Message from President-Comandante Daniel
in Commemoration of the Day of National Dignity
May 4th 2022
Brother and Sister Nicaraguans, Families of these Lands of Free Men and Women... The Land of Sandino!
On behalf of the Nicaraguan people, we congratulate these children, girls and boys, who have been preparing themselves in this New Stage of the Revolution and ensuring that Art, Culture, and Song flourish. We congratulate the Children's Choir, the Youth Choir and Orchestra and Maestro Ramón Rodríguez. Congratulations to all of you!
Our People are like all other Peoples of the World, in that no People in the World welcomes with joy those who come to occupy their Territory, those who come to deprive them of their Goods, of their Wealth, those who come to strip them of their Culture... no People in the World does so!
No people, neither North American, nor South American, nor Caribbean, nor Central American, nor European, nor African, nor Asian, receives with joy the kinds of interventions, aggression and occupations that have taken place all around the World, and those Peoples have always confronted them with dignity, with Courage, and the Nicaraguan People is no exception.
The first stage of this History of Struggle against invaders was fought by our Ancestors, for, as both Sandino and Darío said: “For in our Blood Indigenous Blood flows proudly”. And naturally also the Blood mixed with the Indigenous Blood, from European countries, or from settlers who were brought from Africa as slaves and who mixed with our Indigenous Ancestors.
That strength, that identity was the one that was sown in the first days of April, almost 500 years ago, in answer to the Spanish colonizers by Nicarao and Diriangén, the two of them.
Nicarao, opening the doors to the Spanish, waging ideological debate and putting questions the conquerors could not answer. And then, Diriangén receiving them with the Gold that they were seeking about which Nicarao had already warned him. They thought the door was open, they didn't know that Nicarao and Diriangén had made an agreement: "You receive them and give them the Gold, and you'll be baptized" because they had to be baptized, otherwise the sword would fall. The Cross was accompanied by the Sword, this was not a voluntary baptism... No!
Then, marching to meet Diriangén to look for more Gold, Diriangén received them with Gold too; but when they told him, well, now we are going to baptize you, Diriangén said no, and when Diriangén said no, the combat began, they had prepared an ambush there for the conquerors.
The First Battle for the Identity, for the Culture, for the Values, of a People that was being invaded, that was being occupied, that was then being subjected to various forms of exploitation... even Slavery!
Later, the other moment in our history, when the mercenaries arrived. Now they give more sophisticated names to those they hire to carry out military operations and who have been members of the American Army. Back then we called them Filibusters in this part of the world, not over there, over there they saw them as Heroes, but in any case, the mercenaries led by William Walker and Colonel Byron Cole arrived.
And well, they were trained in the United States Army, which had been fighting battles, a struggle, a battle; the South of the United States defending slavery, and the North looking for ways to advance with other forms of slavery. That is, the North represented modern Capitalism at that time, the South a retarded Capitalism.
The Filibusters arrived here, and the People here joined forces, confronting troops that were much more experienced and who came very well armed, with modern armament; here they had rifles that had to be reloaded shot by shot, the other side already had automatic weapons. And there, you see in those circumstances the Heroism of the People, defending the same thing that Diriangén and Nicarao defended, their Identity, Being Nicaraguan, who had been formed and had developed via a combination of miscegenation, and with a language that was not the language of our Ancestors, but the blood of our forebears was stronger in that we said, Well, we may speak in Spanish, but that doesn't mean we are going to be a Colony of Spain, or that we are going to be the Colony of any Country, of any Power.
That Spirit, that Strength, that Courage is what is was manifested itself in those Heroic Battles and in the many other Battles that were fought, and the most emblematic of those, we would say, is the Battle of San Jacinto, where Andrés threw that stone, against whom? Against a Yankee who came here as a mercenary. And Andres knocked him down!
That remains for history and the leaders who succeeded each other serving the United States of America could not erase it. It was recorded forever, and the children, all Nicaraguan children, all of us when we went to School, learned of it there, and felt the Strength of the Heroes, of the Battles that were fought in those times, in those years, in the years 1854, 1856.
And what was it that they were disputing? They were disputing the passage through Nicaragua, the Canal route, which was then used by American shipping companies to take the United States population who wanted to go from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast. And we have explained before, they didn't want to take the risk of crossing the desert, since it was very dangerous, there was still indigenous resistance, but also there were many robbers, and the route was very long.
Then the American shipping businessmen discovered that it was much faster and safer to come from the East Coast of the United States to Nicaraguan territory, come by sea, disembark, then sail up the San Juan River, a natural channel that was already there, and reach the Lake that was another immense maritime space facilitating transit, then across the Isthmus of Rivas by stagecoach, and then board a bigger boat there, so as to go from Rivas to the West Coast of the US.
You see, in that way, from New York to San Francisco, they created communication between the East Coast of the United States and the West Coast. That is why they came from the United States to Nicaragua, looking for Gold. Fortunately, the gold that still remained here was very little because the Spanish had William Walker, already taken it, there were no great technologies back then to look for Gold, explore for it and dig to great depths.
To the contrary, there was the San Francisco Gold Rush, on the US West Coast. In other words, it was nothing like a saintly pilgrimage, nor was it a pilgrimage to promote the well-being of the US People themselves, it was hunger for gold, thirst for Gold. That's what empires do.
When they first came to Nicarao they asked for the Gold: Where is the Gold? It's the first thing they asked for. And then when they went to Diriángen, they said: Let's see, the Gold! And there is the gold! These others came looking for the Nicaraguan route simply because it is easier to reach where the Gold is, there in the very same North American territory that had already been stolen from the Native Peoples of those territories in Canada and the United States.
And the battles did take place. And even though that Yankee, William Walker, named himself President of Nicaragua, and was recognized by the United States Government, and the American Ambassador attended William Walker's inauguration, after his Election. Well, that was a democratic election! Yes, that was a Democratic Election, it was a clean Election, since there was no questioning from the US State Department, instead there was recognition.
And there were the battles and heroic acts of Nicaraguans and our Central American Brothers who also participated in this struggle because they knew that the Yankees were coming to take over all of Central America. And they were defeated, they were expelled from Nicaragua!
Then, you see, the Yankees came to Nicaragua one more time and what were they looking for? Well, control of Nicaragua, because they already realized what a Canal through Nicaragua meant. And they overthrew Zelaya, they moved against Zelaya. But in an act of heroism, of extraordinary patriotism, General Benjamin Zeledón stood firm, knowing he would not be able to defeat the US troops who began to land in our country and who began marching towards Masaya, towards Coyotepe, where the battle was being fought.
Of course, in the middle of all this are the traitors and they welcome the Yankees, and gather their troops to try to overcome and defeat the Nicaraguans who are defending the Country, defending Nicaragua's Sovereignty.
And Zeledón, on October 4th 1912, after receiving the letter from the Yankee Colonel who was leading the troops, demanding his surrender, replied that he meant to die there, because it was a matter of Dignity, and more important than his own Life was the Dignity of leaving the example of how he defended the Nation, knowing he was going to die.
That's why he wrote to his wife, his children, a letter, which is his Testament, explaining to them that they will understand; it hurts him to leave, he says, of course it hurts to leave them, but they should understand, because there is no alternative to fight and if necessary die in the fight to defend the Nation, and they should feel proud. That is the message Zeledon gave to his children. And on October 4th his birthday, the traitors together with the Yankees, murdered Zeledon, because it in fact it really was murder.
Then Sandino, a boy from the local villages, from Niquinohomo, saw when the Yankees together with the traitors were exhibiting Zeledón's corpse, for what? For people to be frightened, to be cowed, it was like telling them: See what awaits you, if you oppose us. These were no longer the filibusters, these were now the troops of the United States Army occupying Nicaragua, with whose permission? What for? The troops of the most powerful Army in the world at that time, which was already developing itself by occupying Nicaragua. And they spent various years here occupying Nicaragua.
And the Liberal Revolution came, because here the sell-outs took turns, sometimes the Conservatives served as the occupation instrument of the Yankees, in other cases it was the Liberals, on this occasion it was the Conservatives. In Walker's case, it was the Liberals, the Legitimists, as they called them, who sent for him, and then the Yankees began their take over of Nicaragua.
So, this situation happened there at a time when the Yankees having arrived in Nicaragua with their troops, felt calm, dominating the country, going around the country, committing criminal acts, assaulting the People, disrespecting the People.
And Sandino, who had seen Zeledón's corpse and with the sight engraved on him, as he himself said, it was engraved on him... And after Sandino saw Zeledón dead, his blood boiled, his blood did not run cold from fear, from dread, from terror, of being dead like Zeledón, instead his blood boiled with shame at seeing how they humiliated the Nation, and so he enrolled in the Liberal Army, headed by Moncada.
Well, they were advancing and defeating the Conservative forces, so the Yankee troops intervened to prevent those Liberals who in fact had nothing patriotic about them, from defeating the Conservatives, because they were indeed defeating them and Sandino was advancing with a column, leading a column.
When the Yankees intervened between the Liberal and Conservative Forces, they told them: Now you are going to hand over their weapons. They told the Liberals you have to hand over your weapons, and Moncada, as a good businessman, like a genuine traitor, immediately accepted. And on a day like today, beloved Nicaraguan sisters and brothers, on May 4th 1927, 95 years ago, there in Tipitapa is the Black Hawthorn Tree, a symbol of Revolt and Betrayal, because there under that Black Hawthorn Tree Moncada's signed for the Yankees, promising to surrender the weapons and for each weapon handed over they were going to get them a few cents.
And they began to parade the combatants of the Army, the Liberals, who were humble people, people making do, people who were trusting, easily deceived, so if the chief said so then they had to surrender the weapons, because they were facing an enemy who was too powerful, or even that they were not regarded as an enemy, in that Moncada and Sacasa were two of a kind, well then there was nothing to be done but to hand over the weapons. And they started handing over the weapons.
And who was the one who refused to hand over the weapons? General Sandino. That is why this is the Day of National Dignity, because it is the day when General Sandino, who was just beginning to regroup, because already at that moment the column that he was leading had already broken up, and he had been regrouping combatants, Workers, Peasants and those ne manage to regroup numbered 27 or 28 combatants.
And with that force, Sandino, with that force, which from a material point of view anyone would say: Is he a madman? Maybe.
“More like Sandino, / there are few left on this continent.../ I wish that in our Indolatin soil / there were, like Sandino many crazy people...! Guatimotzin, Tecun-Umán, Lempira / they were crazy like him and they were great, / and Humanity that admires them / raises them on a pedestal over the Andes...! We want madmen, yes, like Sandino,/ not sane like the traitors and the sell outs.”
This is how the Poet from León exalted Sandino with that Song in that moment, when Sandino told them that he Neither Surrenders, Nor Sells Out! It is something we should see as an act of boundless heroism, of him and the handful of guerrillas who accompanied him, facing an Army, the Army of the United States of America, which had decided to take over Nicaragua, and in fact, deprecated Sandino from the start by calling him a bandit and murderer, and the Right-wing Media here also started calling Sandino a bandit and murderer.
And there Sandino was fighting that Battle, one we cannot forget, nor how it is said that in two countries the Yankees used their air force for the first time, in the Philippines, and then here in Nicaragua, to exterminate General Sandino's Army in Defense of National Sovereignty. There in Ocotal took place the combat where the Yankees began using their air force, and there came the feat of Sandino going ahead, Sandino giving the Battle, resisting and defeating the Yankees, yes, defeating the Yankee troops!
That Friend, That Friend, as Pablo Neruda said and wrote : That Friend.
Then Sandino crossed through the forest
and he loosed his sacred gunpowder
against brigand sailors...
They called Sandino a bandit; while Neruda calls them: the bandit marines.
... having grown in New York, stuck in their ways:
the earth burned, the foliage resounded,
the Yankee didn't even know what happened;
for war, they dressed all too well
their shoes shone just like their guns
but from experience they soon came to know
who Sandino was and Nicaragua too...
And there Neruda goes on describing Sandino's Heroic Feat, and here he talks about the Battles.
./.
Sandino was a tower with banners,
Sandino was a gun with hope.
The lessons were very different,
at West Point the classes were clean,
they were never taught at school
that killers could also be killed.
US Americans never learned
that we love our beloved impoverished land
or that we'll defend our banners
with the very pain and love that created them.
they may not have learned this in Philadelphia
(in their military training schools)
but they learned it with blood in Nicaragua
for there awaiting them was the People's captain :
and Augusto C. Sandino was his name.
Here the Captain of the People awaits them still here among Nicaragua's People, and in this Song his name will prevail, strong as a flare, to give us light and give us fire, a light by which this People overcame the Yankee again, in the Glorious Battle that culminated on July 19th 1979, and is here with us still to stand firm, facing up to Powers who say they will do everything possible to strangle Nicaragua. Powers, yes, great Powers that speak that way.
And his name will remain in this Song
stupendous as a flare
to light our way and give us the fire
to continue his battles.
(Pablo Neruda)
We are here Neruda, we are here Sandino, continuing the Battles, bringing Health to the People, bringing Education to the People, bringing Housing to the People, guaranteeing food for Nicaragua's Families, defending the Nation, defending Sovereignty, against attempted coups d'etat.
Here is the Flame of Sandino alive in the Heart of the Nicaraguan People, and this is the Flame of Sandino in all the Work, in the Energy that pulses through Nicaragua, reaching into to the very last corner of the territory of this Sovereign Land; along the Roads and Paths that are growing throughout our Country, despite the aggression of the powerful, of the great Powers, who join together to attack People, to attack in Our America Peoples like the Heroic People of Cuba, like the Heroic People of Venezuela, like the Heroic People of Bolivia. So many Peoples who have been attacked!
Sandino is present in all the Programs that this People-President is developing. We have not stopped building for life. Our actions are not like those other actions that multiply every day... For no day goes by, not one day, and this they even publish in the the international Right Wing Media, not a day passes in which there is not news from Colombia of Teachers killed, of murdered Social Leaders, of demobilized combatants being killed, or of murdered Children. There are the false positives, thousands of false positives who were presented as being guerrillas and were nothing more than crimes being committed one after another, and which are still being committed.
But of course, there are the countries that pride themselves on being the great defenders of human rights, starting with the United States and European countries, there is no campaign there, a much needed campaign to condemn those crimes. It's as if nothing happens there, those thousands upon thousands of crimes that are not condemned. Instead, it is a country that receives the support of the great Powers, military support, and they even make this largest drug producer in the world a member of NATO. That's the Colombian State's biggest business, not the People, the Colombian state. There the drug trade thrives.
They have even contested our Maritime Territory which the International Court of Justice recognized here in the Caribbean, because they want the area free of the presence of Nicaragua. They do not want Nicaragua to protect those Waters, those Seas, because they want to have a free route to continue transporting the drugs they take to Europe and the United States. They want free passage!
There is not a single campaign by the countries affected, where their Youth are being damaged, destroyed, to close ranks and tell Colombia: That's it. No! What exists is complicity, tolerance, and thus they become accomplices of the crimes that the Colombian State commits against other Peoples, and which also destabilize this entire Region, because the transit of drugs also goes through these other Territories and decomposes them, feeding criminality.
Here in Nicaragua, thank God, we have a people, we have an Army, we have a Police force, who have known and continue to know how to protect the Nation's Sovereignty. Because defending our Territory by fighting drug trafficking is defending the country's Sovereignty. And they can accuse us as they do, as they accuse us of thousands of things, but those who oppose us have no choice but to recognize that Nicaragua has managed to establish a Retaining Wall, past which it does not allow the drugs to pass.
We know the difficulties that other Sister and Brother Peoples in Mesoamerica face, terrible situations that they live through due to the presence of Drug-Trafficking, of Organized Crime, who are owners of Territories, of Countries, of Neighborhoods, of Peoples; they can even penetrate Institutions at every levels, because they seek to install Narco-States, such as the one they have managed to install already in Colombia. Colombia is a Narco-state and not just recently, it has been a Narco-state for a while.
It is a country which, when there are difficult situations in the World, like the one we are facing right now, the crisis that the World is facing Globally, they always have Reserves. The price of coffee may fall, they are big coffee producers, but they always have Reserves. Put another way, Colombia always manages to keep its economy afloat, because it has a reserve cash flow that it can use to keep its Economy stable, of course for the benefit of a minority, because in Colombia there is Poverty, there is misery, there is malnutrition, and above all there is no Security, every day the Colombian people are being murdered.
On this day, beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, beloved Nicaraguan Families, we know that the World is experiencing a difficult situation; namely, that practically what we have is an undeclared World War, why so? Because it is not simply a war of the Russian Federation with Ukraine, when we know perfectly well the reasons of the Russian Federation in terms of defending its Sovereignty, which forced it to go ahead with this Special Military Operation.
And it has done so, but why? Because Ukraine, which has a very noble People, but which also has a fascist population, Nazi-fascists and a Nazi-fascist government, which has been encouraged by Europe, egged on by NATO. For what? To seek to use Ukraine to weaken the Russian Federation. It's a plan, a strategy.
The Pope said it, I think yesterday, in an interview he was giving, that the problem is that all NATO via Ukraine are showing their teeth, their fangs to Russia, threatening it, and thus Russia, the Pope said, had no choice but to react to defend itself. Of course, the Pope wants Peace, as we all want peace, we are not happy about any war.
But we are clearly seeing how this is no longer a conflict between Ukraine and Russia, when the United States is placing billions and billions of modern weapons there, the most sophisticated weapons the United States has. They care little about spending billions and billions of dollars while their own population is already suffering the onslaught of the notorious Sanctions that have been applied to Russia, the US people are also suffering, not to mention the European Peoples too.
We also see European governments cheerfully arming, sending weapons, sending instructors, and they accept and admit; they accept and admit that even before this situation exploded they had already sent instructors to train the Ukrainians and teach them how to handle NATO weapons, and delivered NATO weapons to them.
So this is already a war where NATO is using Ukraine to try and deliver a blow that strategically weakens Russia. And incidentally, in the midst of this madness, also threatening the People's Republic of China. That is, it is the madness of a hegemonic policy led of course by the United States and to which other Countries, other Nations, other States submit, opening up different fronts, as if they think that the time has come to crush Russia and crush the People's Republic of China, so they can settle down in the World as Masters of the Planet. They do not realize that this is not possible, that the only way out, the only solution to this war, which is already a world war, is dialogue for Peace, a negotiation for Peace.
Betting that militarily they are going to be able to defeat Russia, or that with these attacks and economic sanctions are going to manage to sink Russia, in fact the general view is that there may well be applying Sanctions against themselves because it will cause great damage to their own Economies and cause damage to all our Economies in Countries of the World that have nothing to do with that confrontation, why? Because if there is a rise in fuel prices, as a result of the Sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia which is a major oil producer, oil distributor, that affects us all.
We see in many countries where governments have no way out, because perhaps they don't have the conditions or simply because there is no will on their part, they are increasing fuel taxes every day, every day higher, making more expensive the gallon of fuel, every day it's more expensive in Europe; and in the United States, we see the reports of people complaining about how much it costs now to fill their vehicles with fuel.
And here it affects us, of course it affects us, because it forces us to take resources from the State so as to be able to subsidize, because that is the proper thing to do, to be able to subsidize those increases so that fuel, gasoline, or diesel do not become more expensive. And we have been subsidizing, making enormous efforts, enormous sacrifices, and also managing government Programs in such a way that we can count on the necessary resources, as we have managed to do so far.
This is week by week, you see, Brother and Sister Nicaraguans, week by week, every Friday we are in communication with the compañeros who are working out how the price of oil has gone up and what the price of fuels would have to reach in their turn.
So, this week that there was a strong increase which meant placing a subsidy of 4 million dollars, just for one week. That is a huge burden for Nicaragua, 4 million dollars that we could place in other Programs for Life, for Well-Being, but we are also convinced that it is essential to control fuel here, so that it does not shoot up in price, because that is the engine of the Economy.
If fuel prices become more expensive and we apply the Policies that are applied in Capitalist Countries, well, oil went up, and so we'll have to charge more and to pay more for gasoline, diesel, and gas, and we'll have to pay more for electricity.
Here we are managing to stop those increases, it is really a heroic act, and the Strength and Wisdom necessary to find a way to make these subsidies in a Country with such great limitations as Nicaragua, is given to us by our General Sandino. He gives us that Strength, he gives us that Light, he gives us that Fire.
It is important to appreciate and understand that we are going through a difficult time due to the fact that Sanctions have been applied and those Sanctions continue; on the one hand applying Sanctions that will cause damage to all the rich Countries themselves and in fact the Sanctions are even forced on them, because they practically force countries to join in applying the Sanctions, in the European Union, in NATO countries, they force them to join in the Sanctions. In fact, we can see how there are countries that say, we cannot apply the Sanctions, for example on the supply of Oil, because we depend on Oil coming from Russia. We can't, they say.
So there are demands and pressures on these countries, to make sure that the Sanctions are applied. So these countries, these Governments say: We are Members of the European Union but we cannot apply this sanction, because we are sinking! We're sinking! And who is going to sell us the oil we need? At what price are they going to sell us the oil if we are going to have to look for it elsewhere, when we have it available right here with Russia supplying us with Oil?
So these are situations being lived through in the World, are hard, hard, and we hope that a way can be found and I am sure that the way to achieve Peace will be found.
The President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, has made a call and an approach with a view to a global solution offering security to the whole world, to the whole Planet.
He has said, in order to promote Security for the whole World, that China would like to propose an Initiative for Global Security, such as the following:
“It is necessary to persist in a Vision of Common Security, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable, and to work together to defend World Peace and Security; to insist on respect for the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of all countries, not to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries but to respect the means of developing their social system chosen independently by the People of each Country; persisting in abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, abandoning the Cold War mentality..." and for all this “...we need to work together, to face the challenges of global governance.”
And we, on this Day of National Dignity, in defense of the Peace that our General Sandino defended, because he defended Peace, and after he expelled the Yankees he made the Peace Agreements; then he was assassinated, but he had already defeated the Yankees, to what end? Because he was fighting for Peace.
In honor of General Sandino, we tell our People and we tell the International Community that we welcome this call made by the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, in order to promote Security for Everyone in the World, because we all want Security in the World.
Long live Peace!
Long live the Day of National Dignity!
Sandino Lives, The Struggle Continues!
A Free Nation or Death!
And May Nicaragua Live Blessed, in Peace, and Always Free!