Address by President-Comandante Daniel at the Central Ceremony
in Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Central America
September 15th 2021
Good afternoon, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. Today we are commemorating 200 Years of another stage in the History of the Struggle for the Independence of our Peoples and, therefore, in the History of the Struggle for the Self-Determination and Independence of Nicaragua.
Compañera Rosario; Compañero Commander in Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Julio César Avilés Castillo; Compañero First Commissioner of the National Police, Commissioner General Francisco Díaz Madriz; beloved Brother, Compañero, Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly; beloved Sister, Heroine, Brenda Rocha, President of the Supreme Electoral Council; beloved Brother, General Bayardo Rodríguez, Chief of Staff of the Nicaraguan Army; beloved Brother, Major General Marvin Corrales, Inspector General of the Nicaraguan Army; beloved Brother, Commissioner General Ramón Avellán, and beloved Brother, Commissioner General Adolfo Marenco, both Deputy Directors of the National Police.
200 Years... But before reaching that date that is marked as the date of the Independence of the Central American Region, in fact, there were 300 Years of Struggle, of Resistance, Heroic Resistance that began with the battles of Cacique Diriangén, who refused to surrender. He negotiated with the Spaniards, with the invaders, he negotiated with them, but they wanted to impose their conditions, and Diriangén did not accept them, so he fought them, confronting them in an unequal battle.
And the resistance of the Original Peoples, our Ancestors was sustained, subjected to new forms of slavery imposed by the conquerors, via what we know as the Encomiendas, whereby the Spanish Authorities, the King of Spain signed away the indigenous villages of the native population, so that they would become servants of the owners of the haciendas, of the owners of the lands that had been stolen, misappropriated, that really belonged to those sisters and brothers who were the people living here long before the conquerors arrived.
So then, the conquerors stole their lands and those who refused to submit were tortured, killed, and other forms of slavery were created, turning native people into serfs, into servants of the gleba they would say. And around the lands that the Spanish Authorities of that time distributed, lands which were not theirs, around those lands, it was they who decided how many sisters and brothers of the Original Communities should go to settle them, to serve them, to work for them, as fresh slave labor for the conquerors. But not only that, they also gave slave labor to the Church, and the Church accepted that slave labor.
But even worse than that, they imported slave labor bringing them from Africa, and that is the slave labor that was traded, that was sold, Human Beings that were traded and sold and then here, in these lands, they were assigned to the High Authorities of the conquerors, they were assigned to the High Authorities of the Church. Indeed, the Bishops were there quietly receiving that slave labor! They too were awarded that slave labor coming from the African Continent, slaves who were given to the encomenderos, to those who were in charge of the exploitation of Human Beings to produce wealth for them.
And when there was intermixing between the Indians and the population that had arrived from Africa, then that worried the encomenderos, because for them the labor force they had bought lost quality. A mestizaje was emerging there.
And when they mixed with Spaniards who were not of notable ancestry, or Spaniards who decided simply to procreate with indigenous women, then they also condemned, questioned and persecuted them, not for humanitarian or ethical reasons, but simply because the labor force was being weakened by this intermixing; But the labor force was weakened too because it was no longer the slave labor force that came from Africa, slaves who were more resistant, stronger; the indigenous labor force was a bit more fragile, and also were being subjected to conditions of slavery that they had never experienced before.
So then, when these mixtures occurred, the behavior of those who procreated sons and daughters in those very conditions, their behavior, their thinking, led them to demand rights, to rebel, and to escape. And there arose in all our region the word cimarrones; those who escaped, those who fled from these forms of slavery were called cimarrones, and they were persecuted by the large landowners who had come from Spain and become a new ruling class in this country.
And also among the High Clergy, some priests like Tomas Ruiz, an indigenous man, who defended the Rights of the Indigenous and opposed those forms of slavery, rebelled. And later, when stronger rebellions began to take place in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and in Guatemala, they imprisoned Fray Tomas Ruiz there. They imprisoned him just because he did not accept the prevailing forms of domination and for seeking and fighting for Independence; so they tortured him, they imprisoned him in Guatemala, where they took him in chains.
It was in the midst of all these contradictions, when elsewhere the Kingdom of Spain was weakened by wars the Europeans were waging. Europe was fighting wars to dominate the lands that were known up until then, to dominate the World that was known at that time, Asia, Africa, and also to become masters of Europe, they wanted to dominate all of Europe; the French were fighting the Spanish, the English, the Germans; in other words, a confrontation among themselves, the very ones who prided themselves on representing Civilization.
Indeed, they were violent confrontations, and in the midst of these violent confrontations the Europeans came across these Territories. They did not know that there were lands in this Region, that there was a whole Continent, or that there were Peoples who were owners of these Lands, who had their own Cultures, their own Languages, their own Religion. And they came to put an end to all that, not to recognize them as Human Beings, but to turn them into slave labor.
It took long years to reach Independence, the Declaration of Independence of September 15, 200 years ago, and 300 years of struggle to reach that Declaration of Independence; in other words, a total of 500 years of struggle to forge the Self-Determination, the Independence of our Peoples.
And the Declaration of Independence is just that, a Declaration; that is to say, the power did not exist to establish once and for all a Central American Region, United, Independent and willing to fight for the Welfare of its Peoples.
That Declaration of Independence was a Declaration that did nothing more than reflect the great contradictions of the dominant powers, the dominant economic groups, the children of Spaniards already born in these lands, who felt they had more rights and so wanted more economic power.
At that time there had already been a great Revolution in Europe, the French Revolution; it was a Revolution where interests clashed, the Royal Power was overthrown, the Royalty, and the Principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were established, three Principles that began to spread across Europe sharpening the contradictions in France itself.
Because the French Revolution took place but that did not lead, after all, to the necessary Unity in France so the French Revolutionaries, and all those supporting the Revolution and who ordered the guillotine, because there they ordered the guillotine, in the name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity they sentenced the King to the guillotine and all those who had been exploiting that People for centuries.
But there was no cohesion, there was no unity, and they set up the Assembly, installed the Assembly, in the midst of deep contradictions, such that the heads of the Revolutionaries also began to be chopped off, because of those major contradictions. The Feudal Regime had already been overthrown, and then we had a new situation, but the ideas being reproduced all over Europe generated great contradictions in the European countries dominated by Monarchs.
These contradictions were reflected here of course, contradictions that also led to the fact that those who had left Europe, who had emigrated from Europe to the North of our America, to the United States, to what is the Territory of the United States and Canada, Alaska, which they had their own native Peoples, their own native owners, in fact, those European emigrants began to develop their own interests at the cost of crushing the Original Peoples, and leaving a few of ur forebears later in a few Reserves, in Reserves.
At htat moment came the strongest conflict, the clash of England, which regarded itself as the owner of that Territory, and the Citizens both of English origin and from other European Countries that already had interests in the territory they had taken over, so they began to confront each other, over protests against taxes imposed by the English State, the English Monarchy, which ended in a war between what today is the United States, and England.
Notice what happened in those moments in which those Revolutions took place, because it was a Revolution in the United States, the United States became independent from England, and the contflicts with those who were in Canada as well. That is where France was involved.
In other words, Revolutions, but then immediately contradictions, why? Because the Model that was being installed in all these countries had only one essence, regardless of whether it was in the name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, a beautiful motto that we have all picked up, yes, we have picked up that motto, but what happened, what really prevailed in these lands? The interests of the big capital, of the big traders, of the big businessmen, who saw the chance to make more capital, that is what prevailed.... Savage Capitalism!
There you see the roots of Savage Capitalism, no longer staying only in Europe, but expanding towards these lands and settling in these lands, Savage Capitalism, leading to confrontation here in Central America, especially of the Spanish against the English, the English wanting to take over Central America, the Spanish the same, and the Germans too, also making incursions.
That is to say, the European powers were looking for a way to take over these lands from the other Peoples that had arrived here first, doing so by force, violently. It was not a peaceful occupation, the conquerors did not come to these lands with the Bible, to preach Love, to preach Love for the Neighbor, to preach Welfare and Progress for the Indigenous Peoples.
How beautiful it would have been if they had come with the Bible and not with the sword; had they come with the Bible, what for? To be respectful of the Rights of the Peoples who were settled here, and to share with them their knowledge of greater development, of greater understanding, of what they call Civilization, to be able to share with these Peoples, not to exterminate them, not to enslave them. That is what a true human being who respects his fellow human beings does.
What they did was to come and bring their own contradictions here to these lands, for example the English organized several onslaughts to take over Nicaragua, Spanish and English confronting each other.
Then the United States appeared, and the United States appeared seeking to exploit the contradictions between England and Spain, and seeking to dominate these lands, so as to dominate the wealth produced by these oppressed, enslaved Peoples. And well, there was resistance, there was struggle, yes, there was, and I am talking about the eve of September 15th 1821.
There was no Proclamation of Independence for the Welfare of the Peasants, which was the exploited, indigenous population in the countryside. Why was this not proposed? Because the contradictions that had been generated here in these countries of the Central American region were so deep, that selfishness and ambition prevailed, at any cost.
In other words, there was no need for the theorists of the free market, nor of Capitalism, there was no need for Adam Smith; because we were simply living out here, as they were living out in Europe, the practice of Savage Capitalism, of "every man for himself", and where naturally, the most powerful, the wealthiest, those who had the backing of the great Powers, they are the ones who manage to dominate.
And in the struggle for Independence, yes, there were Patriots who fought for true Independence, who fought in defense of popular interests. Cleto Ordoñez is a Personality that emerges there, he is the most emblematic Leader of all that period, before the Declaration of Independence. He is the one who achieved and succeeded in gaining the respect and appreciation of the people, of the poor, because he acted on their behalf.
At somepoint a wealthy man might come and tell him, since he was an outstanding military man, saying to him: "Go ahead, I will give you the leadership". And he would go ahead and take that leadership, but then he would use that leadership to defend the workers, to defend the People. That is how this Personality, Colonel Cleto Ordoñez, addressed the situation..
That is to say, everyone had their own interest in Independence: there were royalists, that is, those who wanted to make a Declaration of Independence, but whereby the Region was subordinated to the Spanish Royalty, and there were those who did not accept that approach.
And it was in those complex conditions in which there was no unity of criteria, but a struggle of opposites, with some in favor of a true Independence, others in favor of a formula that would give continuity to dependence of the Monarchy.
Others, already thinking ahead, especially those children of the Spaniards already born in these lands, thinking that it was their turn to take Power here, to oppress in fact, not to promote Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Justice, but to oppress these Peoples and to accumulate the wealth that they felt they earned, it is true, because they were Merchants and everything else, but at the end of the day those who earned most were those who were overseas, those who were in Spain, the most powerful, who had more authority and more strength here in the Region.
Well, the Declaration of Independence was a step, one step, as happened with the French Revolution, it was a big step and it managed to remove the established Power. Here what it did was to sharpen the contradictions between the Powers that were establishing themselves and were disputingcontrol of trade, they were disputing control of the lands that belonged to our Indigenous Ancestors, disputing the Political Power they needed so as to have economic control.
This is a date, therefore, which we mark, the Central American Region marks, one that, given so many contradictions, given so many pressures, being small countries already contaminated by the penetration of the capitalist practice that had arrived, the commercial practice, the marketing practice that had arrived from Europe, already poisoned, in the end, they confronted each other. And it was not possible for the Declaration of Independence to strengthen unity in Central America, not even unity in Nicaragua.
At this point, Independence is declared and immediately the conflicts continue... Already the mestizos and Nicaraguans of mestizo origin and who were already closer to Power, and the Creoles who had been born in these lands as children or grandchildren of Spaniards, they began to clash.
And that is where the famous story begins, of how Nicaragua reached Independence, and it turned out that Nicaragua had, and had done for a long time, an internal war between Granada and Leon, where centers of power were installed, one power in Leon and another power in Granada, and they did not recognize a single power, but confronted each other in permanent war. One more Progressive Force and another more Conservative Force, confronted each other. And that confrontation is the one that brings in Walker.
Look carefully how, in 1821 we are supposed to be independent, but the problem is the confrontation with those who still long to return to being a Colony of Spain, others who seek to be a Colony of England, and those who were already beginning to seek to be a Colony of the United States; in other words, traitors come with the System, with the Model...
In the essence of the Capitalist Model, which is the antithesis of Christianity, there are all those attitudes, those diabolic behaviors, from which come the traitors, that is to say, the traitors have not simply appeared just now, the first traitors were those who defended the dominion of Spain, and they opposed independence, they opposed it.
It was a long haul in the days of our great-great-grandfathers, our great-grandfathers, in those struggles, until Yankee expansionism appeared and William Walker appeared, invited by the traitors; that is to say, they invited him to come and help them in their struggle, to overcome the other side.
Two groups with conflicting political ideas settled, some in Granada, others in Leon, installing governments, here we had one government in Leon and another government in Granada, and they invited the invaders. The invaders came, but they did not come to work for the traitors, they came to take possession of the Nation, which did not belong to the invader and did not belong either to the ones who put the Nation up for sale.
That is when the invading Yankee gave himself the luxury of proclaiming himself President of Nicaragua, and the traitors, the traitors actually applauded him and paid him obeisance. And so the battle began, because there, under those circumstances, when the leaders of those political groups realized that the Yankee was coming to take over Nicaragua and to chop off their heads too, because after all Walker had already shot some of the people who had invited him in; They thought they were bringing an employee but when they came and tried to give Walker orders, Walker did not obey them and imposed his decisions, so they wanted to remove him and Walker went ahead and shot them, really, he shot some of those who had sent for him; the traitors.
Then when they realized that the threat was total, that the invading Yankee is not going to respect them, no matter how much they betrayed their country, and that he was not going to recognize any Nicaraguan government, only himself as the President of Nicaragua even aspiring to be the President of Central America; then, these are difficult circumstances, hard for Nicaragua, hard for Central America.
The other Central American countries woke up and realized that the threat was coming from Nicaragua to all the Central American countries; so they woke up and began making preparations to defend themselves, foreseeing that the Yankee would invade them after already dominating Nicaragua.
So they waited, they did not decide to come to Nicaragua to fight the Yankee because they were waiting to see what would happen and the first Battle of San Jacinto was decisive for our neighbors who realized that the Yankee could be defeated, because in that First Battle they were defeated when they tried to take the Nicaraguan's redoubt and that encouraged the Central Americans to realize that the seemingly invincible could be defeated.
That is where the Battle of September 14 becomes even more decisive, because some define the First Battle as an attack, a skirmish, they do not give it the force of a Battle, but the important thing is that the Yankee was defeated, he could not take the redoubt.
Already for the Battle of San Jacinto the Yankee was better organized, he put Colonel Byron Cole at the front, and with this Yankee at the front of the invading troops they felt reinforced; meanwhile, the neighbors watching to see what would happen, and as is normal, they said to themselves: If these Yankees wipe the floor with these Nicas then all that's left to do is wait here, we are not going to go and get involved there.
So, the Battle of San Jacinto was a strategic defeat, why? So that all the Forces of the Brother Countries, of the neighboring Countries, were mobilized, and there the Forces were united and it happened, pay attention to this, because since the arrival of the conquerors that our ancestors faced, like Diriangén, the resistance that many Brothers and Sister gave against the barbarities committed by the colonizers, at each moment everyone giving the fight, in El Salvador giving the fight, in Guatemala giving the fight, there were conspiracies against the conquerors but they crushed them in a brutal way.
Back then, what they prescribed for those resisting were dungeons, with chains on their feet, chains on their ankles, chains on their hands, on their arms, yes, dungeons, simply for having ideas. We are not talking about taking such repressive measures against those who fighting with weapons, no, against those just because they did not agree; there were indeed some who decided to fight them, and they gave them the death penalty. And one exception they gave in those circumstances, was to Fray Tomás, he was going to be shot, and with a great concession, he was not going to be shot after all, but he was going to be given life imprisonment.
So, the country was supposedly independent, but it was a country that did not function normally, there were all these confrontations I have mentioned, and all Central America was undergoing similar situations as well, the whole Central American region.
So what is it that really unites us? Because the Unity that was given to declare Independence was, let's say, a Unity where everything was apparently there; that is, there was no consistency in the Declaration of Independence and it did not go beyond that, a Declaration, although in practice there was no possibility of consolidating Independence in each and every one of the Central American Countries, which could only happen through Unity, which although it was sought after, had no value, because there was no commitment. What really united Central Americans was the defense of the Sovereignty of Nicaragua and the Central American Nation, because all of Central America was threatened. And that was when Central America united and achieved that glorious defeat of the Yankee expansionists. And we remember, we can never fail to remember and mention the barbarities they committed, the burning of the city of Granada, which was Walker's farewell to Nicaragua, and to the Heroic Struggle of the Nicaraguans, of the Central Americans who joined that Battle.
So you see, here we have proof that when there is Unity, no enemy will seek to harm our Peoples, no matter how small those Peoples are, there is no enemy that can achieve that objective. And we can say, we can affirm, that the defense of Central America, from Nicaragua invaded by the Yankee invader, who had appointed himself President and who was recognized by the Yankee Government, that defeat was, and is, the greatest test of fire that we Central Americans have had, of Unity.
And of course we cannot fail to point out that the contribution made by the Declaration of Independence of September 15, 1821, the contribution it made was that we all dreamed, our ancestors all dreamed, each one in his own way dreamed of being independent because the Declaration had been made, and being independent, and in those conditions in which the invading Yankee entered, it was no longer Spain's role to confront the invading Yankee, because Spain had already withdrawn; Nor was it up to England, which was still in the Caribbean region, to confront the invading Yankees, nor was it going to do so for obvious reasons, because they made a pact with the Yankees to divide up that part of Nicaragua, to divide up part of Panama and Colombia.
So, we have to point out and recognize that the Declaration of Independence of September 15, 1821 has value, because it enabled us to think, to dream that we were independent, and to be clear that Spain was not going to come to defend us from the Yankee expansionists, and that there was no other way and no other alternative except the struggle of the Central American Peoples themselves.
So we can confidently assert that the first great Victory of the Central American Region since the Declaration of Independence of September 15, 1821, is the Unity of Central America, already independent, defeating the invaders. And that has been decisive, why? So that as Nations with all those contradictions that I have mentioned, with great weaknesses, with wars among the Central American Nations themselves, disputing territories over the years, without achieving that independence, and instead of uniting, integrating, rather clashing, even so it gave us the authority, it gave us the strength, the commitment at the end of the day, that we declared Independence and if Independence was declared in these countries, well, we have to make it a reality, we have to defend it, we have to develop it, and independence is developed with firmness, it is developed with a Spirit of Solidarity, it is developed with Justice.
And you see, it was not until the 1960s that the first consistent, solid, economic-trade Agreement was reached, that is to say, in order to reach an Agreement of this type, there had to be a Political Will, regardless of who was in power.
Here, whoever governed the other Central American countries realized that we had to find a way to come closer together in the field of trade, to reach an agreement, and that has really become and did become a historic step to advance in the struggle for Independence, because we are still fighting for the Independence of our Nations.
It was on December 13, 1960 and it was precisely here in Managua that the General Treaty of Central American Economic Integration was signed, it was 60 years ago last December, and from that Treaty we have been advancing and we have been moving forward, we have been strengthening it.
This is the cornerstone, because there can be Political Agreements, at that time there was, before this Treaty, there was ODECA, but that was only to defend other interests that had nothing to do with the interests of the People. On the other hand, trade is employment, trade is what provides the instruments and resources for the development of a nation, for the development of education, culture, sports and health.So, that was a transcendental step, 1960, the foundations were laid there, for what? To move forward in what we know today as SICA, the Central American Integration System, and there is also SIECA, which has to do only with the economic aspect. But it is a more consistent Integration System, where we Central Americans are working together in all fields.
We have SICA, where we have been rotating the Presidency of SICA, we have been respecting that, rotating the Presidency of SICA among the Central American countries, independently of political and ideological aspects.
We have also achieved an enormous step forward, a great advance, from when we had confrontations, especially of a territorial nature, between Central American Nations, we have achieved an articulation between the Central American Armies, between the Central American Police. In other words, there is an awareness that we have to look for ways to work together to confront drug trafficking and organized crime, in order to defend our peoples.
In other words, these are two very important elements that mark a new stage in the Integration Process that must lead to the Unity of the Central American Region. I am sure that the day will come when we will be united.
There are sister countries that have already made much more progress in the field of integration, using common transit for the transportation of goods. We are also working to join them and that this will give a greater fluidity to the flow of goods, greater savings of time, and therefore strengthening the commercial traffic in our Central American Region.
And on this day, beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, beloved Nicaraguan Families, we say with this phrase: Honor and Glory to those who defended these lands 500 years ago, such as Cacique Diriangén, among other Heroes!
Honor and Glory to those who despite the enormous pressures that existed from the different Empires, decided to sign in Guatemala on September 15, 1821 that Declaration of Independence!
Honor and Glory to those who understood that only united could we face the invader coming from the North, the Yankee expansionism that wanted to take over all of Central America! Another historic moment.
Now we are moving along this New Route, where we have these Organizations which we have to strengthen more and more each day, and this is for the benefit of Nicaraguans, it is for the benefit of the Central American Peoples, it is to strengthen the Economy, even in the midst of this pandemic, to strengthen the Economy, to strengthen food production, the Internal Market and also to strengthen the International Market, so that this will give us more resources.
There are Nations that have a lot of resources with which we have disagreements, but when it comes to dealing with the International Economic and Financial Organizations, call it the InterAmerican Development Bank, call it the World Bank, call it the International Monetary Fund, so many organizations, the European Bank, in spite of the differences we have, all recognize the principal thing, that Nicaragua has efficiently used the resources it has received to build Highways, to build Hospitals, to build Schools, to build Housing, because that is in full view, and has been respected. You Nicaraguan brothers and sisters who are in different parts of our country know this perfectly well, because we are talking about what you are can see for yourselves, and every day you are seeing how new works are being started, new hospitals, new schools, new women's maternity units, new housing, new productive activities. What does this mean? It means giving them resources, guaranteeing resources to the Producers, to the Farmers, that will allow Farmers of scarce resources, Producers of scarce resources, who work from dawn to dusk, to have the inputs, the resources they need to achieve a greater productivity of Beans, Corn, Coffee, Vegetables, and so that they can also develop businesses to commercialize those products.
All of this is happening here in the midst of the pandemic, the pandemic cannot and should not stop what is the Fighting Spirit, the Working Spirit of a People.
The pandemic can be confronted by complying with the norms, by making efforts as we have been doing to get vaccines, to get vaccines delivered. And we have thanked Spain, vaccines have arrived from Spain recently, vaccines have arrived again, we thank the Spanish People and Government, and we thank the King of Spain. He has greeted us on the occasion of this date of Independence, he has sent a Greeting, we thank him for the Greeting.
We want good relations with all the countries of the world and the only thing we ask is that they respect us. We do not interfere with the particular, specific aspects of decisions taken by each country. And we want them to continue giving support, because this is a way to combat Poverty, to develop a People, to develop a Country.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, beloved Families, beloved Nicaraguan Youth, on this 200th Anniversary we say to our Heroes and Martyrs who throughout History have fought for Justice, for Liberty, for Dignity, for Sovereignty, for Nicaragua, for our Families.... To all of them we say, that, here you have a People, here you have a nation's Youth, here you have Workers, here you have Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Specialists building Roads, building Houses, you have an Army, a Police, you have Institutions that are working around the clock, to defend the Right of Nicaraguans to have a better Life in all aspects.
And we tell you, beloved Brothers and Sisters, that we join all the Faithful who every day tell us that they are praying so that the Country can continue to develop, so that the Country can get out of this pandemic, and we, ofcurse, pray to God, to Christ, so that He gives us more strength to continue this Fight, to continue this Battle for Humanity that has to do with our commitment that we Nicaraguans see ourselves and act as Brothers and Sisters. Love your Neighbor as yourself, yes, that is the Principle that we defend and will continue to defend.
Long Live the 200th Anniversary of the Independence of Central America!
Long Live Independent Nicaragua!
Long Live Nicaragua's Families!
Long Live Nicaragua's Youth!
Long Live Sandino, the Struggle Continues!
And Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free!
Remarks by Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the Central Ceremony in Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Central America
September 15, 2021
Good evening, good evening. 200 Years and it seems that it is nothing, and yet it is so much. 200 and 500, and whole Lifetimes fighting with Love, for this Nation of Ours, for these Sacred Lands, for these Sacred Families too, for all that we are, and all that we want to be, in Unity and Good Will.
September 15th when all of Central America that celebrates, not only the First Independence, but the Paths of Unity and Hope to create the Future, because it is united that we create the Future, in every Country, and in Central America.
We, who have followed and are believers in Fraternity and Unity among the Central American Peoples, know that today more than ever we have to build more and more Unity, because there are the issues to address not only of the Americas, but also of the world.
Unity, because there are not only the Economic Issues, which have to do with Employment of course, Trade, but also Health, which has to do with Life, every day.
And when we say that we are and must be more and more United, we are thinking too about Education, Health, everything that concerns us as Human Beings, as Sisters and Brothers, and how to continue creating a Future of better conditions for All . Because each Country, by itself, can progress, it is true, but all together we are stronger.
Today, in this Square which is Historic, before our National Heroes, and before the Nicaraguan People who are Heroic and who are also full, not only of Heroism, but of Heroes, of Heroes who have defended all that we are and all that we want to be, we commit ourselves to work harder for that Unity in Central America and that Unity in our Nicaragua, the Unity that guides us, and will continue to guide us, and we say so out of the Faith that encourages us and strengthens us every day, to reach Prosperity.
So, Compañer@s, it has been a good day, it did not rain, and here we have been, here we are, our hearts full of Reverence and Respect for these Times that we have passed and traveled through. Respect for this Future that calls us, summons us all to strengthen ourselves and fight against Poverty in each one of our Countries. Respect for every Family, for each Brother and Sister, each Young person, every Child, because together we are the Hope of a Better World. With the Certainty, based on our Historical Truth, yesterday, today, in the Future, that God Will Be Better, because God always provides, and we know that God will provide a Bright Future for all Nicaragua's Families.
Over the next few days, there are still some days remaining for the rest and unity of the Families, in the Communities, in the Regions, in the Municipalities, in places of recreation, a Strong Embrace to all, full of Love, full of Faith, full of Strength, we know that we are the Strength of a People that Prevails and, above everything, is one full of commitment, to go forward in the future, above all, full of commitment, to go forward, all of us together, as Protagonists of Study, Health, Work, in the Country and the City, and of the Roads of Prosperity, to go ahead building the Future, and fulfilling Christ Jesus, because fulfilling the People is fulfilling God!
Thank you, Compañer@s, and enormous, immense, infinite Affection, commitment to go Forward, fighting daily against Poverty, and advancing towards Better Times, from Times that through all our Lifetime have been Heroic, when I say all Lifetime I should say all our Lifetimes, in plural, moving towards the Times we are already making, Better Times, ones blessed by God, and we know that it is from His Hand, and for His Glory, that all those Times to Come will be Better, in which we are moving ahead, with our Honorable Work, changing the Life of Everyone for the Good, for Better ! Thank you, Companions.