Message from President Comandante Daniel to Nicaragua's Families
October 4th 2021
Good afternoon, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, Nicaraguan Families, today October 4th.
The 4th of October is nowadays marked as Ecology Day; likewise, during these days in 2007 we signed here in Nicaragua, an Agreement, a Commitment, the Presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, agreeing to convert the Gulf of Fonseca into a Pole of Economic and Social Development, and we clearly said, a Gulf for Peace!
Peace, a magic word, so necessary in the World, vital for the Human Species, vital to face the great challenges we have in terms of the fight against Poverty, the fight against inequality, the fight against injustice, the fight against wars, invasions, interventions, aggression of all kinds, which are still present in the World and are present right here in Latin America and the Caribbean.
More than 2 billion citizens in the world live in countries, in nations suffering this aggression, and here in our own region, Cuba, our sister country, the Cuba of Fidel, of Raul, of our Brother President Miguel Diaz-Canel, is blockaded in a totally brutal way.
There, this involves nothing but an outrage, disrespect, collective violation against an entire People. The United States has been blockading for decades a People which, in spite of the aggression, in spite of the blockade, has known how to resist, has known how to go forward.
Always present has been the Spirit of Martí, the Spirit of Fidel, a People so Heroic, so Brave, in the face of adversities, that even in these circumstances where the blockade against Cuba has intensified, Cuba is producing vaccines, is manufacturing vaccines against this plague which has caused pain and death, suffering among the Families of the Planet.
And that is where Cuba rises up, with its Brigades of Doctors offering Solidarity, and also providing vaccines so that we can count on those vaccines, and also here in Nicaragua, apply those vaccines to children, boys and girls. And also to continue, with efficacy, with the discipline with which we have been working, applying other vaccines to the Nicaraguan population as well, including young people who voluntarily wish to be vaccinated, and also to expectant mothers.
In other words, Cuba has miraculously managed, thanks to its consciousness, thanks to its fighting spirit, to be on a par with the developed countries that sanction it, that blockade it, that attack it, and it produces vaccines that are also manufactured in those same countries. With the difference that in those countries there is a total competition of free market Savage Capitalism, everyone out for themselves, and they wage war against vaccines manufactured in countries acting with a Spirit of Solidarity, they try to disqualify them, all the time seeking to place their vaccines, exclusively, in the world market.
But we hope that, sooner rather than later, the effectiveness and validity of all the vaccines that are being manufactured in the world, and which are being persecuted, will be recognized. It has already happened with the Russian vaccines, it has happened with the Chinese vaccines, and so on with other vaccines that they have wanted to disqualify, simply because they are not being produced by the countries where the Savage Capitalism proceeds in all its evil, doing business at the expense of the Life of the inhabitants of the Planet Earth.
Today, October 4th, General Benjamin Zeledón was born on a day like today, in the year 1879 in La Concordia, Jinotega. Our greetings to the brothers and sisters of La Concordia, Jinotega, the town that gave birth to this patriot, this National Hero, Benjamin Zeledón.
He studied his primary and secondary school, then became a lawyer, then he was part of the Government that carried out the Liberal Revolution, and then, when the Yankees decided to overthrow that Government, the Government of Zelaya, Zeledón was at the fore, he was the one who stood up for Nicaragua, facing the invading troops. Yes, the Yankee troops came, in collusion, as ever, with the traitors, where there is a traitor, there is Yankee intervention, and Zeledón faced up to them in a heroic way.
Indeed, we have our Heroes who resisted and gave their lives confronting colonization, when the Spaniards arrived with the Sword and the Cross, but of course it was not the Cross that prevailed,but rather the Sword.
Ah, if they had arrived with the Cross but without the Sword, the reality here in Our America would be different, there would be another reality in the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the countries that invaded the Americas. Because the invaders came not only from Spain, but from England, from France, from everywhere invading these lands, plundering these lands, and enslaving these peoples.
Under such circumstances, when we talk about Zeledón, we are talking about a Hero, the first Nicaraguan Hero, after Diriangén, after José Dolores Estrada, Andrés Castro, the archers of Matagalpa, the Indian archers who fought at San Jacinto, then Zeledón appears, the first Nicaraguan to confront the powerful troops of the Yankee Empire, and he was the inspiration for our General Sandino, who was a child when he saw how the Yankees later went around dragging Zeledon's body along in order to sow fear and terror among the Nicaraguans.
And on October 4, 1912, the very day of his birthday, there fighting in El Coyotepe, in La Barranca, where the Yankee troops could not take the position along with the sell-outs that accompanied them, in the end he fell into an ambush, and there he was killed. But his example remained amng the People and remained in our General Sandino who was a boy. Sandino took on the Courage, the Valor, the Fortitude of General Benjamin Zeledon.
And that Courage, that Fortitude, is what we see there in the Cuban Revolution resisting the blockade. And we see it also present in that Heroic Land of Simón Bolívar, Father of Latin American and Caribbean Unity, the Land of our Brother Comandante Hugo Chávez who is always present in these battles; the Land of our Brother, President Nicolás Maduro who is always present in these battles; the Land of that Heroic Venezuelan People who have also known how to stand up to the imperialist onslaught. Because the imperialist onslaught is at work every day, blockading, attacking, threatening coups d'état, assassination attempts against President Nicolás Maduro; we cannot forget it, sowing terror.
And the Cuban People, and the Venezuelan People, what do they want? They want Peace, Peace, Peace. And they continue to fight for Peace.
And what did General Benjamin Zeledon want when he confronted the Yankee troops that had landed there in Corinto and had moved by rail to Masaya where El Coyotepe and La Barranca were? He was defending sovereignty.
Because a main Principle for Peace is Sovereignty. If there is no Sovereignty, there can be no Peace, Dear Nicaraguan Sisters and Brothers. That is a main Principle. If there is no Sovereignty then there is slavery. If there is no Sovereignty, it is chains that are put in place.
So then, to fight for Sovereignty is to fight for Peace, and how well we know it, throughout our History how many battles have had to be fought for Peace, against interventionism, aggression and the self-same troops of the United States of America that have invaded our Country on several occasions.
And then came our General Sandino, Sandino the son of Zeledón... Zeledón, son of Andrés Castro and José Dolores Estrada, and all of them sons of Diriangén... Of course they were!
Then came the great struggle, the historic struggle, where Carlos, with Colonel Santos López, Tomás and other Brothers, raised the Flag of Sandino, the Red and Black Flag of Sandino, to rescue the Blue and White Flag of the Homeland, which was humiliated, which was oppressed, which was enslaved.
And the flag was raised, what for? To fight for Peace, we had to go to confront the Yankee occupation that we endured under the Somocista tyranny. Nicaragua was occupied by the Yankees throughout the Somocista tyranny, it was dominated by the Yankees. And there again the other great struggle, and finally the Triumph of '79.
And after that Triumph of '79, once again war was imposed on us by the Yankees, with President Reagan openly saying he wanted to put an end to the Sandinista Revolution. And how many millions of dollars he invested! How many murders he committed here in Nicaragua! So many murders! So much destruction of schools and hospitals! Terrorism, terrorism, completely terrorist practices! They were even recognized and condemned as such by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Yes, there is the historic judgment of The Hague condemning the United States for its crimes here in Nicaragua, for those acts of terrorism here in Nicaragua.
As I said to President Obama, at one of the Meetings of the Americas, I said to him: President, you have to recognize that Judgment of the Court. And I say to President Biden, you have to recognize the Court's Judgment, and instead of accepting, promoting, aggression against Nicaragua, you have to comply with what the International Court of Justice has ordered: Compensate Nicaragua!
It is time, I say this to the President of the United States, it is time to end the blockade against Cuba, to end the aggression against Venezuela, and to stop the aggression against Nicaragua.
And let these countries work in peace, what we want is to work in peace. What for? To fight poverty. Why? To bring health and education. To bring people Health, Education. Why? To improve the living conditions of all families.
And today, on October 4th of this year 2021, really, we continue with that commitment, our commitment is to Peace, and all Nicaraguans know the benefits of Peace, see for yourselves, the benefits of Peace.
In the midst of the war we held the first elections in 1984, when the United States boycotted them, the United States did not recognize them, but the Nicaraguan people did, and it is the Nicaraguan people who, at the end of the day, are the ones who decide. Outside they can say what they want, but it is the people here who decide.
And those 1984 elections, the Constitution that was approved in 1987, the bases of that Constitution are the ones that are still in force in our country. The 1990 elections, and I mention elections because we are practically on the eve of new elections on November 7th of next month, the elections of 1990 were with a gun to the head, with the barrel of a gun to the head, because the Yankee Government said, they said to the Nicaraguans: If you vote for the Sandinista Front, well, the aggression and the sanctions as they call them, which are nothing else except aggression, will continue.
Well, we had a result that we understood perfectly well, we understood it. We had total control of the Electoral Power, but, as Revolutionaries, understanding that a part of the Population that was identified with the Sandinista Front, that loved the Sandinista Front, went weeping to vote against the Front, and its understandable that they were really, and rightly so, terrified.
There had been thousands of deaths during that period from 1979, when the Revolution triumphed, up until 1990, and of course that caused great pain to all Nicaraguan Families, both to the Families that were on the side of the Revolution and to the Families that were on the side of the Counterrevolution and even more terrible in those Families where they had children, relatives, brothers and sisters, some with the Revolution and others with the Counterrevolution.
In the midst of all that we continued promoting Peace and we achieved Agreements with the Peoples of the Caribbean, and from that emerged the Agreements for Peace, creating the system of the Autonomy Regime for the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua which is still in force and has been enriched, has been deepened, the lands that belong to those Communities and to those Peoples have been recognized with Titles that have been delivered by our Government.
But we handed over, in 1990 we handed over the Government, we could not hold on, we should not hold on when there was a vote that was not a majority for the Sandinista Front. And what did we say? We are going to continue the struggle and we are going to struggle and govern from below, with whom? With the People, with the Workers, with the Peasants.
And so that Neoliberal Government came and went, then came another Neoliberal Government, then another third Neoliberal Government; you see, three Neoliberal Governments, and it did not occur to us, despite having the strength to do it and having even the subjective conditions to do it, because they were privatizing, people fell into poverty, hunger; along with, corruption, everything that was accumulating in this country with the arrival of the Savage Capitalism of Neoliberalism.
Those were the optimal conditions to say, well, let's go for a rebellion and overthrow this government. And we could have overthrown the first government, but we did not. And we could have overthrown the second government, but we did not. And we could have overthrown the third Government, but we did not, being respectful. Because we said, the Sandinista Front, just as it left office by the vote, is going to return by the vote, and the years went by, 16 years, 17 years until we returned to the Government by the vote.... Blessed be God! We returned to the Government.
Then, during that period, the meaning of Peace became much more valued, because the Sandinista Front contributed to Peace during all that period when these Right-wing governments were in power; the Front was a determining factor for Peace.
Then, when we came to Government, addressing those who had made war on us, because they had made war on us, we even told them: Let's seek how to understand each other, how to ally ourselves, how to unite, how to get closer, how to seek an understanding among all the country's economic and social forces. And that Miracle was achieved.
We had then, from 2007 to 2018, see for your selves, how many years did we have? We had 11 years of growth in the cconomy, of Stability, of progress in all fields, for the fight against Poverty, the reduction of Poverty, progress in Health and Education Programs, and indeed, sharing efforts from the richest people to the Workers, the Peasants, with their effort, with their humility, with their dedication, all working together.
Nicaragua United, in Peace, is Triumphant! Consider for yourselves, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters... Nicaragua United, in Peace, Triumphs! Nicaragua United, in Peace, Succeeds! Nicaragua United in Peace succeeds in eradicating Poverty. Nicaragua United, in Peace, manages to multiply Employment, Health and Education.
And then what happened? We all know the story, the Imperialists of the Earth do not accept, do not want to admit that here this Country, so small in territory, with so little population, which Loves its Sovereignty as much as it rejects chains, it Loves Sovereignty because it Loves Peace.
So we were in Peace, and what did they do? They organized a coup, a terrorist coup; it could not be a coup d'état, those coups where as we know the Military or the Police take part, because here the Army and the Police are the People in uniform defending the Peace and Stability of the Country. So the organizers could not count on them for that coup.
So what did they do? They invested millions, they transferred and laundered that money through different organizations, they laundered money, a crime punishable worldwide, and used that money to arm, organize and launch themselves to overthrow the legitimate government, when the country was better off than ever before in its history.
This type of unity, of understanding between the rich, the poor, the workers, the peasants, had never been seen before in history. This type of understanding has never been seen before and it had lasted very long, 11 years, just look at that. It was a real feat.
We were admired by other countries, by businessmen from other Latin American and Caribbean countries and by other governments, asking How do you do it? How have you done it? Well, with Will, with Faith, with Trust, with Love for our Neighbor, that is the Principle, Love for our Neighbor. That is how we did it.
And then came the attempt to overthrow the Government, and immediately all the International Right, all the Forces that have been a brutal example of Colonialism, all the Right-wing Governments got together to stoke the fire on those moments of terrorism.
That is to say, they did not wait for the change to come about or to try and make the change happen with votes... No, they did not! No! They took the initiative themselves, because they knew that here the People were empowered, the People were and are the Presidency, so they launched themselves desperately to carry out the coup, not against the President formally established in the country, but against the People.
This was a terrorist coup against the People, to take away the People's Rights, to take away the People's Health, to take away the People's Right to Education, to take away the People's Right to Highways, to take away the People's Right to Roads, to take away the Nicaraguan People's Right to Life. To try and humiliate them, to subjugate them, to take away the sovereignty of the People, because by taking away the sovereignty of the People, the People become enslaved. But this is a People that carries in its veins the blood of Zeledón, of Sandino, of Carlos, of Diriangén, of José Dolores Estrada, and of Andrés Castro throwing there with all the strength of his arm, throwing that stone in defense of Sovereignty.
They thought it was easy and they did not care about murdering people, as they did murder, and the documents show how in a Meeting they presented themselves with all their Points of agenda, what for? There they calmly presented it to us, the Bishops presented it to us, mind, the Bishops, and who elected them? Who elected them? What People elected these Bishops? How many votes did any particular Bishop, or the Bishops in general, have to be elected as Bishops?
Ah, but there they are, as if they were elected, as if they were an Elected Authority, and as if they had that authority's Rights? Since when are those the Functions of a Bishop? They read us the Ultimatum where they gave us 24 hours to leave the Government, hand over the Government, hand over the Judicial Power, hand over the Presidency, hand over the Electoral Power, hand over the National Assembly? Surrender everything!
A coup just like the one they gave to our Brother President Chávez, over there, the sellouts in Venezuela, and then the People reversed it.
Here it was the same, as for the People, well, the People endured. We listened very patiently when the Bishops read their Document signed by all of them. It is a shameful Document! The Bishops signing it in the name of the terrorists, serving the Empire. In the midst of the blood, of the fires, in the midst of the pain, making demands. They were not asking, they were demanding the withdrawal of all the established Authorities and the installation of the terrorists in the Government together with the Yankees, in the service of the Yankees.
Well, we listened, we took the paper, we folded it; and well, thank you, Bishops, we have received your Document. And we left. And what remained to be done? Well, we had to recover the Peace, because in those days there was no Peace in Nicaragua, there was Terror, the Country was paralyzed, International Transportation could not pass from one side to another, from one Country to another Country, Families could not move from one Department to another; there was an internal blockade sustained by those who had been part of that very Unity which had given us all so much Peace.
But after all, they were pressured, threatened, whatever, but the truth is that they gave in and became accomplices of terrorism; that is, those who were really responsible for those acts of terrorism were not those who were at the roadblocks, although those people were also criminals, but the Chiefs, those who organized all this, those who put all this together, were "the white collar criminals", those who do not get their hands dirty, those who do not get their shoes dirty, those who feel they are untouchable.
Those they are prosecuting now, the ones they are prosecuting, now they are supposed to be "virgin pure". But they are terrorists! They are the ones who organized the terrorists, they are the ones who encouraged them, they are the ones who carried the Document on behalf of the terrorists, the Bishops, yes, those Bishops are terrorists too, of course they are terrorists!
In other countries they would be judged already, right there in Costa Rica they would be detained, they would be judged, because there in Costa Rica they have some Laws which set conditions to the Priests regarding the Messages they can preach.
So, yes, after those terrible moments of April 2018, we have managed to reestablish Peace, to reestablish Security, to reestablish our Programs and with renewed vigor. Beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters you will be aware through the Media of the Programs that we are executing and those that we will continue o carry out in the years to come.
In other words, we already have a Plan, a Program, which is not a Plan conjured out of thin air, it is simply the reality, because they are Projects that are being worked on now, Roads that are being built, Ports about to be built, more Schools, more Housing, more incentive packages for Production, more Training for Peasants, for Youth, more Education, more Health, more Health especially which is crucial in these times of pandemic.
So, the People opened once more the Path of Peace. And thanks be to God we are going into these Elections in conditions of Peace. But there are always those who from the outside will always look for ways to infiltrate people to commit acts of terrorism, who from the outside are going around, asking, demanding that they apply to Nicaragua what they call Sanctions but which are nothing more than criminal acts, crimes against our Peoples, crimes against humanity, because they affect entire Peoples.
The Will for Peace of the Nicaraguan People is stronger. And here we have to appeal to those brothers and sisters who may be in a position that, in fact, they allow themselves to be pressured by those who threaten, by those who attack, and tell those people: Well, here is the way, as has been demonstrated already, the way already taken, that path that was suddenly damaged in 2018, well, that path is now back on track.
And it's about giving continuity to Peace.... Peace for Progress, Peace for the benefit of all Nicaraguans, Peace so that more and better Agreements can be established than those that have been made in the recent months. Because look well, the country has made hundreds of Agreements with thousands of Producers, Small Businessmen, Farmers, Students, Artists, etc. and so many things have been multiplying! To what end? To promote work, employment, in a difficult world like this one, where millions of Human Beings are being thrown into unemployment, even in rich countries, because of the pandemic or using the pandemic as a pretext.
Then too, we have to continue defending, as we have done, the Sovereignty of Nicaragua, as Zeledón defended it, yes, as Zeledón defended it, as Diriangén defended it, as Andrés Castro defended it, José Dolores Estrada defended it, as our General Sandino, Carlos, as the People defended the Sovereignty also in April 2018. In April 2018 it was the People who defended the Sovereignty, and we have managed to continue that, working for Peace.
So, beloved Nicaraguan Families, we thank you very much for your participation, because you are Protagonists in the Struggle for Peace in our Country. And in these November Elections, well, here our People are simply going to vote for Peace. And they will they vote for? For the People to continue being President, because only with the People-President, which means the people being Protagonists in all fields, which means recognizing and incorporating the Work of our Youth, of Women. Only in this way can Peace be consolidated, strengthened, and therefore the Progress, the Well-being of all Nicaraguan Families be developed.
Good evening, beloved Brothers and Sisters; beloved Families, good evening.
Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free!
Long Live General Benjamín Zeledón!
Long Live our General Sandino!
Long Live our Blessed Nation!
Long Live the Sovereignty of Nicaragua!
Together defending Peace, Let's Go Forward!
Together defending Peace, Let's Build Life!
Together defending Peace, Let us love our Neighbor as ourselves!
Blessed be God!
Blessings, beloved Nicaraguan Sisters and Brothers!
Remarks by Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,