Ceremony to mark the 42nd Anniversary of the Air Force of the Nicaraguan Army
Daniel's address
Good evening, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, Nicaraguan Families; Beloved Brothers and Sisters of the Nicaraguan Air Force; Beloved Families of the Compañeros who make up the Nicaraguan Air Force; Compañera Rosario, Vice President of the Republic; Commander in Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo; Beloved Brother, Comrade, Director General of the National Police, First Commissioner Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz.
Beloved Brother, Compañero Chief of General Staff of the Nicaraguan Army, Major General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz; Beloved Brother, Inspector General of the Nicaraguan Army, Major General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez; Beloved Compañera, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Nicaragua, Rosa Adelina Barahona Castro; Beloved Brother, Chief of the Nicaraguan Army Air Force, Brigadier General Spiro José Bassi Aguilar.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, Compañeros of the State Institutions; Beloved Brothers and Sisters, Compañeros of the Corps of Generals and Superior Officers of the Military Council of the Army of Nicaragua; Beloved Brothers and Sisters, former Chiefs of the Air Force in the honorable condition of Retirement.
We also salute the Defense Attachés, Military, Naval, Air, Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs of Military Missions accredited in the Republic of Nicaragua; Officers of the Air Force in the honorable condition of Retirement.
Beloved Relatives of our General Sandino, who was the first, with the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, to confront the Air Force of the Yankee Empire that invaded our territory and bombed Nicaraguans, and General Sandino was there, with his troops, fighting that invading Air Force.
Forty-two years! And after 42 years a new Nicaragua is developing, a new Nicaragua is being written, in life, in reality, a Nicaragua where, the People raised the Flag of our General Sandino, the Red and Black Flag, which came to the rescue of the Blue and White Flag, and in this Plaza we commemorate that Victory.
42 years! And with the Revolution the opportunity was born so that the People could, at last, be the owners of their Present and their Future. And with the People, accompanying the People, the Nicaraguan Air Force was founded, giving continuity to the accompaniment Anti-imperialist, Anti-colonialist Fighters had been giving throughout History,.
The Sandinista Air Force, with great honor! The Sandinista Naval Force, with great honor! The Sandinista People's Army, with great honor! A proud People! We cannot forget those times. A People that feels it is accompanied, defended, by the People in Arms... The People in Arms in the Army, and the People in Arms in the National Police.
That is why we have often said and we do not tire of repeating it, and that rallying cry came about, emerged from the People in that period of the 80's, in the most brutal time of the war: "The People United will never be defeated, and the People in Arms will never be crushed!"
But when we speak of an People in Arms, we are not simply talking about the military organization, the means and instruments for defense, in this case the resources of the Nicaraguan Air Force.... We are talking about the fact that, behind those rifles, behind those artillery guns, behind the armored vehicles, driving the helicopters and airplanes, there are Nicaraguans with a high degree of Conscience, of Dignity, of Conviction, that never, ever again, will the Nicaraguan People be under the yoke of the Yankee Empire.
And well, we advanced, we developed in all fields, and in the period of the 80s the Air Force unquestionably played a fundamental role, with all the People, with all the Army Units, with all the Compañeros of the Ministry of the Interior.... A single clenched fist, a single People, defending the Revolution. And we succeeded in defending it.
Because, just as the Yankees had tried to destroy the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, and with it, the Ideology of our General Sandino, the truth is that they did not succeed. Stronger, much more powerful, was the Thought, the Dignity, the Practice of the Combatants of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty led by our General Sandino, than all the might of the Yankee Empire that launched a war against us for 10 years.
And just as they could not defeat our General and had to retreat and then resort to an ambush, here too they did not manage to open the beachhead they wanted to open in the north of our country, there in the remote area around Teotecacinte, Jalapa, which is the point they always aspired to dominate, and by dominating that point then the Yankee troops that were already based in neighboring countries would enter. They did not manage to do so! They did not manage to do it!
And I would say that, in an elevated Spirit of Dignity, the Government of Nicaragua at the time, with the National Assembly, the Army, the Police, we all agreed on a new step to build a more United Nicaragua, a very important new step, a very important gesture, to give the Army, to give the Police, the name of the Army of Nicaragua... Nicaragua, Nicaragua is Sandino, Nicaragua is Darío, Nicaragua is Diriangén, Nicaragua is Andrés Castro, Nicaragua is Zeledón! Yes, that is Nicaragua! Nicaragua is Carlos Fonseca, Nicaragua is the Sandinista Front.
And that transcendental step was taken, which was not a capitulation; on the contrary, it was a sign of Strength, that these were and are Institutions that were not some shouted slogan, to some transitory name, but are Institutions that were, and are, consciously committed to the People of Nicaragua, to the defense of the Sovereignty of the Nation, to the defense of Self-Determination, to the defense of the Security of all Nicaraguans, without any exception whatsoever!
Quite a lesson...! When they wanted to destroy the Army and the Police, to make them disappear, we took that step. And they spent 17 years trying to ruin the Army and the Police, and here is the Army, here is the Police, today firmer than ever, more well developed than ever, more respected by the People than ever, more internationally recognized, for its professionalism, for its capacities in defend what must be defended, as we are obliged to defend this Nicaragua of Darío and Sandino.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, Beloved Compañeros, today we mark the beginning of the Journey of the birth and then the growth, from the birth came the growth of the Army, which was born with the Air Force and continued growing with the Navy, and both the Air Force and the Navy were formally instituted as Branches of the Nicaraguan Army in September of that year, and ever since then Nicaragua has had an Army composed of Men and Women of humble origins, of origins among the People.
This is not an Army that is run by and for the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie that took over Armies and coordinated that terrible crime in all of Nuestramérica, including Nicaragua, Plan Condor. Plan Condor was led by the Yankee's monster in charge of Chile, Pinochet; and there were the other coup plotters like those in Argentina who dedicated themselves to murdering people, kidnapping their children, taking them out of their parents' arms, and distributing them among themselves, as if they were plunder, the children; and the children grew up, believing that those criminals who had murdered their real parents were in fact their parents. What a horrendous crime!
The behavior of the Yankee Empire goes to such extremes, violating Sacred Human Rights like these, promoting and committing brutal acts like these, and sending here a team of the Argentine Military to join their war against us. We do not forget it! Some of them were captured, and that was just more proof, like when we captured Hasenfus.
It was more than self-evident proof of how the Yankee Empire was once again trying to take over Nicaragua, following in the footsteps of the Spanish Colonialists who with blood and fire became owners of our Nation, simultaneously manipulating, in a brutal and shameless way, the Cross and the Sword; along with the Cross, the theft of the lands of our ancestors; along with the Cross, the most brutal crimes committed against our ancestors, who dared to defend their Rights, because they were the people living in these Lands, they were the owners of these Lands, they were the owners of the mountains, of the air that was breathed in these Lands, of Nicaragua and of Our America, from Canada to Patagonia.
And the Cross and the Sword they made a perfect combination, defiling Christ, using the figure of Christ, what more Noble Figure than Christ, ready to give his own Life! And they used Christ to destroy Life among our indigenous ancestors, and millions were exterminated.
And we see how this is a History that has no end, because more and more horrendous crimes of all kinds are being discovered, such as those that are being discovered now in Canada, where the Children of the Indians, by decision and whim of the Conquerors, were placed in the hands of those who called themselves "Representatives of Christ". And what did they do there with the Children? They ended up murdering them, and there in Canada they are discovering the graves.
Horrendous crimes that demand punishment, that deserve punishment, those are true genocides! And where are the Yankees condemning these crimes and condemning the Canadian Government? And where is the Canadian Government assuming its responsibility, because they are the continuity of this history of crimes and violation of Human Rights? And where are the self-styled "democrats" and "defenders of Human Rights" in Latin America and the Caribbean? They are servants of the Yankees and do not condemn these crimes, they remain silent and complicit.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, Beloved Comrades, as I was telling you, we went through that period of 17 years, 18 years, when the Right-wing Governments were strangling institutions here, strangling the Army, the Police... they wanted to make them disappear. They still maintain that among their objectives, and they are not even doing so in a secret way, but they are broadcasting that position and they go to the United States to tell the Yankees that they are ready for the Yankees to put them in the Government and then they are will disappear the Army and the Police, and by disappearing the Army and the Police they will dominate the Nicaraguan People, and then they will be able to take land from the Peasants, they will steal from them those Property Titles that we distribute every day.
And all to establish here a Regime, the Regime that has been described as Savage Capitalism, where there is no Heart to share even a little, where the Principle of Solidarity does not exist, where the Principle of Love does not exist, where what prevails is the Principle of accumulating Wealth at any cost, which is what the Imperialists of the Earth do, accumulate Wealth at any cost, and they do not care about the blood of the Peoples that they invade and bomb, even dropping atomic bombs, as they did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nor do they care about the blood of the North American and Latin American youth who are sent to fight in those lands.
This Process is a Process that regained greater strength in 2007, where we were totally convinced that we had to work to strengthen the Unity of the whole People, the Unity of the Nation. And that Unity was achieved, from 2007 to 2018 we managed to maintain that cohesion and that Unity, economic growth, benefits for the Population, the generous Programs of ALBA, which were cursed by those who detested those Programs, and who were they? Those who realized that they could not get rich while the ALBA Programs existed, because the ALBA Programs did not seek enrichment.
Our Brother, Commander Hugo Chávez, when he and Fidel launched this Initiative, they never did so thinking that they were going to enrich themselves, or to make Venezuela and Cuba more wealthy richer? No! What they wanted was to extend a hand to the Peoples of our Region.
And with Fidel there was Raul and with Chavez there was Nicolas, part of that Process. And with Fidel and Raul was our Brother Miguel Diaz-Canel, today President of Cuba, whom we salute and express our Solidarity. He came here to Nicaragua, and he came to Nicaragua not to stay in a luxury hotel, as the coup conspirators do, instead he came to Nicaragua to live together, to share with the Nicaraguan Sisters and Brothers in the countryside, in wartime.
They made another attempt in April 2018, they made that other attempt, an attempt to provoke, as they say these days, a regime change, a change of System. They were clear that a conventional coup d'état was not possible in Nicaragua, because for such a coup d'état you need the army and the police, and they were clear that not possible.
They conceived the coup d'état, they carrying it out with their acts of terror and then the Yankees were to have invaded our country. They were making and preparing the right conditions and then the Yankees would have invade our Nation. But the People with its Wisdom, the Army and Police Institutions with their Wisdom, with great Patience, with great control, and as I said: God has given us great strength so as to have the Patience of Job.
And the others were the ones who showed themselves up for what they really were, each day that passed they revealed themselves more, and each day that passed the repudiation grew of the People against the crimes they were committing, blessed also, just as in Colonial times, by a few Pharisees. Yes, Christ called them Pharisees when he found them in the Temple and whipped them out. And the Pharisees have not disappeared, there they go around elegantly dressed and talking as if they were Saints, but you only have to look behind the appearances a little bit and what we find is sheer corruption, with no respect for Christ, no respect for God.
And there we were, as I said earlier, with the Patience of Job, with Intelligence, and after they made themselves known in all their brutality, with their crimes, thanks to modernity, filmed with their own smart phones, and then published by the Networks, images of when they tortured and murdered, when they burned Schools, when they burned Health Centers, when they burned Town Halls, when they burned down the houses of Nicaraguan Sisters and Brothers, and when they set fire to Nicaraguans.
Then, the People understood perfectly well and the People asked and insisted that it was time to reestablish Stability, Peace, in our Country. And that was done, Peace and Stability were reestablished, and we now enjoy that Peace and Stability.
We have new challenges, the Elections, another great challenge we face, because they are plotting against the Elections, however we are sure that just as Nicaragua has been victorious against that powerful and brutal enemy, Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Imperialism at different moments of our History, when they believed they had the Right to take over our Lands and dominate Nicaragua's Families, and make them work as slaves... That will not come back! That History was buried, as the Poet José Coronel Urtecho said: "It was buried in the dustbin of History".
There they are, let them realize that they are there in the mess of History's garbage dump, there they are floundering and will continue to flounder, because this People will continue defending Peace, Stability, the Right to Work, the Right to Live, the Right to have their Business, the Right to have Highways, Housing, Schools, Hospitals, Health Centers, the Right to have new Streets built. In other words, a Government of the People, for the People, and that is why we say, the People are President, and we have overcome the attacks of our historical political adversaries, and we have done so too in spite of the pandemic.
And we are grateful for the Cooperation we have been receiving with the Vaccines. Today we received another batch of vaccines. There, one by one, two at a time, three at a time and so on, the number of vaccines is growing, and the vaccines that are being prioritized for people with more fragile, more delicate conditions. We are making progress and we will patiently continue making the efforts we need to as we have done and will continue doing so that the time will come when all Nicaraguans will be vaccinated, as we continue working under these conditions.
That is to say that the pandemic, which has been manipulated by the Yankee Empire and its local servants, trying to sow chaos and paralyze the economy, the pandemic has not managed to defeat us, it has not paralyzed this country, nor will it manage to defeat us no matter how much our enemies and the Yankee Empire try and manipulate it.
On the contrary, Health Care is multiplying in our Country, Social Services are multiplying in our Country, and that also allows us, as General Avilés has just pointed out, it allows us to strengthen our People's Institutions, for the defense of the People, for the defense of the Country's Sovereignty, which is fundamental for the Stability we Nicaraguans now enjoy.
Congratulations, Beloved Brothers and Sisters who have been awarded these Decorations today. Our Heart as ever, not just remembering, but committed to the Blood shed by those Brothers and Sisters who in different circumstances have died in the line of Duty. To them, Honor and Glory! To their Families, Honor and Glory! To the People of Nicaragua, Honor and Glory, for these New Victories we are achieving!
Long Live the Nicaraguan Air Force!
Long Live the Army of Nicaragua on its 42nd Anniversary!
And Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free!
Our Nation and Liberty, said our General Sandino!
A Free Nation or Death, we have said on the Battlefield when we have faced attacked and when we have been challenged!
Our Nation, Peace, Love, Respect and Reconciliation is the rallying cry we have made and that is one that will prevail for all time!
Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free!
Remarks by Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the 42nd Anniversary Ceremony of the Nicaraguan Air Force
July 30, 2021
A very good evening, Compañer@s, Beloved Families of our Nicaragua which belongs to us All . Our Nicaragua, where we plant, cultivate and harvest the Common Good for us All. That is the meaning of our Lives, the meaning of our National Identity, the meaning of Life, in a Free Nation.
Compañer@s, every time we talk about what we had to live through, when confronted, challenged by a Hatred that was not only abhorrent in the sense that it reverted against those proclaiming it and who acted out of Hatred, but one that also left traces in our hearts, I believe it affected all of us.... leaving Wounds ! Wounds that still hurt !
How it hurt us to see the destruction of what had cost us Nicaraguans so much. Above all, the destruction of Peace. How it hurt us to see the destruction of Educational Centers, of Health Centers...
I remember one day, talking with Doctor Sonia Castro, when we were trying to fumigate against Dengue in the terrible conditions prevailing then in Masaya, and how they attacked the Health Center where the fumigation equipment was. And I remember it as if it were today, because I can never forget the moment they wanted to destroy the entire National Medicine Storage Center. That was so irrational, so senseless, a result of truly criminal indifference, that it is difficult to believe, but even more difficult to forget, because we know it is true. And back then we were there guarding that National Medicine Storage Center, because we could not leave the Hospitals without medicines.
So much for the criminals, the terrorists, and those who actually showed such Hatred for the People. Not just indifference, or selfishness.... Hatred ! Hate born out of a slave-like ambition, because, on the one hand, they regard us as slaves, that is what their Yankee owners teach them, and on the other hand, they behave, themselves, with the consciousness of slaves. They surrender, like slaves. They are imperial slaves!
And I was saying how it hurts to reminisce on those days, when we remember the son of Compañera Amada Pineda, set on fire in the streets of Managua; when we remember Lieutenant Gabriel Vado, set on fire in Monimbó. And when we remember, how can we forget that so-called "priest", who via the social media networks and other communications media called to throw the comrade policeman who the only thing he did was to serve his country, to throw him, he said, into the latrine; he said they should have thrown him into a latrine. How can we forget that?
For us Christians, the most difficult thing has been to preserve our Faith in the midst of all those circumstances of human complexity, dealing with people who falsely claim to promote the Values of Jesus Christ. It has been difficult, but the Strength of our Values, of our Education, of our Christian Families and Homes, our Tradition has prevailed, and the Strength that God gives us, to believe in Him, to have Faith in Jesus Christ, and to know that it is God the Father, that it is Jesus Christ, who blesses us every day with Inspirational Strength. We inspire each other to Work, to make progress, to fulfill that Excellent Commandment, Loving our Neighbor as ourselves.
Those reminiscences produce restlessness, unease, those journeys of the Memory and the Heart, broken and wounded Heart and Memory of all that we lived through. But we transcend and we move forward. Without forgetting. We cannot forget. Because forgetting exposes us to live such misfortune once more. No ! We will never forget !
We can work for a meeting of hearts and minds, because we must do so, for Reconciliation, because we must do so, to move forward Together, consolidating Peace, which for years has been our search, the object of our longing, and our Ideal, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. But without forgetting that there were devils here, that there were satanic attitudes, behavior and deeds. And really, I do indeed believe that realizing that and confirming that there were satanic behaviors and actions here, has in fact helped us to consolidate our Faith in the Prince of Love, Peace and Goodness, our Faith in Jesus Christ, to confront and defeat the satanism that was imposed on us.
We are a few months away from the Elections and we know that our People have a clear Conscience, a clear, very clear vision, and also a clear perspective of the Future. Because it is by working hard, taking care of our Health, also taking care of the achievements that are the result of the work of all us, in Production, in Education, in all the Works and all the Undertakings of a Holy People, a Good People. What we are doing is taking care of these Paths ahead...
And we know that the Nicaraguan People, with that very clear vision and clear Heart, will demonstrate in November that they support their own Future. Not the Future of a few, not some Neoliberal Future, not a dark Future, not a Future of selfishness, of greed, of ambition, of servility to Empires. No ! The Future of the Families that know how to be act as protagonists, but also to complement each other and to live in Solidarity.
We are a very Solidarity oriented People...! One learns it from childhood, to accompany those who are suffering, to help those who are sick, those in the neighborhood who suffer from disease, to be together in difficult moments, and to be together to celebrate times of Happiness.
That is Nicaragua: A Culture of Meeting of Minds, a Culture of Family, a Culture with Community Values. We are a People of Jesus Christ, Consecrated to Jesus Christ, and this Culture of Christianity, of Fraternity, of Dignity, because Christianity is Dignity, it is to promote the reality that all of us have Rights and live with Rights... Human Rights like the ones practiced in our Nicaragua, in every field of Life.
We know that the Future is there, among us, that with Faith every day we wake illuminated, strengthened, inspired, encouraged, and filled with the Love that is Victorious here. Nicaragua is Victorious, in Peace, in Love, and in Unity. We know it, we declare it, and we bless Our Lord God, because He allows us to live like this, as His People. A Heroic, Noble, Dignified, Brave, Sovereign People, and a People that neither Sells Out, Nor Surrenders, Ever!
A warm Embrace to all Nicaragua's Families. We are creating the Future together, and full of Hope, full of Confidence in ourselves, in Our Lord God, we are creating it and we are bringing it closer, because, that Blessing that God gives us every day, Health, the Blessing that God gives us every day to be able to work hard, and see the fruits of our labor, that is a Blessing, a Privilege, and truly, a unique Gift that this People, our People, indeed has.
We are proud Nicaraguans, and Nicaraguans, as we have always said, by the Grace of God! A great Truth, a Genuine Truth. We live with His Light, God gives us Life, and Life to live in this Great Family, in this Sense of Family, of Community and of Advancement, with Love.
Hatred, Never Again ! Satanic practices, Never Again! It is with Love, with Faith, and according to our Beliefs, which are those of a Culture of Family, of the Home, that we Move Forward, in accordance with what we are, in accordance with our Identity, with our Values and with that Faith that every day nourishes our Hearts.
Thank you, Comrades, Let's Move Forward! Thank you.