Ceremony of the XXVIII Graduation of Cadets
of the Leonel Rugama Academy "Let your mother surrender!"
of the National Police
January 15th 2026
Address by Inspector Gabriela Isabel Dávila Ríos
First Leading Graduate
Compañero and Compañera Co-Presidents
Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra
and Compañera Rosario Murillo Zambrana
Compañeros and Compañeras of the High Command
of the Nicaraguan Army and of the Ministry of the Interior
Invited colleagues, relatives of those graduating:
On this special day, I am honored to address these words on behalf of my compañeros and compañeras of the Twenty-Eighth Graduation of Cadets, as an expression of our commitment and sincere gratitude for having concluded this invaluable process of academic and professional training.
The Twenty-Eighth Graduation of Cadets thanks Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Compañera Rosario Murillo Zambrana, Co-Presidents of the Republic and Supreme Commanders of the National Police, for their permanent support in our training and institutional reinforcement. Your leadership and commitment to Peace and Security have been fundamental to form police officers committed to Sandinista Principles and Values.
The Graduates of the Twenty-Eighth Graduating Class solemnly swear loyalty and obedience to our Patriotic Nation and to our Supreme Commanders.
Long live the immortal example of Leonel Rugama and the Heroes of San José de las Mulas!
Viva, Viva, Viva!
Thank You Very Much
Address by First Commissioner General
Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz,
Head of the Police Force
Compañero and Compañera Co-Presidents
Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra
Rosario Murillo Zambrana
Brothers and Sisters of the High Command of the Nicaraguan Army and the Ministry of the Interior
Invited Brothers and Sisters
Families of Those Graduating :
We are grateful for your presence at this Twenty-Eighth Graduation of Cadets, corresponding to the Academic Year 2025, dedicated to the Legacy of the Sandinista Poet and Militant Leonel Rugama and to the Heroes of San José de las Mulas, symbols of the commitment and dedication of Nicaragua’s youth to the Sandinista Popular Revolution.
Today we pay tribute to Leonel Rugama, a young poet and fighter of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, who gave his life on January 15th 1970, at the age of 21, leaving as a legacy his example of dignity and revolutionary steadfastness. We also honor the 23 Heroes of the 30-62 Battalion, who on February 27th 1983, in San José de las Mulas, gave their lives defending the conquests of the Revolution.
This Legacy today inspires 39 Graduates, 15 compañeras and 24 compañeros, who have completed a decisive stage of their training and are committed to serving Nicaraguan families with loyalty, discipline and a Sandinista vocation. Of these, 34 were trained at the “Leonel Rugama” University of Police Sciences and five at universities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
From today, you receive with honor your ranks as Inspectors and Captains, as well as the Degree of Bachelor of Police Sciences, prepared to face the challenges of modern crime and strengthen a professional, humane, modern Police Force, closely in touch with our families and communities.
We express our gratitude to our Supreme Leaders, Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Compañera Rosario Murillo Zambrana, whose support has been fundamental for guaranteeing the training and permanent strengthening of our National Police.
We especially congratulate those who achieved the leading academic places and all the graduates for their effort, successfully completed.
Inspector Gabriela Isabel Dávila Ríos, First Leading Graduate;
Inspector Paula del Carmen Gurdián Martínez, Second Leading Graduate;
Inspector Walter Daniel Chávez Castillo, Third leading Graduate.
We are an institution that emerged from the Sandinista Popular Revolution, deeply rooted in Revolutionary and Sandinista Principles, and faithful to the commitment to honor and preserve the Legacy of our Heroes and Martyrs, the Sandinista National Liberation Front and our loyalty and obedience to Our Supreme Leaders Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Compañera Rosario Murillo Zambrana.
Finally, we wish Nicaragua’s Families Peace, Well-being, Joy and Prosperity in this Year 2026.
Long live the Immortal Example of Leonel Rugama and the Heroes of San José de las Mulas!
Viva ! Viva ! Viva !
Honor and Glory to our Heroes and Martyrs!
Honor and Glory, Honor and Glory, Honor and Glory
Long live the National Police!
Viva ! Viva ! Viva !
Long live the Volunteer Police Commander Julio Buitrago!
Viva ! Viva ! Viva !
Good evening.
Address by Daniel
Let us take the Oath, that is, the Legal Promise on behalf of our People, because the National Police, like the Army and the Institutions of our Country, are all owe it to Nicaragua’s People.
Do you promise, before God, before the Homeland, before the Nicaraguan People and Families, to respect the Constitution, the Laws, the Rights and Freedoms of the People, and faithfully fulfill the Missions entrusted, under the Fundamental Principles of Action of the National Police, to defend the Peace, Security and Stability of our Nation clothed by the Motto of “Honor, Security, Service?"
Graduates
Yes, I promise!
Address by Daniel
If you do so, let our Country and our People recognize it, if not, let them accuse you.
Compañera Rosario, Co-President of the Republic; Compañero General Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz and Commissioner General Juan Victoriano Ruiz Urbina, Heads of the Police Force of the Republic of Nicaragua; Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of our Nicaraguan Army, Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo; Colonel General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez, Ruiz, Chief of the General Staff of our Nicaraguan Army; Colonel General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez, Inspector General of our Nicaraguan Army;
Compañera María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, Minister of the Interior; Commissioner General Luis Cañas Novoa, Deputy Minister of the Interior; Commissioner César Alberto Leiva Bustos, Rector of the Leonel Rugama University of Police Sciences whose motto is: “Let your mother surrender!
Relatives of these young people who are graduating as Police Officers today; they are all from different Regions of our Country, and here, really, how women stand out. I had no idea that the total included 15 women.
Of the total of 39 compañeras and compañeros, between Men and Women, these students stood out in the first three places, for their performance, for their abilities, for their knowledge, three compañeras and compañeros stood out, who are: Inspector Gabriela Isabel Dávila Ríos, originally from Managua... Congratulations!
Second Leading Graduate, Inspector Paula del Carmen Gurdián Martínez, 20 years old, originally from Matagalpa, from Waslala. Waslala recalles for us those times of struggle, of combat, because it was a combat zone of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. That area was visited by Comandante Carlos Fonseca and many of our Heroes and Martyrs.
As the Third Leading Graduate, there stands out a compañero, originally from Masaya, Walter Daniel Chávez Castillo, my namesake, 21 years old. Congratulations! And congratulations to all those who are graduating and have now been sworn in.
Let's continue here with the list of compañeras. We have mentioned Inspector Gabriela, Inspector Paula, and then there is Inspector Ada Luz Acuña Barrera, congratulations compañera; Inspector Ana Fabiola Murillo Amador, Congratulations, she is from the Southern Caribbean Autonomous Region; Inspector Ana Luz Dixon Williams, from the Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region.
Inspector Gabriela Michell Baltodano Amador, from Masaya, Congratulations! Inspector Heyling Iveth Herrera Castillo, from Jinotega, Congratulations! Inspector Karen Raquel Mercado Sánchez, from Masaya, Congratulations! Inspector Madelyn Anielka Ribas Mercado, from the Department of Madriz, Congratulations compañera!
Inspector Margareth Mayerling Espinoza Orozco, from Rio San Juan, Congratulations! Inspector Neysi Yaditza López Hernández, from the department of Madriz, Congratulations, Compañera! Inspector Nixy Dobeilyng Romero Robleto, from Rio San Juan, Congratulations, compañera!
Inspector Nury Scarleth Cerda Ramirez, from Rivas, Congratulations compañera! Inspector Onosma del Carmen López Zavala, from the Department of Madriz, Congratulations!
Then we have here five compañeros, five Brothers, who studied in the Russian Federation: Captain Cristian Samuel Rocha Romero, from Matagalpa, Congratulations compañero! Captain Anner Nehemía Calero López, from Masaya, Congratulations compañero! Captain Sandy Otoniel Morales Zavala, from El Rama, Congratulations compañero! Captain José Víctor Angulo Vargas, from Managua, Congratulations, Compañero! Captain Gerson Josué Maldonado Chavarría, from Nueva Segovia, Congratulations compañero!
These five compañeros spent six years studying in the sister Republic of Russia, a People that been in solidarity with the Nicaraguan people, and where hundreds of Nicaraguans have been trained since even before the Revolution triumphed. Of course, when the Revolution triumphed there were hundreds, thousands who came to study in the Russian Federation, for example engineers, in different specialties, as well as military.
But already when the Revolution triumphed, the Russian Federation was a great power, it was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and they had a study center where they opened their arms to young people, to low-income students from developing countries, from Asia, from Africa, from Latin America; to that University which they named in honor of that Hero in the struggle for the Independence of African Countries, Patricio Lumumba.
There, many Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, including Dr. Julio Briceño, passed through the Patricio Lumumba University, learning, forging themselves, as doctors, as technicians, with different specialties. Dr. Julio Briceño is in his 90s now, and always in good form. He was operated on, I remember, about two years ago, and he always has great force.
I know Dr. Julio Briceño because he was the doctor who accompanied my mother, and my mother was very fond of Dr. Julio Briceño. He studied at that University, at the Patricio Lumumba University, in the specialty of medical sciences; there he became a specialist doctor, a great doctor, who proved his knowledge with many Nicaraguans, because he was not a doctor who was after money, but one who was going to serve, and he gave my mother an attention that helped her to live 97 years, imagine that. There was Dr. Julio Briceño caring for my mother.
Now we have here the list of the compañeros graduated here at the School: Inspector Walter Daniel Chávez Castillo, from Masaya, Congratulations Comrade! Inspector Brandon Alberto López Juárez, from León, Congratulations, compañero! Inspector Carlos Miguel Baltodano Amador, from Masaya, Congratulations!
Inspector Eliseo Israel Hernández Pérez, from Masaya, Congratulations compañero! Inspector Elvin Noé González López, from Matagalpa, Congratulations, compañero e! Inspector Elyer Daniel Hernández Ochoa, from the Mining Triangle, Congratulations, compañero!
Inspector Franklin Stanny Morales Oporta, from El Rama, Congratulations compañero! Inspector Jarvi Javier López Espinoza, from the Autonomous Region of the Northern Caribbean, Congratulations compañero! Inspector Jelvin Maudiel Manzanares Arceda, from Matagalpa, Congratulations compañero! Inspector José Luis García Duarte, from Matagalpa, Congratulations, compañero!
Inspector Josué Aarón Ortiz Moraga, from León, Congratulations, compañero! Inspector Josué David Rosales Altamirano, from Managua, Congratulations, compañero! Junior Inspector Blass Aguilar Hernández, from Managua, Congratulations, compañero! Inspector Kevin de Jesús Estrada García, from Carazo, Congratulations compañero! Inspector Luis Armando Zapata Taylor, from the Autonomous Region of the Southern Caribbean, Congratulations compañero! I can easily identify these Brothers and Sisters from the North and South Caribbean, because one cannot lose them sicne they are very tall.
Inspector Luis Carlos Moreno Meza, from Chinandega, Congratulations compañero! Inspector Pedro José Paniagua Sánchez, from Matagalpa, Congratulations brother! Inspector William Alexander Lopez, from Chinandega, Congratulations compañero!
Inspector Wilmar Isaac Gaitán Obando, from Managua, Congratulations! Inspector Jether Stherlyn Aráuz Rostrán, from León, Congratulations!
Congratulations, Brothers and Sisters, young men and women, compañeros and compañeras! And a warm embrace to their mothers who have accompanied you and continue to accompany you, to your fathers who continue to accompany you, to the grandparents who continue to accompany you, to the families who have accompanied you and continue to accompany you.
Thanks to them, thanks to you, we can say today with great pride that Nicaragua’s Youth is a bright, courageous youth from the grass roots, from the roots of our People. You come from working class families, from peasant families, grass roots families, and you have decided to give yourselves fully for the defense of the People, for the defense of Peace, for the defense of Sovereignty in Nicaragua. So, congratulations to all of you and to your families.
I haven't imparted my message yet. For how can I not address some issues that are on the agenda of the Peoples of the World.
Where does the word Peace come from? Why Peace? Because, as our great Poet Rubén Darío said, there is bad yeast in mankind, speaking of men and women of course, he said mankind, yes, there is bad yeast. And he said it at a time when the First World War was taking place.
These wars are not an accident, they have been developing for a long time. And the First World War led Darío to write, calling out for Peace, as Darío would say: I'm crying out, Pace, Pace, Pace. That's how the Italian used to shout, that's what I'm crying now, "From soul to soul…" In desperation, Dario let his voice be heard, even as he went around the United States, which was a party in that war.
Darío could say, as Martí had said, Martí said: "I lived in the monster and I know its entrails"; talking about the evils that were among the imperialists of the Earth. And Darío was talking about the evils that existed in the imperialists all over the planet, because the wars, the confrontations, so as to take dominion of the World are not of now, but have come since Humanity began organizing, developing, and as the world’s Peoples began.
And before the colonizers arrived, we have to admit it, our ancestors, whom we admire, whom we venerate, the original peoples throughout the region of the Americas, before the Europeans arrived to take over the United States and kill off the indigenous people, before the Spaniards arrived to these lands of Latin America and the Caribbean to occupy them, before then among our original peoples there were wars, there were confrontations.
Of course, the People who were the most powerful, who had the most population, who had the most weapons dominated other Peoples. That is to say, there was an instinct there of domination, of the strongest over the weakest, and that is a culture that is also reproduced among Peoples who are poor, who are weak.
So I should say that, after the First World War came, then came the Second World War, where Yankee imperialism premiered the atomic bomb and dropped two atomic bombs on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 250,000 people died in a single blow, and millions were infected by the waste left there from the elements of the atomic bombs.
Children were born with defects; young people who did not die but became sick and died; adults who did not die with the bomb, but who died because they continued to breathe the air poisoned by the bomb. In other words, it was not only the people killed by the bomb directly, but the people killed by the bomb and those who later died from the effects of the radiation that atomic weapons cause, because those radiations affect human beings, affect families.
And they dropped the atomic bombs not against a military target, not against a barracks or military units of the Japanese, not against the Japanese army that was fighting there still and did not surrender, but what they did was drop the bombs on two peaceful cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And we can be sure, without fear of being mistaken, that these are the two most brutal great crimes that have been committed against any People in humanity’s history.
Then other wars, came, as I was telling you about the Second World War, in the Second World War ended up being sealed with the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the most monstrous thing that could have happened in the history of mankind.
And there they are still, always those who have powerful weapons, threatening with their weapons since they do not have a humanistic conscience, do not have a Christian conscience, they do not believe in God, rather they believe themselves to be gods, they believe themselves to be the owners of the world’s Peoples, they believe themselves to be the owners of the Earth, and that's the origin the wars that go on for years, as happened in Vietnam, a war that was very long, and there the Vietnamese people suffered a rain of fire. They suffered the scorched earth their aggressors sought to impose so that the Vietnamese people would surrender; but the Vietnamese people did not surrender, and in the end they defeated the invaders who had to flee Vietnam.
I still remember the images when at the US Embassy in Saigon there were helicopters taking out those who were remained of the US troops and how they were all running to get on the helicopter, and struggling to get on the helicopter. That's how they fled Vietnam.
However, unfortunately, the powerful always feel entitled to commit crimes, simply because they have the strength of Goliath to be able to commit crimes.
That invasion of our sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 300 planes flew over, 150 helicopters, the weapons they had there on the warships, imagine, exposing the risk of deatso as to capture President Nicolás Maduro. Who has given that power to them? What organization exists in the world that endorses such an act of terrorism? And there they have him imprisoned in the United States, and they say they are going to judge him, that they are putting him on trial.
Meanwhile, the Bolivarian People are resisting, organizing, seeking how to defend Peace, because that is a People which does not want war, that is a People who want Peace, and President Nicolás Maduro wanted Peace.
But what has become clear is that the United States is going for the oil, they have already said it very clearly; the President of the United States has already defined the number of thousands of barrels of oil he is going to steal, he is going to steal it from the Venezuelan people, simply bny the use of force.
Then they are threatening Cuba, Cuba which has had worldwide support. Every time votes were submitted to the United Nations, year after year, voting in favor of maintaining the bloc for Cuba or voting to lift the blockade on Cuba, a blockade that has been maintained by the United States of North America, not the US People, but the US ruling class? In every vote, all the world’s countries voted for the blockade to be lifted, there are the votes in the United Nations, year after year.
Who voted against lifting the blockade? The US delegate, the delegate of Israel, two countries, three countries at most, voting in favor of the blockade. The rest of the countries of the world voting against the blockade.
But after all he United Nations is now a body that is totally finished, worn out, destroyed, why? Because their instruments are... We have the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is an instrument of the United Nations.
In the war launched by the US President himself, Ronald Reagan, after his electoral victory he immediately launched that war, from 1980 to 1990 the war against us, and we resorted to the United Nations, of course, we defended ourselves, the People here defended themselves, that is, here, even with just a stone, like Andrés Castro, we defend ourselves. Indeed!
We defended ourselves and managed to defeat the army that President Reagan had organized, and we were looking for how to get along with them so that the war would stop; even, on one occasion there at the United Nations the US Delegation invited us to a dinner, to a greeting, because President Reagan was going to be there.
Of course, we went, and when I met President Reagan and we shook hands, he said a few sentences to me in English, and I told him that we wanted Peace, to seek Peace, that we don't want war with anyone. Then he responded positively; but then he continued the war.
I was telling you anyway that we went to court, we sued the US government for the crimes they were committing in Nicaragua. It seemed crazy. Many people said that we were not going to achieve anything there, because for sure the Court was not going to allow or accept that lawsuit. In the end the Court did admit the case, against the will of the United States, which did not want the case to be discussed at The Hague; but in the end the Court ruled.
A historic ruling where the Court condemned the United States for acts of terrorism against the Nicaraguan people, for mining Nicaraguan ports, for promoting war and destruction in Nicaragua, and ordered the US to compensate Nicaragua. At the time we are talking about they had to compensate us with US$17,000 million.
They had destroyed bridges and roads, they had destroyed schools, they had destroyed and mined the ports and had started fires; that is, destruction everywhere, death everywhere. Then the Court said that the United States should suspend the terrorism and that it had to compensate Nicaragua. To date we are still waiting for that compensation.
The war ended, thanks to the efforts we made to negotiate with the leadership of the Contras, and with the intermediation of Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo. That is to say, those of us who were killing each other began to negotiate, it was already clear that there was nothing to negotiate with the US who was sending them to be killed, they insisted on war.
And we managed, seeking reconciliation and Peace, to reach the Sapoá Agreements, with the commanders of the Contras and the representation of the Revolutionary Government, where Foreign Minister Miguel dEscoto was and too the Army, there was the Police, and there negotiations began. The negotiation was not false, because the Cardinal was there, a United Nations Delegate was there and they participated in that negotiation.
And in Sapoá the conditions were set up and the Contra delegation was there waiting to enter where the mediators were. The mediators had already received the Nicaraguan government delegation, they had already exchanged views; the Nicaraguan government delegation had already left and the Contra delegation was outside.
And Cardinal Obando told us afterwards that he was worried because the delegates of the Contras did not enter the room that had been prepared for the meetings. They finally came in and then the Cardinal asked them why they hadn't come in earlier, and their answer was: Because we didn't want to breathe the same air that the Sandinistas had breathed.
Just look at how they had made us come to a confrontation, to those extremes. It did not occur to us to say we are not going to enter where the Contras were because that's where they had breathed the air. But things had reached that far..
In the end there was a negotiation, Peace arrived, Señora Chamorro took over the government, and even controlling the entire Electoral Council, we had people of principle, Sandinista compañeros and compañeras who were very serious, very straight in their actions, it did not occur to us to cheat in those elections; instead, we entered the elections with the conviction that we had to seek how to win them, but that we had to respect what the People decided.
And already at midnight, on that voting day, there were already results which gave the victory to Señora Violeta de Chamorro, widow of national hero Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, for whom in the last few days it has been one more year since his assassination, on January 10th.
Well, now with the government of Señora Chamorro, and in the Frente Sandinista in opposition with our deputies there we looked for how to dialogue and how to negotiate. Because that's the right way, not by way of bullets.
In conditions like that, after the war, what we were sought was Peace, and we reached Agreements where Ing. Antonio Lacayo, who was Doña Violeta’s Secretary, actively participated, although with some difference, since it was impossible for the difference to disappear, we joined efforts.
It did not occur to us, with all the strength we had, with the strength of the People, with the strength of an Army and a Police that had been born with the Revolution, it did not occur to us to make a coup d'état against Doña Violeta. We didn't even think of it!
And I said then with all clarity, in the Square of the Non-Aligned, and we are now in the same place where that day we talked about how the results had to be recognized. And there in the Square I told everyone: Well, we are going to work, we are going to govern from below, based on the principle that we are going to return to power, but via the electoral route, so you can be calm, Dona Violeta. And she finished her period.
Then Dr. Arnoldo Alemán came along, very belligerent, but well, we also had to talk so as to seek solutions and not confrontation, not have a war between the liberals of Dr. Alemán and the Sandinismo. No! We started from the principle of reconciliation based on dialogue, and we did so with Dr. Alemán. We did not have to start an uprising against Dr. Alemán, and it did not occur to us to put Dr. Alemán in prison.
And the third election came, and they still said that we were not democratic. Imagine! A Revolutionary Party with all the power, respecting electoral results; losing two elections and recognizing those results and seeking how to work, via parliament and so on, with the governments of the day.
Then came the next election, and that election was won by Ing. Enrique Bolaños. And we recognized it and looked for how to get along with Ing. Bolaños. Ing Bolaños although in the Liberal Party came from the Conservative Party before joining the Liberal Party and the Liberal Party put him as their candidate, Dr. Alemán put him as a Candidate.
So then when Ing. Enrique Bolaños was President, what did he do? He found, he said, so this isn’t us saying so, he found out a number of crimes, what they called “Dr. Aleman’s hoard”.
We did not get involved in that lawsuit, that was an internal party contradiction whereby Ing. Bolaños mounted a strong accusation against Dr. Alemán and ended up putting him in prison. In other words, if any President was imprisoned during that period, it was Dr. Alemán. And who put him in prison? Ing. Bolaños, his own party colleague.
The Frente Sandinista is incapable of resorting to these methods, even when we had all the strength and all the power... No! We were simply following the law, following the path of Institutions which had to work in harmony, especially in the National Assembly.
Then came the 2006 elections, in which we again took part and managed to win, and even the Liberal Party candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, recognized the results, and so we resumed the government again.
You see, we spent 17 years outside of government, that's a lot of time. In other countries parties break up and disband in 17 years. Not here, the cohesion of the Frente Sandinista, the discipline of the Frente Sandinsita did not allow that, Peace had to be defended, Stability had to be defended, and the armed institutions were convinced of that.
In how many Countries, whether just before an Election or after an Election, do they not ask among each other for the army to carry out a coup, and then they go and carry out armed coups. We see coup d’etats everywhere.
And here, an army and a police force supportive of the law, supporting the Constitution, supporting those Principles, that is where our strength has been. And we recovered the Government, and a really extraordinary event, that inauguration, where Comandante Chávez accompanied us. Comandante Chávez was here at the inauguration, he joined us later at the La Fe Square, and Evo Morales was there too, the great indigenous leader, in whose country things became complicated, unfortunately.
And we started from scratch. Why do I say from scratch? Because when we took over the Government we found, and it is true that it was not Don Enrique Bolaños's fault, that there was no electrical energy. Rather it was the fault of those countries, but especially of the United States, who promised those rulers that they were going to support them, that they were going to help them, that they were going to give them plenty of energy, but in the moment of truth they did not deliver what they promised.
That was the speech they used in every election, a representative of the United States would come and tell everyone that the President of the United States asks them to vote against the Sandinistas, and then they will see how the United States is going to help them. And the next election came, things stayed just the same. And then another election came, and still the same.
In the end, when we entered the government we found that there was really no electrical energy in the country, there were not the electricity plants in the Country to be able to cover the country’s needs. And we were very worried, because, how could we resolve that? And it had to be resolved quickly. A country without energy sinks into chaos.
So, when I talked to President Chávez, he asked me: Daniel, what do you need here? What is most urgent? I told him: If we don't get electrical energy going soon there's going to be chaos here. What's the problem? So I told him. Immediately he called an assistant and told them: Contact the compañeros and compañeras who are in Cuba, so the energy plants that are coming to Cuba, which were modern plants from South Korea, they were being transferred from South Korea to Havana and from Havana they were going to Venezuela, that was the route they were following. So Chávez said: We have a lot of plants there and we are going to bring some to Nicaragua now, we can holding on there.
Immediately the energy plants started arriving, thanks to the generosity of President Hugo Chavez, and thanks to those energy plants we managed to get going for these 19 years. And naturally, since there is electricity, conditions are then created so that economic activity, industrial activity, everything can get going, and energy can be delivered everywhere.
Even, in what was the beginning of national reconciliation, I remember that a sign of that reconciliation in that electoral campaign was Don Jaime Morales as Vice President. Greetings to Don Jaime Morales Carazo, I saw him in parliament not long ago. We did that then, because it was important to give a sign of reconciliation, and he attracted other liberals who joined that reconciliation.
We did not ask them to stop being Liberals, but to make joint efforts so as to improve the country, to have Peace in the country, and many liberals joined us, we have many liberals of that disposition, making their decision and attending to the principle of reconciliation.
Because at the end of the day, if the economy in Nicaragua collapses, we all lose. Because others live out there campaigning overseas for the Nicaraguan economy to be blockaded, and they don't realize that by hurting the Nicaraguan economy, what has happened to Cuba would happen to us, it hurts an entire people, Cuba has had 60 years already of that terrible blockade.
So, it has been understood and we have been maturing, but even more importantly, we set ourselves the goal of forming a great Alliance, a great Alliance of working People, of the labor unions, of peasants, of workers, of businessmen, of traders, of all Nicaraguans, and of course of big busines as well.
Not on the basis that they became Sandinistas, but simply, letting us make an Alliance so that we all come out winning; because if we all win here, the country will grow, it will continue to develop and we will all come out winning. And that Alliance worked.
The Alliance started immediately after we took office in 2007, and it was going very well, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, we had been with the Alliance for 10 years. And businessmen from other countries used to come and talk to us and ask us how we had managed to make an Alliance of Workers with Businessmen, with Peasants, and we explained it to them.
But those without intelligence and who have nothing but a spirit of revenge, those who carry only hatred and revenge inside themselves, began to conspire, to plot and to organize a plan to overthrow the Government, a Government that was strong, very strong, because we had that great Alliance.
And it was in the year 2018, a time when there was no need for any accusations, for war or shootings or barricades, everything they did; they blockaded the country for three months; they murdered a lot of compañeros and compañeras, police officers, students, and also set fires... What didn't they set on fire! It was pure terrorism, organized and financed by those who do not understand, or do not want to understand, that the World demands Peace, demands Stability, demands Security.
In the end, we acted carefully, even though they were commiting atrocities, killing people every day. And the police were in their quarters, the police were defending themselves in their barracks, because even they mounted attacks on the Police even int heir barracks, because they were armed, of course they were armed. And they attacked Police units and police officers were killed.
Finally, we said, well, there is no other way but to end this. Why? Because we were by then under pressure from the People that these Barricades of Death had to be dismantled, because the Economy was being damaged, people could not travel, Central American trade was being affected; in other words, it was leading to the collapse of Nicaragua’s economy, and the collapse of the Central American economy.
So, in the end, there was no other way but to dismantle them, and we sent the Police and the Volunteer Police to dismantle them. But we went to dismantle them not seeking to kill anyone. No, it was simply to dismantle them, to have them surrender, and those involved had to go to trial, because they were committing crimes. How many crimes did they not commit! How many brothers were set on fire by them! And they filmed everything, thinking that everything was resolved, that our Government was already on its way out.
So, there was no other way but to go ahead and dismantle them. They were dismounted and the loud denunciations began outside our country, as if it had been some little angels who had been here protesting. But the last straw of this conspiracy was the death of hundreds of Nicaraguans, men, women, young people, and that demanded Justice.
That's why when the police were sent in to dismantle the barricades, we had to capture those responsible, and they were captured; others fled. In the end, they were even amnestied, those who had been captured were released and they were amnestied.
Note the extent of our flexibility, that is to say, to find a way so that they could understand that Nicaragua is one and that only united can Nicaraguans, in a Spirit of Reconciliation, working for Peace, then move forward, as we have done since 2018.
After 2018, despite the blows received, look at how we have been growing, how hospitals have multiplied, how schools have multiplied, how roads have multiplied, how commerce has multiplied, how the Zero Usury program has multiplied. That is to say, we have strengthened all the programs that we introduced, we have strengthened them and this gives more stability and more security to Nicaragua’s People, and especially to the poorest, to whom we are always alert.
One night recently I saw on a TV channel, by then at about 10pm or 11pm at night, I saw that the media were out with their journalists covering a fire in a house. The house was just of rusty zinc sheeting, which made what you might call the walls of that little house, and the roof, the same, or with plastic sheeting.
There a poor mother, with her children and their house had caught fire and they were desperate. I immediately called our brother Fidel Moreno and told him: We have to go and take care of that family and build them their little house, not one made of zinc, but a little house like the ones we build in the Houses for the People program.
That is to say, we must always be sensitive and reacting to these situations, to help out, to resolve things, and that is only possible in Peace.
Just look at how the country has progressed and how the country's economy has grown, despite the blow we suffered, because there were losses of course in 2018, but you can see the advances from 2018-19 up to now.
That is to say, we are moving forward, thanks be to God, thanks be to Christ; thanks to international cooperation; thanks to the efforts of the People, doctors, specialists; thanks to the unconditional investment we have received from the People's Republic of China, for President Xi Jinping puts no conditions on us to promote Projects.
Programs have also been worked on with US companies, a program that will allow us to produce gas, or rather to have gas distribution, which of course comes to complement the country’s energy demands, so that we have energy throughout Nicaragua, because we have been advancing and bringing energy to the entire country.
And in these circumstances we are clear that the most powerful weapon that Peoples have in order to grow is Peace, the most powerful weapon to defeat Poverty and Extreme Poverty is Peace, and that's why when these young people, these young men and women, go out now, they know that they are going to work for Peace, they are going to protect order for Peace, to control order, because crime is always there, but we must be prepared to control it so that Nicaraguan Families feel at peace.
On this day, a day on which this graduation is being dedicated to Leonel Rugama, as well as to the Martyrs and Heroes of San José de las Mulas, because they gave their lives in the struggle for Peace in Nicaragua; on this day, January 15th 2026, we have to join forces in the struggle for Peace, here in Nicaragua, in Central America, in Latin America, in the World.
And we will have to strive to develop efforts so that the United Nations which was born after the Second World War and which no longer has the strength to be respected, that is to say, it was born in 1945, but of course times have changed and what is happening in the world now, where they want to impose the “law of the strongest” demands that the United Nations be rebuilt, for it be possible to work with the Community of the Peoples of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and persuade the great powers that it is time to refound the United Nations.
We must refound the United Nations and establish rules and principles in line with what humanity is facing and which do not result in the strongest wielding clubs everywhere. Because suddenly another one will come along and wield a cluba at them, and we all end up affected, all the inhabitants of the planet, because nuclear weapons are possessed not only by the United States, the People's Republic of China has them, Russia has them, North Korea has them, some European countries have them.
In Latin America we have a long-standing commitment not to develop nuclear weapons. In Latin America there has been no Project, no Program, to develop nmuclear weapons, because that is a Latin American and Caribbean Principle, and we do have a commitment to Peace. No nuclear weapons, rather, a commitment to peace.
And as a beginning, the United Nations will have to be refounded, taking into account the circumstances being experienced around the World and are being experienced in different Regions of the Planet, such as those being experienced in Africa, in Asia, and in the World.
There are wars everywhere, there are deaths everywhere.
Thus, that poem of Rubén Darío is updated, from those years that he mentioned in it when he came out with that message of Peace, he came out with another poem that is “Song of Hope”, talking about the horrors that were being lived in the World, of wars, talking about the terror that was being lived in the World, and when Darío ends that poem, a very powerful poem where he invokes Christ, he invokes God: “Why are you late, Lord? What are you waiting for to raise your hand over the wild beasts?”
Because the beasts of humanity were destroying themselves in those years when Darío wrote the poem, and today what is happening right now too, the beasts that have nuclear weapons and that do not respect anyone, will have to lower that aggressive behavior, they will have to change that behavior, because they are complete terrorists, sowing terror in the World with their behavior, when what the World wants most is tranquility, it wants Peace.
On this day, we express our support for the Venezuelan People and our affection for the President, who is filling in for Nicolás, Compañera Delcy. Today they had a Session in their National Assembly, there she presented a report, and well, we add to the clamor for the return President Maduro to his People. They carried him off in a totally disproportionate action, without no arrest warrant, and we hope that the Bolivarian people will be respected, and that the aggressors will stop threatening Cuba, because they continue to threaten Cuba.
For the People of Cuba, for President Díaz-Canel, for Army General, Comandante of the Revolution Raúl Castro, our Fraternal Embrace; the same for all the Peoples in the World and in the United States itself who have been mobilizing in the last few days against these aggressions, against these wars, and in favor of Peace. Because there are many people in the United States who do not share these crimes, do not share these atrocities, and are protesting there in the streets.
And they are protesting in Minnesota where a US woman citizen has been murdered, while they were persecuting migrants; when those who were doing so came across this woman, they straight away wanted to detain her. But she is a US citizen, what right do they have if she is not a migrant? And the woman set off in her vehicle, and they went ahead and shot her, killing her. US society is shocked by these crimes.
Finally, our embrace, our affection, for all the families and Officers of the National Police and these young men and women who have graduated today.
Long live the National Police!
Long live the Patriotic Nation of Darío and Sandino!
Onward To Victory always!
Not One Step Back!
Be seeing you, beloved Brothers and Sisters.