Remarks by President Comandante Daniel Ortega
during the reception of credentials from the ambassadors of 13 countries.
April 3rd 2019
Dear Nicaraguan sisters and brothers, Nicaraguan families, today, in the name of the People of Nicaragua, we feel honored to receive the Credential Letters from Representatives of Nations, of Countries, of States, that are part of the Community of Nations, and who also represent the Peoples of this small Planet, this tiny Planet that is here in this immense, infinite Universe.
Ambassador Rut Krüger Giverin of the Kingdom of Norway; Ambassador Anders Kompass of the Kingdom of Sweden; Ambassador Valentin Modev of the Republic of Bulgaria; Ambassador Ngosa Simbyakula of the Republic of Zambia; Ambassador Leszek Bialy of the Republic of Poland; Ambassador Mohamed Saleh Nasher of the Republic of Yemen; Ambassador Ravi Thapar of the Republic of India; Ambassador Narim Kozaev of the Republic of South Ossetia; Ambassador Zaur Konstantinovich of the Republic of Abkhazia; Ambassador Barbara Jones of the Republic of Ireland; Ambassador Ivan Pál Medveczky of the Republic of Hungary; Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Nguyen Trung Thanh; accompanied by his wife, Nguyen Thuy Doung; Ambassador Demetrio R. Tuason of the Republic of the Philippines.
Thirteen Ambassadors representing 13 States, 13 Nations of this Community grouped on Planet Earth, and we welcome them with a word: Peace! Peace! A word repeated throughout the History of Humanity! That is why our poet Rubén Darío, when he returned to Nicaragua, came with a Poem where he said: “I clamour for Peace, Peace, Peace!” And he never tired of repeating it.
And that has been the history of Humanity, none of our Peoples, none of our Nations, however advanced, however developed they may be, escaped the terrible history of the development of the Human Species, which has been one of confrontation, death, violence, war, passing through slavery, passing through Colonialism, passing through the explosion of the nuclear bomb, a fearsome explosion of the Nuclear Bomb! Passing through wars between the most developed countries of their time over the last centuries, when they disputed the hegemony to take over all of Europe.
And there were wars between brothers and sisters. As Darius also says in his Poem "Motives of the Wolf": “Brothers and Sisters made war on each other”. In other words, in Europe, the most advanced societies of their time, making war.
One has only to read that extraordinary novel: "War and Peace". And that is a small example of the enormous disputes involved; alliances on the one hand, alliances on the other hand, between the same European Nations,making and remaking those Alliances, in order to seek the domination of all of Europe.
And why the domination of the whole of Europe? Soo as then to take over Asia, to own Africa, to own America. These were times when colonialist policy was legitimized, because that was what the Great Powers of the time had decided. It was legitimate to go to war in order to dispute later on rule of what would become colonies of the European Powers.
Then Europe moved to America, and to the North of Our America moved the most developed Europe, the most advanced of the Age, and there was born the United States of North America, on a foreign Territory that belonged to its Original Peoples, that Great Nation was born,.
And how much pain! There is no corner of our Planet where tragedies caused by ourselves have not taken place and are taking place in these moments. I am not talking about the tragedies caused by Nature, where now the hand of non-sustainable development also figures in an accelerated way, causing ever more damage to Nature, to our Habitat, destroying the foundations of our home, Planet Earth.
Well, Global Warming is already in sight with all its effects, effects that provoke death, that provoke true cataclysms, that provoke famines, droughts, floods. And then, we have efforts being made by Nations, by States to agree positions in search of gaining more time.
Already the Kyoto Agreements that were the first ones that all our Peoples called for, all the Governments, now remain as a point of reference of good intentions. The most recent are the Paris Accords, and it was a great effort to reach agreement, but now the Paris Accords have been weakened.
Scientists of nations and States, even of those that have rejected the Paris Agreements, now argue that the destruction caused by Global Warming is no longer a long-term or medium-term threat, but a threat that is causing damage now and will cause much greater damage in the medium term.
Not only in the small island States of the Caribbean Region or the Regions of Asia, and not only here in this Zone of Central America which is the narrowest part of the entire Continent and which is therefore more exposed, but there are also prognoses, demonstrated by US scientists, of the damage, of the destruction that will also be caused in the cities, in the families that inhabit that great Nation. In other words, we are talking about a true cataclysm from which not even the most developed countries can escape, let alone the least developed countries
Well, we are committed to Peace. In all fields we are committed to Peace. We want Peace with Security, with Stability, and free from the threat of the use of force. What country can develop in peace if it is threatened by the use of force? It is true, the United Nations has a very clear Article that is a commitment of all the countries that adhere to the United Nations, where we commit ourselves not to use force and not to threaten to use force either. We are all committed, but how far is that Principle being complied with?
All Nations, all Peoples need Peace in order to address the great challenges we face. To be able to address the damages of Climate Change, to be able to reforest, to be able to improve conditions in our countries, Peace is needed. If there is no Peace, it is simply not possible to build a road, or to grow trees, or to strengthen the river basins. It is not possible! In a situation of confrontation, violence, war, there are no conditions for that. There is only more destruction.
If we go from country to country everywhere we will find the need for Peace, the urgency of Peace. Because even those countries that are not directly involved in acts of war, in acts of violence, in acts of aggression still suffer the impact of another factor that also threatens Stability: Terrorism. What is more terrible than terrorism! And in our Region, Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, which is another form of terrorism threatens the security, the stability of our Nations.
Then, the pressure generated by the migration, the migrants even risks their lives, not because they want to go and enjoy themselves, but because they want to survive and cannot do so in their own space, in their homes, in their countries they do not find the conditions to be able to survive. And migration is nothing more than the search, quite rightly, quite rightly, to improve the living conditions of families trapped in areas where they are easy prey for terrorism, for the different forms of terrorism that exist in the world, and they have the right, in desperation, to seek those routes out.
Before, it was the great migration that arrived from Europe to America, not, however, to the benefit of the Original Peoples who were the owners of these Lands; it was a great migration that arrived in search of Wealth. With all the more reason should we understand the behavior, the attitudes of people who in Africa and here in Latin America and the Caribbean, and especially in the Central American Region, Mexico, in this Mesoamerican Zone, seek the path North, in the hope of improving their living conditions.
There is a solution to this problem, of course there is, and there is also a solution to what is a containment policy to stop the advance of Global Warming. Namely, the decisions, the commitments, the investments that have to be made, because investments have to be made to save Life on the Planet.
Likewise, migration demands investments. What for ? So that people who are in conditions of extreme exclusion, of extreme poverty, can make a life for themselves, can strengthen themselves culturally, can count on the tools to combat Poverty, but that demands an Investment.
And it is not, looking closely, aid. It is not aid at all! It is simply an investment, because if they do not want flows, rivers of people traveling over Europe, traveling over North America, then it is necessary to invest so that the flow stops, taking into account that all these people come from Continents, from Regions that have historically been excluded, that have been historically dispossessed, expropriated, confiscated of their Wealth, of their Resources, and it is nothing more than a small restitution, that in any case is not simply a matter of restitution, but also of stopping the flow of immigration that rich countries feel is threatening them.
And you know, sear Sister and Brother Ambassadors, that here in Central America, in Mesoamerica, from Colombia to the United States, there is a trail of horror and terror that has to do with the fact that there is a large market of drug consumers in North America, and this market encourages and feeds the production of drugs in South America, and makes victims of the peoples, like ours, who are on the route along which those drugs are transported from the South to the North.
This makes us the victims of drug trafficking, of organized crime, of gangs, everything that is now multiplying, simply to satisfy the demand of drug consumers in the First World, in the North; and also to move part of the drugs produced to other Regions of the Planet. But in particular we have that problem here, and with our limited resources we have to invest so as to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, to prevent gangs from getting established here, like the maras.
We have the smallest budget in the Region. We have the smallest budget of all Latin America and the Caribbean here in Nicaragua, but with great effort we have managed to contain here what would otherwise be the presence, the control of drug trafficking and organized crime.
We have managed to defend the Nicaraguan people's levels of security. We have achieved economic growth enviable through all of Latin America and the Caribbean until April of last year, where, well, there was an explosion of terror, Terrorism, which manifested itself with complete clarity later on as action aimed at overthrowing the Government, and that logically brought as a consequence thethreat to security, stability, Peace and well being, to the levels Nicaragua had managed to achieve in the fight against Poverty. A conspiracy!
And, we always sought the path of Dialogue, looking for the path of Dialogue, again and again seeking the path of Dialogue so as to achieve security, stability, Peace. We tried it once. But the effort was frustrated. Now we are trying again. Progress is being made, Agreements are being reached, but there are always forces that don't want Peace, don't want Stability for Nicaragua.
Those forces are always there. It’s normal, in all parts of the world there are those forces, extremist forces that burst in, threatening well being, stability and not only countries like Nicaragua, but also threatening stability and security in developed countries.
Extremist, radical attitudes are being adopted, with terrorist and fascist discourses, and we are in that struggle, seeking peace, seeking stability, bearing in mind that in our region we are not the only ones in this struggle, our sister peoples are also facing aggression, destabilization.
Cuba, a country already suffering blockade, a blockade that is intensifying against Cuba in these times, in spite of the fact that in the General Assembly of the United Nations only one or two votes persist in favor of the blockade. The immense majority of Nations, of States vote there for the lifting of the blockade on Cuba.
Against Venezuela there is an aggression against a country, a State that has not harmed any other State, any Latin American people, much less the North American people.
What was the sin of Venezuela, the sin of Commander Chavez, and now, so as to be up to date, of Nicolas? Simply to develop programs to benefit other countries in our region, countries with more socio-economic difficulties, opening its hands to all.
Even assisting North American Families, free of charge, with Energy so that they could give themselves a little heating in the cold season, and so they would not die of cold. Because there in the United States there are people who die of cold because they are in Poverty. There still exists what Darío saw when he passed through New York and which led him to write: "50 storey houses...", seeing those enormous buildings of the time, and at the same time he said: “Under the bridges and in the streets there are people, my God, who die of cold, and what is saddest, my God, in pain, pain, pain...!” That's right, that's what Darío saw out walking there.
And those Families, which were not protected by the U.S. Government itself, were included in Venezuela’s assistance programs; and let's not even mention how many programs here in the Caribbean Region. In exchange for what? In exchange for nothing, unconditionally!
These are situations that really cause a lot of pain, when Venezuela’s and Cuba’s examples should be noted, they should be followed. And we recognize that on the part of the international community that does have this sensitivity, this sense of responsibility, there are programs and there continue to be programs for Countries that are in very fragile conditions. Programs, for what? To give these Countries the tools to get out of Poverty.
At the same time there are those who think that all types of cooperation should be withdrawn, when that is only going to make the problems bigger, and cause more problems.
Today we have received you, dear Ambassadors, we have welcomed you in the name of our People, recognizing the good will of all of you. We had the opportunity, I would say the privilege of meeting many of your leaders, your heads of Governments, to visit your Countries, both developed countries in Europe, as well as developing countries, in Asia and other Regions of our Planet, and there we always find Solidarity, which is decisive in being able to work for Peace.
And well, I tell you, here we are making yet one more effort for Peace, Agreements have already been reached, a Negotiation is always complex; the terms of this Negotiation are really a real challenge because a short term was established for this Negotiation to reach Agreements. We do hope that there is a willingness, the commitment, as has been demonstrated in the Negotiation Table here, that there is also the same Will on the part of the external actors that always influence this kind of negotiation, in which there are external actors who really want Nicaragua to completely re-establish stability, security, Peace, to strengthen Democracy. And there are those who don't want that to happen.
But I am sure that, taking into account that the Will of our People, of the immense majority of Nicaraguans, regardless of political positions, ideological positions, religious beliefs, is Peace. I am sure that we will achieve it and I am sure that you, with your Peoples, with your Governments, are also accompanying this effort for Peace in Nicaragua.
Welcome, in the name of Peace!