Ceremony to commemorate the 42nd Anniversary
of the Founding of the Nicaraguan Army
September 2nd 2021
Speech by Daniel
Beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters; beloved Families of this Heroic Land of Diriangén, Nicarao, José Dolores Estrada, Andrés Castro, Benjamín Zeledón, Augusto Calderón Sandino, General of Free Men and Women and who is the starting point of the Revolution that would later triumph in 1979. In other words, Sandino is the person who managed to establish a whole program opening up a route, a path towards the Revolutionary Victory of July 19.
And as has been well signaled and recognized in the messages of greetings received by General Avilés and by you, beloved Brothers and Sisters of the Nicaraguan Army, from the Chiefs of Central American Armies, from the Central American Ministers of Defense, it can be clearly seen that the principle of Dignity and Defense of the Sovereignty of our Nations prevails.
Beloved Compañera Rosario, Vice President of the Republic; beloved Brother, Commander in Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo; our greetings to your wife, Compañera Conchamarenco Salinas and to your Family.
The Family is a fundamental basis for the tasks that you perform every day, and which demand Solidarity, Love, which leads you to share the same risks tun by the soldiers, by the officers, when they have to engage in these tasks, these struggles for the Sovereignty of the Homeland, for the Security of the Country, in the fight against drug trafficking, in the fight against Terrorism. And Nicaragua's Families are always there accompanying you, in any part of our Territory where you are fighting that battle, the Nicaraguan Family is there accompanying you and sharing with you the risks, sharing the pain, and sharing the joy.
Families are a living part of the Nicaraguan Army. We could not understand the Firmness, the Courage, the Conscience, the Dignity, of the soldiers and officers of our Army, without the accompaniment of our Army's Families. To them we offer our recognition.
Beloved Brother, Chief of the General Staff, Major General Bayardo Ramon Rodriguez Ruiz, our Greetings also to the Compañera and Family of General Bayardo, Martha Elena Ruiz Sevilla.
Beloved Brother Inspector, Major General Marvin Elías Corrales. beloved Compañera Minister of Defense, Compañera Rosa Adelina Barahona. We share with her, with Rosa Adelina the grief over the loss of her son a few weeks ago, due to the virus.
The virus is bringing grief and death all over the Planet, and that has caused millions of victims already on our Planet: victims who have died, victims who are now unemployed, because the companies and factories that have enriched themselves over the years have closed and, so, now that they have closed, there is no support for those Workers that have become unemployed, and I am talking about what has happened in the Developing Countries.
Some programs are being implemented, but they are insignificant compared to the challenges posed to the World, the challenges facing the World from these pandemics, and in order to address these pandemics it is essential to understand, once and for all, that when God placed us on this Planet, He said: Treat your Neighbor as yourself.
But in the midst of a pandemic that Solidarity has not been practiced, because the powerful countries that have resources and can count on those resources to develop programs costing billions of dollars, programs to develop war abilities in Space, programs to build ever more sophisticated atomic weapons, programs for death, and while those programs for death develop, at the same time there is not only demand for medical care in their own countries, there is also demand for medical care in the Developing Countries.
There is a demand for vaccinations, and there is a demand for equipment, more equipment for health posts, more equipment for hospitals, but there is no willingness to allocate resources in the way demanded by the International Organizations that are at the head of the World Health Organization or at a regional level.
The richest rich people on our Planet think only of getting richer and richer, even of doing big business with the pandemic. Of course they do big business with the pandemic, accumulating ever more wealth in the face of the tragedy, There are businesses that have multiplied their income thanks to the pandemic; in other words, on our Planet the Christian Spirit is missing, the Christian Spirit, the Spirit of Solidarity, is missing.
They lack even the most basic respect for Humanity, for the Peoples, for the Families that in their own Countries are suffering from the devastating effects of the pandemic. What greater lack of Respect than insisting on maintaining and increasing military bases, not cooperating with those Countries in need, not supporting those Countries, but seeking how to dominate those Countries, how to subjugate those Countries.
It is inconceivable that under these conditions the United States of America and Europe are quarreling and openly challenging the People's Republic of China, or the Russian Federation, provoking and threatening those Powers. That is to say, seeking more wars, as if the wars that the European and North American Powers have imposed on the World over centuries were not enough, the bloodbath they have wreaked on the Planet, the genocide they have practiced on the Planet.
And they do not learn, they do not learn, in the case of nations like Nicaragua... What did they think? They thought they could just send their Marines to Nicaragua, as they did send them. They sent troops to Nicaragua, to make Nicaragua submit to their imperialist designs, and they invaded Nicaragua at different times, under various circumstances, following in the footsteps of earlier conquerors, who imposed their domination on our lands with blood and fire.
They continued those practices, and they did so with Nicaragua and they did so too with a number of Latin American and Caribbean countries. They annexed, that is to say, they stole territories from neighboring countries of the United States of America, like Mexico, what they did to Mexico must be said. And the Mexican people rose up in rebellion against the imperialist aggression, which wanted to expand its borders occupying Mexico, occupying Central America, occupying further South in South America, occupying all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
They wanted to establish an enormous Empire to replace the Spanish and Portuguese Empires which had been defeated, thanks to the struggle of the region's Peoples, like Villa, Zapata, giving battle, waging the struggle. But the Empire did not relent, it did not give up.
And I mentioned Nicaragua, why? Because it is a country that resisted the colonialist onslaught of the Spanish and British conquerors. Because Nicaragua, as we know very well, was occupied in its Pacific Zone, its Central-Pacific zone, by Spain and on the Caribbean Coast by England, and the Spanish Empire and the English Empire confronted each other, each one seeking to dominate and take possession of all of Nicaragua; in fact, without having the least respect for this Country, for this Land, for its Peoples, for its Families.
And that onslaught took place time and time again, and that Imperialism suffered defeat here in Nicaragua, and has done so time and time again. They were defeated in the battle of San Jacinto, Yankee expansionism confronted Nicaragua and Central America in that Battle, which was about defending the survival, the Independence, the Self-Determination of the Central American States, against a Yankee expansionism proposing to turn us into slaves, into their slaves.
And they were defeated, despite having the most modern weapons of the time, despite having high ranking officers like Byron Cole, well qualified officers, officers who came from fighting wars in their own country, they were defeated here in Nicaragua.
Then came more interventions, more occupations, more resistance from the Nicaraguan people, and Zeledón and Sandino, Sandino fighting a campaign against the most powerful army in the world at that time, the army that deployed its colonels, its generals, its aviation, its war specialists who came from other regions of the planet after attacking other peoples. And years went by in the battle against Sandino, the one they called "Bandolero", and they could not defeat the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, and they had to retreat, without reaching their objective. That was the second defeat suffered by the Empire here in our country.
Then, by resorting to treason and setting up a criminal tyranny like the one they imposed here in Nicaragua with Somoza, they managed to maintain their domination over Nicaragua for almost 40 years using an Army that they called the National Guard, but which had nothing National about it. It was an army organized by the Yankees, directed by the Yankees, armed by the Yankees, financed by the Yankees.
The tyrant Somoza was treated as a great democrat by the Yankee rulers during all those years, and also by the European rulers, just because he was of service to the Yankees, he had been put in place by the Yankees. He had been born here in Nicaragua, but his mentality was the mentality of a Yankee, but not even of a Yankee confident he had the authority of an American Citizen, but of a Yankee who felt he was a slave, a willing slave, serving the Yankees. A traitor! A traitor! A traitor!
For 40 years that tyranny, that dictatorship prevailed with the Yankees supporting it and supporting it, supporting it constantly . And along the way, Colonel Ramón Raudales of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty took up Sandino's flag and fell in combat fighting against that tyranny. For 40 years they felt they were the owners of Nicaragua! But the moment came when the People defeated the Yankee intervention, because this was a country that was occupied by the Yankees through the National Guard, subordinated to the Yankee command installed here in Nicaragua.
That victory in 1979 was another great defeat for the Yankee Empire here in Nicaragua, and it was in those circumstances that the Army emerged. It emerged from that struggle, it emerged from the battle for Freedom, for Independence. And that made possible a Revolution that began to put into practice the Principle of Loving one's Neighbor as Oneself.
Here we are also accompanied by the Director General of the National Police, our brother First Commissioner Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz.
We are also accompanied by the President of the National Assembly, our Brother Doctor Gustavo Porras Cortés; Compañero Marvin Aguilar, Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice.
We are accompanied by the Heroine who fought the battle against the fourth Yankee intervention in the 80's, because that was not Nicaragua's battle against some armed people who were out and about wanting to do harm; it was a battle to which the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, was publicly committed.
He was committed to putting an end to Sandinismo, to putting an end to the Army, to putting an end to the Police, to putting an end to a Revolutionary People.
He was publicly committed from the White House, there with his Senior Officials constantly making declarations and cheating to secure resources for that war.
It was yet another war of intervention by the Yankee Empire against Nicaragua. They dreamed of taking Teotecacinte which is there close by Jalapa, an area jutting into Honduran Territory, and right there attacking from the flanks that little town jutting into Honduran Territory. They wanted to take Teotecacinte, and by taking Teotecacinte the Provisional Government would then come to install itself.
As they also tried in Las Minas where our Sister, our Heroine, today head of the Supreme Electoral Council, our Sister, Brenda Rocha Chacón, was there. She was there, and there she fought, and was mortally wounded. But they could not break through, they could not take Las Minas; the objective was the same, to take over a territory, declare it a Free Territory, and there the Yankee Air Force would immediately come to land their troops and launch their forces against all the People.
Yes, just bear in mind the Yankee expansionist intervention in the National War of 1854, 1855, 1856; then the direct intervention of Yankee troops after the overthrow of President Zelaya and the rebellion of General Zeledón; the occupation of Nicaraguan Territory that followed, and resistance of General Sandino, the battle given by General Sandino, whom they could not defeat and they were defeated.
And then the Victory of Nicaragua's People on July 19th, defeating the Yankee intervention, defeating the Yankee occupation, because Nicaragua really was occupied by the Yankees.
And after that, the battle imposed on us by the Yankees after we began our campaign to make the Nicaraguan people literate, to bring them Education and Health Care, they imposed war on us again, with Ronald Reagan at their head, along with his Military Commands, swearing that they were going to finish off Nicaragua, that they were going to finish off our Revolution and that they were going to take over Nicaragua once more. And they couldn't! They couldn't!
This Army, the Nicaraguan People, the Militias, the Police, the Ministry of the Interior, all together fighting that battle against a powerful enemy. And in the end they could not prevail because their final objective was to do away with the Army, to finish off the Revolution, to do away with the Police, with the Ministry of the Interior.
Yes, it is certainly true that they managed to take over the Government, but although they wanted to, they could not do away with the Army; they could not, although they tried to finish off the Army, the Police, and the Sandinista Front. That was another great Victory of Nicaragua against Yankee intervention via a war that lasted practically from 1980 to 1990, when they realized that they could not prevail, and those Nicaraguans who had undertaken that war against the Nicaraguan People, also realized that war was not the way and that the way forward was Peace, and so the Peace Agreements were signed and the Nicaraguan Army remained firm, unblemished and unscathed.
And we continued fighting, for 17 years we continued fighting against a Yankee aggression which manifested itself in different ways seeking to liquidate the Army, liquidate the Police and liquidate the Revolution. They also tried many other ways during those 17 years, with the three neo-liberal governments, and they said very clearly that they did not want the Army. But they could not get their way, nor will they be able to! For here again is Sandino's Army, this is Sandino's Army, a continuity of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, fighting the battle against imperialist aggression.
Beloved Compañera, Attorney General of the Republic, Doctor Ana Julia Guido Ochoa. Also accompanying us in this Event is our beloved Compañera Attorney General of the Republic, Dr. Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina; beloved Relatives of General Sandino; beloved Representatives of the Institutions of the Nicaraguan State; Defense Attachés, Military, Naval, Air and Air Attachés, Deputy, and Head of the Russian Military Mission, accredited in the Republic of Nicaragua; beloved Comrades in honorable Retirement, and all those present, and to all those who are listening, watching, through the Media.
Well, congratulations on behalf of our People to General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander in Chief of the Army, who has been able to lead, and guarantee Love for the Nation, for the Values of Nicaragua's Being, supported by continued preparation in all fields, preparation for combat, and in terms of organization, greater and better organization of our Army.
Of the Army that we found here in 2007 when we returned to Government, of this Army we can say that we have a force that for 17 years resisted all kinds of pressure, being under siege to sell out the Nation, or to surrender, but the Army knew how to resist, and in 2007 there began a process that we could call the Renovation or Modernization of our Army, and today the Army of Nicaragua is a much stronger, firmer, more invincible Army, defending the Sovereignty of the Nation defending the Security of Nicaragua's Families.
We salute, congratulate and acknowledge on behalf of our People, General Avilés, the Army General Staff, the Army Senior Commanders, the Intermediate Commanders, the Soldiers, who are the basis for this Army to develop more and more in the use of different weapons, in specializations, in the Naval Force, the Air Force and in the Military Medical Corps.
That is to say, congratulations to all of you, beloved Brothers and Sisters of the Army of Nicaragua and to your Families, on behalf of the People of Nicaragua, and I say this to you on behalf of all Nicaragua's People: Thank you Brothers and Sisters, Thank you Brothers and Sister, and let us go forward, and we will continue to achieve New Victories.
And at a time like this, when there are situations in the military sense, impressive results in a military sense, results that nobody expected, we cannot close our eyes to what is in plain sight in Afghanistan, and when we review the history of that country, of that nation, we find that, just as the Vietnamese faced different Empires, including the French Empire and finally the American Empire, in Afghanistan too they have faced occupation by the most powerful Forces, by the most powerful Empires, over many centuries earlier, since the vast Empires dating back to Alexander the Great.
And now, dusting off history a little in relation to what has happened, the defeat of the Yankee Empire in Afghanistan, it turns out that the Afghans have for a very long time been defeating those Powers that have occupied them, those Empires that have occupied them, those that have tried to make us them by occupying them, and they have rebelled; even the British were defeated in Afghanistan.
And this has caused enormous controversy in the United States of America, over whether the current President of the United States did the right thing, or whether he got it wrong; when what they have always got wrong is to occupy countries so as to try and impose their domination. That is the essence of the weakness of Empires when they launch themselves against Peoples, against Nations that have their own Cultures, that have their own Identity, and the Empires want not only to occupy them to enslave them, but also to change their Culture and their Identity.
That is where the Empires make their mistake, tripping over the same stone a thousand times, because they are arrogant. They are arrogant! They feel they are more powerful than God and they do not realize that through these defeats they have suffered and will continue to suffer, the one who is speaking to them is God and He is telling them to stop acting in this way, to respect the world's Peoples, not to invade the World's Peoples, and by doing so, then the United States will succeed in gaining the Respect of the world's Peoples.
Who would have imagined, after they invested billions, after they murdered thousands of families with their famous drones looking for the Taliban or looking for other ethnic and religious groups, they even fired on... a notorious crime that was denounced but nothing happens because the murderers are the United States, and when the United States murders, when the United States violates Human Rights and commits crimes against humanity, no one from the so-called Western World, supposedly Christians or at any rate democratic, respectful of Human Rights, not one of them raises their voice against those crimes or accuses the United States for its genocides.
It was a Wedding in a village there in Afghanistan, and that atrocity was repeated countless times, and of course, because is was a Wedding there were Families gathered there. Ah, but they decided that it was terrorists who were gathered there, and they bombed and killed Men, Women, Children.... They devastated the Wedding! And it became known all around the World. But who condemned the United States? Who condemns the United States for any of the crimes they have committed on the Planet?
And I was telling you that in the US they are debating, looking for a way to find a scapegoat internally, saying that Biden, President of the United States, organized the withdrawal badly. But it was not a question of organizing a withdrawal, simply, they had been defeated and they had no choice but to withdraw or they would have been driven out, because that offensive was already advancing, and they knew it and saw it and they had to act in a hurry.
And the other war-mongering President, Donald Trump, the little bully Trump, had already been forced to find a way to sign an agreements withdraw the troops, but he was not doing it for the good of the Afghans; he was doing it simply because he was being told by the General Staff of the United States Army, this war is lost, and before we end up leaving like they made us do out of Vietnam, we had better withdraw.
And then, as we have all seen, and what was a big surprise, was that the Army of Occupation that the Yankees had set up there, a powerful Army of Occupation, with 300,000 soldiers, that Army, when the agreements were signed and the Yankees were on their way home and the Taliban offensive was coming, that Army could not resist for more than a few hours, a few days.
It was a really lightning operation, and suddenly, the weapons that the Yankees had given to that Army of Occupation are now in the hands of the very Taliban they were supposed to finish off; the vehicles they gave them, the tanks they gave them, the rockets they gave them, are all in the hands of the Taliban who are now already forming a Government.
And now the Europeans and the Americans themselves are debating, really, how to handle the situation, and they are also debating it in the United Nations, how to pressure the Taliban. They say now, we have to look for ways to influence, how? Well, by establishing relations. They are already talking about the need to find a way to establish relations, to have some links with that government, otherwise it would be a danger for them, because for them it is dangerous that there is a Country, a Nation, which is not subject to their dictates.
We already know that when the United States speaks against Terrorism, nobody should forget how they have nurtured terrorism in the world, how they have organized terrorist groups in the world, how even the agents trained by them, such as Bin Laden, simply because the gringos have made them their agents, well, they had their vision of the world, their vision of the United States, their feeling for the damage that the United States had done to them, and then came the act of terrorism that we all condemned in the New York Towers.
Indeed, no act of terrorism can be justified, but the history is that the United States has been behind the greatest acts of terrorism that have occurred in in recent times, times in which the United States became a Power and began to dispute territories with the other Powers of the Planet.
Let us hope they learn the lesson from Afghanistan, because the truth is that they came out of there as they did in Vietnam. They really came out of there like they did in Vietnam, a shameful situation for a Power like the United States.
And the essence of this outcome lies in the fact that the United States has been and remains a Power that feels it owns the world, it feels it can command everywhere, because it can threaten and because it can attack, as it attacks Cuba, as it attacks Venezuela, as it has attacked Nicaragua, as it has attacked Bolivia.
They feel, and they have to realize once and for all, I hope President Biden understands this, since it is in his hands, I know it is not easy, because he also has internal forces that are belligerent, that do not renounce the practice of war. But this recent event gives President Biden all the authority to state that this type of action, this type of policy, this type of intervention, should not be repeated, and that the United States has to find another way of relating with the Peoples of the World, including with the smaller countries.
And that the United States has nothing to gain by bellowing in the midst of this pandemic against the Powers I mentioned, such as China, the People's Republic of China, such as the Russian Federation, because what this does is to provoke more instability, more insecurity at the global level. Because after all is said and done there must be understandings, agreements.
The United States, and Europe as well, must work out how to respect the agreements they have made with these countries, the agreements they have made with Iran must be respected; they must seek understanding with Korea, the People's Republic of North Korea, which has atomic weapons. Oh, and in that case they are upset because North Korea has an atomic weapon....But then, who gave the US the right to have atomic weapons? Those who possess atomic weapons, who gave them the exclusive right to have those atomic weapons? If someone has an atomic weapon then other countries also feel entitled also to have atomic weapons.
Entirely for reasons of principle and because we understand that it is absurd to enter into an arms race of this type, the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean made a commitment at the Havana Meeting of CELAC to declare Latin America and the Caribbean as a Region Free of Atomic Weapons.
But viewed as a point of law, who can deny the right to another country that feels threatened by a Power? Who can deny it the right to develop atomic weapons? And why should you have that right and but not me? Why should only the United States have the right? Or why only the British? Why? On what basis?
The ideal thing would be for atomic weapons to disappear, since they are a threat to the whole of Humanity, and a threat to the very Peoples of the Countries that possess atomic weapons.
That is the struggle that will have to be fought in these times, in these moments, after what has happened in Afghanistan. Afghanistan gives us a very strong message. God is speaking through Afghanistan, and He is telling us and telling them: Do not continue on that path! Stop! You have to stop, because that path leads to a holocaust of all Humanity, where no one will be saved, no Power will be saved from an atomic holocaust, from an atomic war.
So we, face with these events, above all we pray for Peace, we pray for the United States to act rationally, for the European countries to act rationally. What I am saying may seem absurd, because it is trying to tell those who have long practiced war to stop that practice.
But in fact, Reality is saying that this is not the way, and I hope that the American people, who in the end are the ones who get killed in these wars, American youth, will rise up as they rose up against the war in Vietnam, that they will rise up now so that the United States becomes a country of Peace, and Europe becomes a region of Peace and that they learn to respect the Countries and Peoples of the world in the process of development.
Thank you, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, thank you Nicaraguan Families, thank you for giving, as we know you give, your Respect, your Affection and your Love to the Army of Nicaragua.
Long Live the Nicaraguan Army!
Long Live the 42nd Anniversary of the Army of Nicaragua!
Sandino lives, Sandino lives on, yes, Sandino lives, and our Nation lives, a Nation that fights for Peace, fights for Freedom, fights for Justice.
Good evening, beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters. And Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free !
Remarks by Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the Ceremony in Commemoration of the 42nd Anniversary of the Nicaraguan Army
September 2, 2021
Good evening. How much Pride we feel, an immense Pride, in what we are, in our indomitable Nicaraguan Character... Heroic and Victorious, Always !
42 Years of the Foundation of the Army of Nicaragua, which we celebrate on September 2nd because the Army of Nicaragua and all of us are the triumphant continuity of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty of our General Sandino.
That historical review by General Avilés, by our Comandante Daniel, that historical journey made possible by so many generations, is a Memory, a History and a Memory that all of us have engraved in our Hearts. We are a proud part of that History of Love for our Nation, of Love for Nicaragua, of recognition and Defense of our Country, of Nicaragua, of recognition and Defense of our National Sovereignty.
And when one listens, not only to History, when one lives the Memory, of course one also lives the History, the Memory, and the absence that exists in so many Nicaraguan Families that gave their Children, their Spouses, their Siblings, so that we could live better, so that the Christian Precept of Loving our Neighbor, and of working together, all together, for the Common Good, could be fulfilled here. And that is what we are doing.
That is why, every dawn and every night, we offer up a prayer always to Our Father for all those Children of Nicaragua, who have been and who are with us still, because they are the Honor, the Honor and Glory of all Nicaraguan Families, who love their Nation, who love Freedom, who want to be respected.
As our Comandante Daniel said, and as we say every day: Here the Yankees could not prevail, nor will they be able to! They need to realize that the world's Peoples deserve Respect and that it is not with blackmail or with targeted aggression that they can get what they want, or that they can change our indefatigable determination to continue making our way in Sovereignty, as Free Beings. Because God made us Free, He did not make us slaves and He did not make us subject to the enslaving, genocidal, terrorist Empires of the Earth.
As we celebrate the Army of Nicaragua and this determination of us All for our Nation, we also celebrate everything that can be done, everything that we can do together, in terms of progress in the Fight against Poverty, because our country enjoys Security, because there is Stability, because there is Sovereign Security, and because there is Citizen Security. Because we have solid Institutions that serve our People with Heroism, with Dignity, making it possible for all of us to work together, from dawn to dusk and to dawn again, under this Nicaraguan Sun "of Burning Gold", as our Rubén says, that illuminates us and does not set.
We recognize the guarantee of Sovereign Security, of Citizen Security, that we enjoy thanks to our Solid, Patriotic Institutions, dedicated to the People, to the struggles of the People and to the creation of the Future that our Nicaraguan Families deserve.
A warm embrace to all the Families of the Brothers and Sisters of our Army, of our Police, of our Ministry of Government, of all the Institutions of this Blessed Nation. A Nation Blessed and Forever Free ! A Land where Sovereignty is not only sung but lived out, worked for, defended, every day.
Here ee Go Forward Always with Faith, because we are a People of Faith, of Values, of Family, of Community, of Sacred Beliefs that motivate us, with enthusiasm, with joy, to live out creatively the Future we deserve, as a People, as Families, as Brothers and Sisters .
Thank you very much, and a big embrace to all of you, in the Joy of Living in Peace. Thank you, Compañeras and Compañeros.