rivers of Mexico, to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Caribbean Sea, and we are talking about from the 25th to the 28th so they are going 4 days at sea.
Already on the night of the 28th, approaching the month of December and already close to the area they had chosen for the landing, which had of course been planned by Fidel, the ship arrived on the Eastern Coast of Cuba on December 2, 1956; that is to say, they had been sailing for 8 or 9 days, and they landed near Las Coloradas Beach in the Municipality of Niquero, and there the guerrilla struggle of the People of Cuba began.
They were still sailing, yes, but now along the Cuban coast. One hour later they saw the lights of the Cabo Cruz Lighthouse. They headed down the Niquero Channel until they reached the buoys but these did not match the data on the nautical chart.
So there Fidel, since the nautical chart was inaccurate, decided to head for the coast to disembark, and on the afternoon of December 1st he informed everyone that they would do it from soon at a given moment at a point near Niquero, in south eastern Cuba.
On December 2, 1956, at a mangrove point named Los Cayuelos, two kilometers from Las Coloradas beach, the Granma ran aground. I mean, they got stranded. And that forced the disembarkation to be made at 06:50 in the morning. The arrival was full of difficulties, swamps with the mud up to the neck for more than a kilometer.
They walked for two hours to get to the place they meant to, although they were still not certaint of being on Cuba's main island.
Exactly 10 days after leaving Mexico, in the early morning of December 5, after a night march interrupted by people fainting and needing frequent breaks, they arrived at a place known as the Joy of Pio.
The landing meant a triumph after other failed attempts to combat the Batista dictatorship, in addition to its enormous symbolic value as it was the date of start of the Rebel Army, now the current Revolutionary Armed Forces.
To the People of Cuba our Affection, for Raúl, for Díaz-Canel, for our Cuban Brothers and Sisters since, today they too are commemorating the 98th birth of the Comandante of Comandantes, Fidel Castro.
And, here in Nicaragua, on another day like today, a Brother, Comandante, who was a very close friend of Fidel, and had interviewed Fidel and published the book "A Grain of Corn”.
Tomás was there in the Military Hospital, and there too was Juan Ignacio then Director of the Military Hospital, Doctor Juan Ignacio, there we were talking with him, he had been operated on, and with great joy he, was very optimistic Tomás, and was already on the verge of his transit to another plane.
After talking to him we left. He told those of us who were present there with Rosario and other Companeras and Compañeros that he was fine, he'd been operated on, but he was fine, that's what he told us, but we hadn't even arrived back to our house when we were informed that he had died, making that leap, taking that step to another stage of Life.
That is to say, on a day like today Tomás was born, on August 13th so looking closely, Fidel and Tomás were born on the 13th, that's the coincidence. Fidel turns 98 today, and Tomás 94, and they are here with us commemorating this 44th Anniversary of the Nicaraguan Naval Force.
Long live Nicaragua's Naval Forces!
Long Live Blessed Nicaragua, Forever Free and at Peace!
Long live the unity of Central America!
Sandino Lives on, the Struggle Continues!
Our Nation and Freedom!
On To Victory always!
Declarations of Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua
after the Celebration of the 44th Anniversary of the Naval Forces of the Nicaraguan Army
August 13, 2024
Good evening, Juan. Here as always we celebrate the Victories, the Heroism, the Greatness of the Nicaraguan People, 44 Years of our Naval Forces and every day for us are days to give thanks, for the time we have lived, to the God of All Triumphs, to give thanks for these Paths of Peace, of Goodness, of Rights, of Sovereignty, of Dignity, leading us to a Future of Sovereignty, of Dignity, of Prosperity, of Advances against Poverty, which is what we all want.
That's why we also say each day: We're going to keep improving all aspects of our work. That is the commitment, the responsibility, the duty that we have, to serve Nicaragua's Families better and better in all our areas of work, for they are Protagonists of these Times, and also the Owners of all the work that a State must undertake to serve them.
Here the State, the Government, the Municipalities belong to the People-President, and that is what the enemies of Peace do not forgive us for: That we have handed over power to the People. Because to the People belongs the Power and those Paths of Victories. And we always strive, we must always strive to serve our People better and better, to fill ourselves with more and more Energy and Knowledge, because we have to learn every day; Capacity, because we have to strengthen our capacities every day, to be in the best possible conditions to respond, to resolve, to advance.
And who guides us? First of all, our Lord God, and first of all, the Nicaraguan people. Because the People and the Voice of the People and the Plans of the People are the Voice of God... Designs of the Heavenly Father!
So here we are, forging the Future we deserve, with Everyone Together, because that is the key to all Successes: Unity for the Common Good, the Unity of Everyone for the Sake of Everyone. And thus We Go Onward, celebrating victories, because that is how we make our way. That is the Will of the Heavenly Father: To make our way victoriously, solving, attending to all the difficulties, all the challenges. Others will arise, new ones will arise, but it is up to us to meet the challenges we have in front of us, and to meet them in order to move forward, to meet them in order to continue creating... Creating the Future! To address those challenges, because we believe, we know that it is possible.
We know that our People is a Great People, we know that God is Great, and we know that we can count on that Light, we can count on this Story of ours that fills us with so much Pride, and we can count on this Victorious, Mysterious, Miraculous, Prodigious, Victorious Energy, by means of which we are indeed Moving Onward.
Every day when we awake, we know that one prays to the God of All Victories, but we also know that it is from the Will of our Heavenly Father that we can forge the Days and Times to come, Better Times, because we are going to make progress against Poverty, because we see, it's plain to see, Nicaragua's People can see the progress, the advances against Poverty. The Roads, the Streets, the Highways, the Houses, are all Advances against Poverty.
And too, when we talk about infrastructure we are talking about Work in every area; when we talk about Welfare we are talking about Rights; when we talk about Energy, Telecommunications, Drinking Water, Sanitation, we are talking about Rights and the Progress against Poverty. And that is what we strive for, and for which we are reinforcing ourselves in all the Entities that serve our People.
Our Vocation, our Ideal, our Values, revolve around service to our People. That is why we say that serving the People for us is equivalent to serving Our Lord God, and that is how we are and that is where we are going. What is essential is that Sense of Family that Nicaraguans also have... Family and Community, Love of Nicaragua, Love of the Nation.
Those who serve other interests of course do not love our Nation, nor can they be Defenders of the Rights of those who live, work and have faith in Nicaragua, who do so because it is our Nation.
So, as always, giving thanks to our Families always because we are united, thanking God because he allows us to make our way with Health, with Vitality, with Vigor, always remembering in our Hearts and along our way that everything is possible with the Power of Love. But also, that everything is possible because we have a Heroic History, we come from so much sacrifice offered so that we can live with Rights.
So many Nicaraguans have given their lives for Nicaragua, for the People, by the People, and from the People, creating, over all Times, Victories. It may be that the timeline is difficult to discern, because we are anxious for answers; but the Times of Victories come and that is the Will of Our Lord God, and for that reason we praise Him every day, blessing him, recognizing him and thanking him.
Thank you, Compañeras and Compañeros... Let us all Go Onward, Always Further On!