Remarks by Rosario, Vice-President of Nicaragua, after the Event in Tribute
to Comandante Tomás Borge, and in Celebration of International Workers' Day
April 30th, 2022
Good evening... Good evening... These are great days that we are living and celebrating our Work, Security and Peace. How difficult it has been for Nicaragua, and how happy we now are, because we cannot separate Work, Security and Peace, from the very Revolution which guarantees us Security and Dignity, a Dignity along with the Security of a Brave People. And Peace...! The Peace of our People, Peace that we defend every day.
Today is April 30th, when we vividly remember Tomás, everything he taught us. How we knew him so well, how we loved him, how we admired him, and how he made us laugh so often with his humour. A complete, constant Revolutionary, but also a Revolutionary Poet... A unique figure!
Tomás, the founder of the Sandinista Front. Tomás, someone who loved his people no matter what the consequences. Tomás, someone who founded, along with other Compañer@s, the People's Vanguard. Tomás, who moved us so much with his experience of Life, so much Love, so many anecdotes of the time in the mountains, of the hardships, difficulties, and the invincible hope of the time in the jail, in the terrible dungeons of Somocismo, where he held a legendary hunger strike, and never gave in, to either intimidation, or torture or threats, nor when he was taken to identify Carlos, to lower his morale... No! Tomás sustained morale at all times, under all circumstances. Such Love for his Nation, for his People!
I always think he left us too soon, but Life has its patterns, as is the fact that he left us on the 30th, and we, who knew him, who lived alongside him, say, April 30th marks a May 1st. Because, as we were noting, it is not possible to separate that Glorious Date of the Workers, May 1st from that departure, that journey of Tomás practically on May 1st, from an Exemplary, Shining Revolution, like ours; an Inspiring Revolution like ours; a Real one, like ours. A Revolution of raised Consciousness, of Class Consciousness, as our Comandante Daniel was saying... an Anti-imperialist Consciousness!
We are a people who know how to recognize the Yankee in all his masks. The Yankee cannot hide from us behind the mask. We know what they are, what they have done in the World, Comandante Daniel has already given an overview, and we know how we have confronted them here, throughout our history, and defeated them.
And the last defeat was when they wanted to prevail, but neither could they, nor will they, trying to turn our People into counterrevolutionaries when, without mercy, with that malevolent spirit that characterizes them, they attacked a People and a Process that has been a model of Social Justice, of Successes by a Blessed People, a Free People. They wanted to destroy it, murdering...
And why do we say the Yankee? Because the Yankee sponsored, the Yankee directed, made use of his proxies, not even chess pieces really, just cheap playthings, trying to interrupt this model Process. But here is a People, who are still Free and who know how to identify those perverse games of the Yankee and his playthings, vulgar toys, which deserve display not even in a Museum for their infamy... perhaps in Museums of Infamy, yes, that's the truth.
The truth is that every day we face these increasingly difficult times Humanity is living through and our Human Community. Each day we address these times of aggression with Revolutionary and anti-Imperialist Consciousness, every day we know we will advance, step by step, and we feel privileged to be living through these Historic Times; privileged to have known Comandante Thomas, who taught us to live through difficulties, to resist difficulties, and to fight difficulties no matter what.
I want to declare that we are very grateful to God, to Life, to the Revolution, to this People, for the opportunities we have had to work, to serve, to learn, and to continue fighting. And that this is our Life: one of Service, Serving, a Vocation of Service, out of Love for the People, out of Christian Faith, Christian Truth. Out of the Conception and Practice of Sister and Brotherhood, of Fraternity, of Solidarity, all the Christian Principles that throughout our Lives we have assimilated and which have served us to grow out of adversity, and continue making our way, knowing that we Nicaraguans are made of Vigor and Glory, that we are made for Dignity, for Freedom, for Humanity.
An embrace to all our Families, because in Nicaragua it is Families that we work with and for. We have an Economy that develops thanks to the Family throughout the country, and it is powerful, and it is eloquent. That Family, Creative Economy tells us: This is a Great people that is moving ahead!
An embrace to Everyone. Let's enjoy this Long Weekend. Let's recover, restore our Strength, because it is always important to rest. Let us vibrate with the Joy of our Nicaragua in all its Colors, in all its Vigor, in all its Love. And let us continue to believe in our ourselves, convinced, as we are already, that We are Moving Forward, with the Strength of a People that Overcomes!
Let's get on then. Much Love to All. The Future is ours. And Long live Tomas! Long live the whole family! Long live all the Compañeras and Compañeros with whom we have learned so much from Comandante Tomás, along with Comandante Carlos, who defeated Death and is also the Love of our Red and Black Nation.
An embrace, Compañeras and Compañeros.