Ceremony of the XXIV Graduation of Cadets of the National Police
December 16th 2021
Address by Daniel
Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, Nicaraguan families, today we are going to take your oath in on behalf of all you families, workers, peasants, professionals, students, doctors, nurses, on behalf of all our people, on behalf of the communities of Monimbó, Sutiaba, the communities of the North Caribbean and the South Caribbean, we are going to take your oath and honor General Benjamín Zeledón.
In our History we went through a first stage where the Generals who resisted Colonization had the Authority, they had the Rank, they had the honorable Hierarchy of Caciques and thus Cacique Diriangén with other Caciques in the Central Zone of Nicaragua, in the Eastern Zone of Nicaragua, who confronted, resisted and gave their lives defending the land that belonged to their Communities and the Original Peoples.
The second stage of confrontation with the invaders was what we have all learned since we were children in school, the National War, where in the end, Nicaraguans united under General José Dolores Estrada, a National Hero, confronted the Yankee invaders led by William Walker, who had appointed himself President of Nicaragua. But the invaders were defeated.
And it was both a National War and even a Central American one, because the other Central American countries were clear that the invaders had to be defeated here in Nicaragua or else the invaders would occupy all of Central America. And then they would go to Mexico, because Walker's vision was an invasion of looking for a way to advance even towards the United States of America, to retake territory.
That was our First National War, when we were only recently freed from the tutelage of Spanish Colonialism, and it was Nicaragua, then forging its Independence in the midst of deep contradictions, that the invaders then occupied. That is to say, it was the Second Great Battle for National Dignity, for the Sovereignty of the Nation. Remember we're talking about the years 1854, 1855, 1856.
A People that did not cower in the face of the military might or the very superior military technique brought by Walker, along with Byron Cole and all those who came to occupy our Country to the point that William Walker was named President and recognized by the Government of the United States at the time.
But here our People, a People with a very small population at that time, united, and the Indian Archers of Matagalpa joined as well. It was a National and Central American struggle, until the Yankee invaders were defeated.
Later comes the Heroic Deed of the man who honors us and today you, Young Graduates, who have dedicated your Graduation to him: The Apostle of Liberty. That is what our General Sandino called him, the Apostle of Liberty. And the Courage, the Conscience, the Patriotic Love, of General Benjamin Zeledon, is truly incomparable, invaluable. It is a power that only the true Love of God could give, that leads a Patriot to love their Nation and to give their Life defending the Nation.
And General Benjamin Zeledon and the Patriots that accompanied him, those who fought with him in that moment, faced the Army of the United States of America... Pay attention to that. Anyone would have said, that is madness, they are going to finish them all off, they are going to exterminate them. But General Benjamin Zeledon put first his commitment to the Sovereignty of the Nation, to the Integrity of the Nation, with his own Integrity and Dignity, as a Nicaraguan Citizen.
That is why when the Yankee Colonels surrounding him there in El Coyotepe sent delegations to parley with him telling him to surrender, he replied that he was there to defend his Nation and that they were defiling our Territory, they were invading our Territory, and he told them very clearly that he was willing to give up his life rather than surrender.
He told them and wrote it in the letter he sent to his wife, even under fire, surrounded. And he wrote to his wife saying goodbye to her, saying goodbye to his children, and explaining to them why he had to defend the land where he had been born, the land where his children, his family had been born and had grown up. His Nation Nicaragua.
And that is how his Transit to Immortality took place when he gave up his life defending the Dignity of Nicaragua, and where our General Sandino, who then was a young man, watched what was happening, and that was enough for him to take on the commitment. At that moment, when he saw how they were dragging Zeledón around so that the people would be frightened, when he saw that happen, he felt indignation and animosity toward the invaders.
That explains why when he writes about Zeledón, he calls Zeledón the Apostle of Liberty, because he is the First General, the First Chief in a Battle against soldiers of the US Army and whom the leaders of the North American troops tried to make surrender.
That is why later, Sandino, when his battle began in another stage of the confrontation against US troops, Sandino every time they sent him messages telling him to surrender, he said: "I'm not selling out or surrendering, ever, because I want a Free Nation or Death". This was Sandino's clear message.
You can see how much Heroism, how much Courage, how much Dignity, simply because it was about defending the House of all Nicaraguans, which is Nicaragua. It was about defending the Home of Nicaraguans, which is Nicaragua. It was about defending Nicaragua's families, defending them from those who came wanting to enslave us.
It is a demonstration of Dignity, of Patriotism, which explains why later, with the passage of time, we finally achieved a Great Revolutionary Victory in our Country, in 1979. And from that time the National Police was born, the National Police was organized, the Army was organized, the Institutions shaped and organized by Youth, by the very young men and women, who were fighting the troops that the Yankees had left here in Nicaragua, the National Guard headed by Somoza. That is where you come from, that is where the National Police was born.
When I have been asked, because I have been asked by Leaders, Presidents, Ministers, from other Countries, why in Nicaragua the levels of Crime, Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, why or how could I explain to them, they asked me, how do we do so well having a very small Budget, the smallest Budget in all Central America, because Nicaragua does have the smallest Budget in all Central America.
And it is because whoever joins the National Police knows they are not joining to get rich, the same goes for the comrades who join the Army, they know they are not joining to get rich. They come with a mission, which is the commandment of Christ: "Love your neighbor as yourself", ready to give their lives to defend peace, the security of their neighbor, namely the families of Nicaragua.
That is to say our Institutions, the Army and the Police, the Police and the Army, born with the Revolution, were born with a Mystique, the Mystique bequeathed to us from Cacique Diriangén, from General José Dolores Estrada and Andrés Castro throwing the stone against the invading Yankee; bequeathed to us by General Benjamín Zeledón, the Apostle of Liberty, as our General Sandino called him; bequeathed to us by our General Sandino, who managed to expel the Yankee troops.
As later on as well was demonstrated by the Nicaraguan people giving battle with the Red and Black Flag of Sandino, so as to rescue the Blue and White Flag of out Nation. And the Blue-White Flag of this Nation, in this Plaza, in this place, in this place, with all our Pride was raised since July 19, 1979, and in this Plaza we gathered on July 20th to celebrate that Historic Date of July 19th.
And it was the Red and Black Flag raisFileing the Blue and White Flag of our Nation, rescuing the Blue and White Flag of the Nation after it was dragged, muddied, sold off by the Oligarchs, by the Sell-outs, who are always meandering from one side to another in the World. The Judases, the Cains and Judases devoid of Love for their Nation, who have no Love for their Roots, for their People, always hoping the invaders will return to Nicaragua.
And as the Compañero who presented the Salute, the Officer, First Graduate, Inspector Néstor Antony Arancibia, a Compañero originally from the Department of Matagalpa, reminded us. After all, he said it very clearly, the Commitment, the Inspiration, the Vocation. To be a Soldier of the Army of Nicaragua, to be a Soldier of the National Police, is to be an Apostle, who puts into practice the Principle of loving one's neighbor as oneself, to the point of being willing to give one's life to defend one's fellow men and women.
That is why we have said and we maintain that we are follow the example, the inspiration of Christianity. This is a Social Process, a Process that fights for Peace in order to achieve the best, most dignified living conditions for all Nicaragua's Families, the greatest Security and Stability for Nicaragua's Families.
And I told those who they asked me why or how do we do it, where does this strength come from? It comes from the Institutions born with the Revolution, full of that great Mystique, convinced that we had to work to put into practice the Christian Principle of Loving our Neighbor as ourselves. The Principle of Solidarity, Christianity, Socialism, Solidarity, the essential Christian Principles.
And as the Compañero who spoke on behalf of the Graduates reminded us, the First Graduate, in fact how we have been defending Peace, making Nicaragua an example, to the point where that is recognized by the whole World, recognizing it as the Containment Wall against Drug Trafficking, organized crime, how that was established.
They asked us: And how do you manage to do this? Because we have men and women, both young and old, in our National Institutions, in the Army, in the Police, in the Volunteer Police, whose reason for joining these Institutions is not the search for money, but the satisfaction of providing protection to Nicaragua's families, in the countryside, in the barrios, in the mountains.
And he also reminded us of April 2018.... We must not forget! We must not forget that unfortunately there are always those who want to harm the People, to destroy the Programs that are being developed for the benefit of the poor. Because the priority and the raison d'être of our Government is to serve the Nation defending the Sovereignty of the Country, for what? To guarantee Peace and Stability. And why do we want Peace and Stability? To lift Nicaragua's People out of Poverty, to lift the Nicaraguan People out of Extreme Poverty.
And we have indeed been achieving this, making progress, thousands of Nicaraguans have left behind Extreme Poverty and Poverty, thousands of Nicaraguans now have a Dignified House; not a palace, of course but it is a Dignified House, a concrete block house. They are no longer cardboard houses, they are no longer houses where families sleep lying on the floor surrounded by Poverty... No! No! Dignified Housing is what is being built.
That is why our Families thank and recognize the effort made by the Government of the People, because this is a Government of the People, it is of you Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, of the Families who are receiving these Houses, of those who are in the process of building their own Houses and later to receive them; of the thousands of Nicaraguans who have received Houses during all these years, who have received Property Titles during all these years; of the Peasants who have also received their Property Titles, already inscribed in the Land Registry.
Of the Caribbean Communities that have received their Property Titles, more than 35,000 square kilometers handed over there to the Communities. I say "handed over" because we are simply recognizing their rights, because they have been the historical owners of those lands that had been taken away from them.
And Education. And the Free School Lunch. And Health Care. When and in how many countries, I would ask? Only in sister countries such as Cuba and Venezuela do doctors and nurses visit families in the neighborhoods to combat the mosquitoes that bring so many diseases.
This is a rigorous routine, year after year, vaccinating thousands of Nicaraguans and children against the diseases that occur year after year in the world. And now we see there the Doctors, the Nurses, showing their Vocation, their Love for their Neighbor, visiting those humble houses in the barrios of our Cities, in the Countryside, in the mountain areas, inviting people to get vaccinated against this plague of the virus. And we see how the families are grateful to be vaccinated, and adults are being vaccinated and children too are being vaccinated.
That is why Peace is so important. That is why we have to defend Peace. Because only in Peace can these Benefits be achieved in favor of the People, in favor of the Impoverished And likewise, only in Peace can the Benefits reach those who have more wealth, the Businessmen, the Producers, who already have more wealth, more resources, those who have large estates, who have a lot of cattle, who have coffee crops.
We see year after year there, when the harvest period comes, how the Army accompanies them and the Police also, and they coordinate together, what for? To provide security to producers, so they are not assaulted, so they are not murdered, so they do not become victims of crime. Because of course there is crime in Nicaragua as there is everywhere in the world, but the levels of crime in Nicaragua are really low, minimal.
And I ask you, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, Nicaraguan families, what would Nicaragua be like without a police force and without an army with this Mystique, with this vocation of service, of working shoulder to shoulder with the people? Because it is not that the Army on one side and the People on the other, and it is not that the Police on one side and the People on the other side? No!
It is the Police coordinating work, coordinating tasks, just like the Army does, with our Families, with our Producers, with our People. And naturally too also defending the Sovereignty of the Country, which is fundamental, guaranteeing Sovereignty, guaranteeing Security, especially in the fight against Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime, because that is a battle.
Look, here I will pause here for a moment.... This is a really crucial battle for the whole world, and particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Why? Because Drug Trafficking is so powerful that it has even managed to establish itself in some Nations, with which we have Respect, we have good historical relations, etc., but unfortunately Drug Trafficking is so powerful that it has even managed to establish itself in some Nations, Nations we Respect and with which we have good historical relations, et cetera, but unfortunately, Drug Trafficking has installed itself there, and sometimes there are situations where in immense Territories, whole Provinces, Regions, Governorships, turn into Narco-States.
And the murder rates, the violation of Human Rights in those countries, don't bear thinking about! Every day they murder Citizens, every day they are murder Teachers, they murder Municipal officials, Regional official, Social Leaders, educators, every day.
It is impressive, daunting, how crime has been installed in those countries! Countries like Colombia, where their leaders dare to talk about Human Rights, they talk about Human Rights wanting to give lessons to Nicaraguans on the issue of Human Rights. Think carefully about that! Colombia, a Country which in effect is a Narco-State... Colombia is a Narco-State! Indeed it is a Narco-State!
I am going to tell you something: President Belisario Betancourt, I am talking about the 1980's, when we were in the Peace Process and a group had been formed: Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, and in the end we had managed to make it happen... The Yankees did not want us to meet together, they did not want us to seek Peace, they wanted to invade all of Central America, and there was the struggle in El Salvador, in Guatemala, and here there was the war imposed on us by the Yankees.
Well, in the end we began to exchange views, talking, seeking how to achieve Peace in Central America, and I remember one of the many Meetings; at that time the price of Coffee had collapsed on the International Market, and so there was a lot of concern here in Central America, because we are Coffee producing Countries, some more, others less, but we all have a significant production of Coffee both for national consumption and also for export.
So the concern was over exports, why? Because the price of coffee was falling and of course this directly affected coffee producers. And there, when we Central Americans discussed what we could do, it was very little! Because in Europe, in the United States, the Producers and big Capital, even the big Banks, when they have financial problems or go bankrupt, the State immediately bails them out.
But here there is no way for our States to cover the needs of the coffee growers when the price of coffee falls, because we are simply not countries that have the wealth that those other countries have to be able to rescue the rich. That is to say, they have money to rescue the rich, but they do not have money to help the poor.
So, we were talking about the Coffee issue, and we realized that after all we were in talks with the President of Colombia, one of the strongest coffee growing countries in the whole Region, and we asked President Betancourt: Mr. President, how do you manage in a crisis like this, because the losses must be immense, how do you manage to balance in your Budget, your trade deficit, and so on?
Ah, he said, in Colombia we have a tragic situation and that tragic situation is drug trafficking, money laundering, that goes on, and so that money circulates everywhere, in such a way that the coffee crisis does not affect things, because that money circulates injecting a lot of money into the economy.
Drug trafficking does inject a lot of money into the economies of some Latin American and Caribbean countries, indeed, not least Colombia! That country is a Narco-State where the murder lists of crimes are impressive, how every day there in Colombia they murder even Teachers. They made Peace with the FARC, with the Colombian Guerrillas and now they have already murdered more than 1,000 Guerrillas or relatives of Guerrillas who signed the Peace agreement. That is to say, there is no Peace agreement there. They signed a Peace, but there is no Peace. There is no Peace! There is no Peace!
And I am going to tell you an anecdote, an anecdote I cannot forget. An uncle, Alfonso Ortega Urbina, my father's father's brother, that is, Alfonso Ortega, son of Marco Antonio Ortega and Mélida Urbina, he managed to study, to become a lawyer, and Marco Antonio, my grandfather, was a Liberal and got him a job in the Government, where he worked as a diplomat, as an ambassador, he was also Chancellor at one time.
When the Revolution triumphed, he was Ambassador to Brazil, and on one occasion he was appointed Ambassador to Colombia, and he said that when he was appointed Ambassador to Colombia, he calmly went to a bank to open an account, and when he was there giving the information and all his details, the person attending him at the bank told him: Look, I see you don't really get where you are, because all this information you are giving here now and the amount of money you are going to handle in this Bank, you'll walk out and the criminals who kidnap for extortion demanding money already know all about it.
In other words, there's a whole Network there in Colombia, a Network where they know how much money someone has, how much money everyone else has in the Bank, and when they see that there are people who have a lot of money, they then immediately look for ways to kidnap to extort them and take their money from them. In other words, there is no security there.
I experienced this in Colombia once when we were in a meeting for Peace, in San Vicente del Caguán, and there we met Commander Marulanda to whom we awarded the Order of Sandino. And after those meetings we left again by plane, we went from San Vicente del Caguán to Bogotá, to the hotel; and once back in the hotel we were talking there with the people heading up the Colombian Peace Commission and they invited us to go and eat in a restaurant, 10 o'clock at night Colombian time. We told them that was fine.
So, we sent the Compañeros of Security who were with us to go and coordinate with the Colombian Security, who were protecting us and also protecting the Ministers who were talking with us on the Peace. So they left, and the comrades returned to tell us: The Colombian Security says it is not convenient, under any circumstances, to go out, to go out at this time to a restaurant, and we were going to go to a famous Colombian food restaurant. It is not convenient, because if you go to that restaurant immediately the drug traffickers and criminals will find out and anything might happen, and therefore we cannot guarantee the security nor the life of our ministers, much less yours. So we do not recommend you to go there.
Imagine that! Imagine! So then with what authority, with what moral authority can Colombia speak about Security in Nicaragua, about Human Rights in Nicaragua, when there Human Rights are violated all the time.
Beloved Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, beloved families, remember, these are anecdotes, but they are part of a history, they are part of a reality that is still being lived out. We would like Colombia to be at Peace, of course we would like Peace to work out for Colombia, but Peace does not work out in Colombia, there they are murdering people in Colombia, every day they are murdering people.
I would like to salute our Compañeros and Compañeras and too the families of these 27 Cadets who are graduating today as graduates in Police Sciences. I would also like to salute the 185 Anti-Narcotics Investigation Officers who have graduated this year. Salute them and their families.
I would also like to salute the 350 Officers, Sectoral Chiefs who have been trained and have graduated this year. Salute the 93 Criminal Investigation Officers who have also graduated this year. Salute the 90 Police Intelligence Officers who have graduated this year. Salute the 132 Officers who are Canine Guides, making possible the role that dogs play in criminal investigation, who have also graduated, 132 Officers.
Salute the 125 Criminalistic Expert Officers. Salute the 200 Accident Investigation Officers... how important it is to take care of the lives of people on the roads. And to salute the 2,200 Police Officers doing Basic Training who have also graduated throughout the year.
In total, 3,402 Police Brothers, who with their preparation, their training, their specialization now strengthen the fight for the security of Nicaragua's families, and therefore, the fight for Peace, so that we can continue working in Peace. So that Young People can continue their studies, with their preparation. And so that Medical Services can continue to function and we can continue to build more Hospitals, more Roads and more Highways.... Everything that you are seeing happen every day!
Everything you are seeing every day is thanks to Peace, thanks to Stability, thanks to Security, thanks to Sovereignty, which our Army, the Police, accompanied by the Nicaraguan People, know how to defend.
On behalf of you all, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters accompanying us from your communities, from your regions, because now we have media that reach the very farthest corners of Nicaragua, they reach Cabo Gracias a Dios, Waspam, San Carlos, Las Minas, we are going to take the Lawful Promise, the Oath:
In the name of the People of Nicaragua, in the name of the Nicaraguan Families, do you promise before God, before the Nation, before Nicaragua's People and Families, do you promise before our Heroes and Martyrs, to respect the Constitution, the Laws, the Rights and Freedoms of the People, and to fulfill faithfully the Missions entrusted under the fundamental Principles of Action of the National Police, to defend the Peace, Security and Stability of our Nation, under the Motto of: Honor, Security, Service...
Cadets: Yes, I promise!
Preident Daniel Ortega: If you do so, may the Nation, the People, the Families, recognize it, if not, may they call you to account.
Long Live the National Police!
Long Live the Heroes who have given their lives in the line of duty of the National Police!
Long Live the Apostle of Liberty, General Benjamin Zeledon!
Nation and Liberty, said our General Sandino. Nation and Liberty, we say too, committing to defend Nation and Liberty, which is to defend Justice and defend Peace.
Long Live Nicaragua, Blessed and Forever Free!