President-Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
receive the Torch of Central American Union
September 12th 2024
Address by Daniel
Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, Nicaraguan Youth “Youth, Divine Treasure” as our great Rubén Darío said so well. And what more honor for those who fought for the independence of Central America from the Spanish yoke, what greater or better Representatives to receive and carry forward the Torch of Freedom through our Country.
The Torch that set out from Guatemala, passing through El Salvador, Honduras, is now here in Nicaragua, and later it will go on to Costa Rica, the five Countries which after many struggles, much pain, much sacrifice, much oppression, because our Peoples, our Ancestors, from whom we inherit the Indigenous Blood that runs through our veins, were victims of the exploitation of the Conquistadors.
So as I was saying, what better Honor in these days, than for the Torch to come via the hands of Young People, young men and women, Outstanding Athletes, outstanding Students, and here this Youth pays Tribute to the Torch of Freedom, for so much blood, so much pain it has cost; and in this case representing all the Young People of our Country, Young People of the Cities, of the Countryside, Students, everyone, everyone, without exception, Young Men and Women, those who are working and those who are studying... Everyone!
What better honor than this, as I hand over the Torch today here on this Avenue Bolívar to Chávez, of all our National Heroes. This is the Avenue of Heroes! And we have received it from the hands of Harvin Aguirre, 2024 Champion of the Central American Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Association. Congratulations! This is Nicaragua's Youth excelling in Sports, in Science, in Culture.
He is accompanied by Isayana Marenco, Olympic Athlete in the discipline of Judo, Central American Champion and Pan American Medalist; Best National Female Judo Athlete, who participated in the 2024 Olympic Games; and Evidelia del Carmen González, Athlete of the Rowing Discipline, Medalist of the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games; who also participated in the Olympic Games of 2024.
For them, the Recognition of the Nicaraguan People, for them, for their Families, for their People, for the whole of Nicaragua... The whole of Nicaragua congratulates them and says: What an honor!
Now do give attention and let us listen well to each other: Here we have every day, every single day, a whole offensive using the social networks to talk about confrontation, to talk about war, to talk about death. We respond with peace, we respond with love. And thus here are these Young People paying Tribute to Peace, Justice, Education, Freedom, today, on this Anniversary of Independence.
For Central America is the Point of Union of the Continent, from South to North, from North to South; Central America is, and Nicaragua is, at the center of the belt uniting those two great Regions, the North, Mexico, Canada and the United States, and then the Peoples that Bolívar liberated in the South of Our America, starting with the Heroic Venezuela... Simon Bolívar, the Freedom of Our America! For those Battles that Bolívar fought contributed also to independence here in Central America.
And, well, Independence was declared, a Decree, there in Guatemala, where the Independence of Central America was declared, after multiple struggles it was declared, and we were born as a Union of Peoples, United Peoples, the Central American Peoples.
Then, after going through a process of Central America acceding to Mexico where the Iturbide Empire prevailed, Central America withdrew, and stayed apart; that is to say, it did not submit to the Iturbide Empire, but remained apart.
And then, with the passage of time, with the Central Americans being united, the process began where, as it were, everyone wanted to go their own way, and we ceased to be the great Central American Nation, the great Central American Republic, such that the independent States were born, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
That is, with Independence we managed to be united, and then, subjected to the ups and downs of Empires, suddenly we were separated. And the separation between the Central American Nations reached such a degree that we also began to make war on each other. As Darío said, in “Motives of the Wolf”, Brothers and Sisters made war on each other. And that happened, war after war after war, and the Union became more fragile every day, the Union in practice disappeared.
But then, over time, as if coming to our senses, we managed to integrate the Central American States into a System that we know as the SICA, the Central American Integration System, which is, we can say, an important step in order to go towards becoming once more a single Central American Nation, so that we become the United Republics of Central America, for us to be stronger, more powerful combating Poverty, against Misery and for Sovereignty... We will be more powerful!
And this is the stage that we are living through now, we are living through this stage, not only in Central America, but throughout Latin America, where the Imperialists of the Earth want to divide us, and where the Peoples, above and beyond their Governments, the Peoples do indeed love the Peoples of other Nations. Hatred between Peoples is manufactured by empires by means of the governments they impose.
And we can see the battles Latin America, the Latin American and Caribbean Region, is waging right now, the attacks against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. What harm has Venezuela done to our Peoples? When President-Comandante Hugo Chávez brought only benefits to our Peoples.
There was no energy here when we came to the government, but Chávez visited and when he learned that we had no energy, he said that some Power Plants they were bringing, importing for Venezuela,: Let them come now for Nicaragua! And the Power Plants did come to Nicaragua, and so the blackouts that took place every day in earlier years began to disappear.
That was the behavior of Venezuela with all Peoples, Brother and Sister Peoples, embracing the Poor, Peasants, Youth, Students, Athletes.
And precisely for those who are selfish, the empires, who want to concentrate wealth in a few hands, naturally the example of Chávez was not good for them, and that's why they made war on him and dealt him a coup d'état. Then he continued to fight with an incredible Heroism, because already the cancer was attacking him, but how indeed Chavez did keep fighting the battle and now accompanies us here still. He was with us here on January 10th 2012, but he wasn't coming here to take anything from us, he was helping us with fuel, with power plants, with oil.
So you see the relations Venezuela was developing with our Peoples, he looked at the poorest Peoples of the Region, and he saw Central America, and he saw the Caribbean, and he went to those Peoples to integrate them into the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America. What for? So as to help these Peoples get out of misery and poverty. No Alliance has ever been established with Venezuela to attack anyone, to declare war on anyone. No! What we declare is Peace, it is Peace!
And because we are at Peace we are able to carry out this Beautiful Celebration in Tribute to those who fought for Independence, until Independence was achieved; to those who died in the prisons of Spain, because those who fought for Independence were imprisoned and taken prisoner to Spain. And in Tribute to those who have continued to fight, but fighting for Peace.
And today we have the Duty to continue fighting for Peace, no matter how much they provoke us, no matter how much they threaten us, no matter how much they insult us and slander us, we are not going to take one step back, we will continue to bring Benefits to the People, and for that Peace, Peace and again Peace is essential.
Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, Nicaraguan Families, on this day when we are receiving the Torch and when we are a just few days away from commemorating Independence Day, September 15th 1821 which saw the Declaration of Independence there in Guatemala, the call we make to Nicaraguans who keep thinking about doing harm, is that we must join efforts so that we may all benefit. From the very poorest, from the person who is in the most difficult economic conditions but who can improve their living conditions.
That is to say, we have to eradicate Poverty, this is a commitment that we have with our People, that we have with the Heroes and Martyrs who have fought for Independence: To end Poverty, to end Misery; to multiply more Schools, as we have been multiplying them; to multiply Universities, as we have been multiplying them, so that all Young Men and Women, regardless of their economic and social status, have the opportunity to study for free, Scientific Careers, University Careers.
To the Brothers and Sisters of the Central American Peoples, the Fraternal Embrace of the Nicaraguan People, for all the Peoples of Central America, because we are Brothers and Sisters, we are one Family, and the day will come when we will be one Central American Nation.
Long live the Independence of Central America!
We are going to hand the Torch to you; handing the Torch to those who are going to continue on and give it to other Brothers and Sisters, this is to give the Torch to Nicaragua's Youth, to give the Torch to the People of Nicaragua.
You see, all of these students, they are studying and they do not want war, Young People do not want war, they want Peace, they want to study in Peace, they want to work in Peace. Now we are going to give this young woman the Torch so it can continue on its journey.
Remarks by Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the Ceremony Receiving the Torch of Freedom and Central American Unity
September 12th 2024
Good evening Beloved Families of our Nicaragua, how are we all? We are blessed with a Youth familiar with Struggles and Honor, Young People who know about the Struggles to defend and consolidate Peace, which is the Patrimony of all Nicaraguans. And in these Days of Celebration for our Blessed Nation, we celebrate this Peace that gives us confidence in the Future we are building.
Days of Glory and of the Victories we are commemorating, celebrating, and also continuing today, because we give continuity to all those Battles for the Honor and Dignity, for the Sovereignty and Independence of our Nicaragua. And all that means Peace.
To fight for Peace is to fight for the Future, to fight for the Horizon we all can see and want, one that we know is ours, because we can see that Future approaching. We see it in our Roads and Highways, in the Houses, in the Parks, in the Sports Facilities, in the Sports Events that our Young People so much enjoy... We see it in all the Forms of Education deployed throughout the country... We see it in Health Care.
We see it, Compañeras and Compañeros, in everything which, thanks be to God, we are building day by day, despite those who wish us evil. But Good conquers Evil, above all because Evil is based on selfishness, greed, avarice and the exclusion of the Majority. While the Good is based on Union, on Solidarity, on Brother and Sisterhood... On Christianity!
We are a Christian People and we give thanks to God every day, because He gives us the Strength, the Fortitude, to make our way, to advance, transcending all challenges. And in the name of that Prince of Peace and Love who is Jesus Christ, every day we say Thank You and Thank you also to the People of Nicaragua, because we are together, because we are united, and we know how to discard what is no good.
We always say “pay no mind to empty husks”, because what counts is what we are living out and seeing here, in this Blessed Land where we all are, all of us who love Nicaragua and all of us who want that Future which belongs to us by Right, and which, after all, we are building.
Much Love in these Days of Celebrations, in these Days of Vacation that begin over the next few days, this Weekend begins the vacation period of our National Holidays all over the Country. But as we were saying today at midday, we continue working and we do so with pride, because we know that it is a privilege to serve Nicaragua's Families.
On Saturday we will be right here, with the Students for their Parades, when we have so much to celebrate, so much to be grateful for, so much to recognize, so much to reaffirm. Because we have to reaffirm this Path, which is to build up this Sacred, Blessed Territory of ours, where we prosper based on the efforts of everyone, of all Nicaragua's Communities, by the Grace of God.
Warm embraces to all our Families, with the Pride of being a Nation Blessed and Free. Embraces, Compañeras and Compañeros. Thank you.