Remarks by Rosario, Nicaragua's Vice President, after the words of President Comandante Daniel
April 15th 2020
Good evening, dear Families of our blessed Nicaragua, our Nicaragua that knows how to call out to God, our Nicaragua grateful to God, our Nicaragua that we want to be steadily more united, our Nicaragua full of love, and always free !
Our Comandante Daniel has talked with us, presenting us his perspective of the moment the world is living through, of the efforts humanity is making and must continue making to change its way of life, to develop a model of justice that takes into account the dignity of the human person and the right of all human beings to well-being. The Right to Science, Technology, Medicine, Equitable Development, Education. These are essential human rights. The Right not only to live in peace, but to build our own models of life.
In the case of Nicaragua, our model has definitely been, I would say, not only well known and recognized, but also constitutionally established. We are a people and a country that lives according to a culture of values : Faith, Family and Community. Christianity and Solidarity. We are the people of God !
I believe that the power of prayer in our country has helped us strengthen the energy of our work, the dedication and sacrifice of all of us working to serve our Nicaraguan family, and in particular of the health workers, doctors, nurses, assistants, health specialists, who have tirelessly given themselves completely day after day, since we declared this health alert.
I ask myself : How many of our sister doctors, specialists, health authorities, nurses, auxiliaries, male nurses too, how many of them go home every day or how ever often to see their own families? There is a willingness to sacrifice, which we do not see as a sacrifice, but rather one we see as a responsibility and a duty in a country like ours, a Christian country grounded in solidarity.
And we said that the strength of prayer gives us more energy every day, more inspiration to do our duty, to serve our people, so that we all feel blessed and protected because we are applying all the preventive and protective measures that are established by our health authorities in coordination with the international health authorities.
That is to say, the power of prayer, the Our Father or those Psalms that we recite as a family, or else alone in intimacy, before the image of Jesus Christ, or Our Mother Mary, those are songs of blessing, protection and encouragement for the spirit of struggle in all Nicaraguans.
On the front line, at this time, are the health workers. But we also think of the early risers, out before dawn—the rural workers, the producers, the merchants. At 4 o'clock in the morning their activity begins in markets across the country. And we think of all the compañeros women and men, who walk the streets with their carts, with their musical announcements, with their pick-ups, or who are out in the neighborhoods already selling, serving families, on credit as often as not. It is a community network of trade and service. And from where do we get that energy, that strength to work ? From our Lord God, and from the prayers of all Nicaragua's families. Therefore, giving thanks is not only something we should do. Giving thanks to God is a very valuable culture that we have in Nicaragua. Ever since we were children we learned to say: "God first", "God willing", "Thank God", and we say it continuously. Some say that we exaggerate... We cannot live without God! We cannot live without God!
To those who say that we exaggerate, we who have grown as Catholic Families, or Christians, know that without God we are nothing. That we owe ourselves to God and that our duty is to be grateful, and to invoke him continually so that he continues to pour out miracles, prodigies, and that he continues to encourage us and help us to understand each other in order to strengthen Peace and Good.
As our Comandante Daniel said, these are Times for very necessary changes, so that the world assumes new models of social justice, of equitable development, of recognition of the Rights of all Peoples, and so that, among all of us, from a growing consciousness that we have not done well, at least in our lifetimes we have never known experiences like these. Epidemics, yes, but we had not known experiences like these that have closed economies, collapsed the economies of entire countries.
The other aspect of these terrible realities are wars, which have also attacked, brought suffering, death, and destroyed entire countries. Suffering today, the whole world is suffering. I can imagine what it is like to live in those small, tiny apartments in the big European cities, or right here on the American continent, and what it is like to be locked up, with children who cannot jump, who cannot run, who cannot play.
It is a great sacrifice that humanity is making, and hopefully it will strengthen our awareness of change, and that we must all be agents of change, builders, artisans of peace, as the Holy Father says. Peace that means dignity, recognition of the dignity, the capacity, and the right that we all have to live as Human Beings, with work, with education, with health, with the essentials for Life.
Before concluding I wanted to mention this summary that we made this afternoon, about COVID-19 in our Country, where, with the strength that God gives us, with this unique model, culture of family and family responsibility that we have, derived from our sacred belief in the family, the Christian family, in solidarity... What has been the behavior of COVID-19 since the March 11th declaration of the Pandemic, until yesterday April 14th?
The first person testing positive presented in our Nicaragua on March 18th, and it must be said that this person passed and was discharged after completing the regulatory period and is with his family in his home. We are also very careful about the privacy of the family. We do not give data that identifies them, but we can count and we must count.
That first case occurred on March 18th, the person was seriously ill, however he recovered, thanks to God, God first, God first and the Nicaraguan specialists. He's now with his family.
Then, to date we have had a total of 9 confirmed cases, people confirmed with COVID-19, all imported, sisters and brothers who have arrived, most of them from the United States, because we know there is a diaspora there, Nicaraguans living and working there, who came back to our country.
These 9 people include the brother who died, who, in that case, did not come from the United States, but from Colombia and he suffered, as we have said many times, from multiple diseases derived from a condition of diminished immune system, HIV/AIDS. All these cases, we said, were imported. Of these, 5 have recovered completely, and 3 are still being treated. We are reporting these cases every day, while God willing we can discharge another one of them. It is possible that between now and Friday, with God's favor, they can leave the hospital, the doctors tell me.
We have had 37 people, all contacts of the 9 cases, in what we call responsible and careful follow-up. Since they are contacts, we attend to them, we take care of them, they remain in isolation. 25 of these 37 people have already completed the regulatory period, and are in their homes. Thank God ! We call this home protection. Also, we repeat, that the 37 are all contacts of the imported cases.
As of today, we inform you this morning, there are 12 brothers and sisters in careful, responsible and permanent monitoring. That is to say, these people are being monitored, as far as we know, without symptoms, but our duty, because they were in contact with some of these infected brothers and sisters, is to monitor them responsibly and permanently.
Then, there's also the great blessing that there is no local community transmission, thus far.
We never tire of thanking God, and we never tire of invoking Him, so that He continues to give us the strength, the fortitude, the energy that we need to work, to work at dawn, to work at dusk, and to work at dawn again, knowing that it is an enormous privilege to serve our People.
All day today I have been remembering the Compañer@s who fell, 41 years ago now, the Heroes of Veracruz: Róger, Oscar, Aracely, Idania, Edgard, Carlos Manuel, there are 6 Compañer@s, and the survivor, our dear Compañera Ana Isabel Morales.
Remembering their dedication, admiring their dedication, and conversing, because one converses with the Beings who are already on another Plane of Life. As Believers we know that they are at the side of the Lord. Talking and telling them how much they inspire us, how much they left us ! They are part of our Heroic Heritage. We also have the privilege in our Nicaragua, to have a Heroic Heritage. Part of our cultural heritage is our heroic heritage. We thank God for the life and the eternal life of all these companions.
In these days we have already begun the route towards July 19th, so many brothers and sisters who offered their lives so that we would be as we are, free, generous, kind, recognizing the goodness of God Our Lord, and creating the Nicaragua that they dreamed of and that we dream of, and we know that this Nicaragua of Prosperity will come, because we are creating it. In the most adverse circumstances we know how to work, and we know how to fight and to win, in the Name of God!
So, Compañer@s, dear Families, we embrace you always in solidarity, and always recognizing that each brother and sister in this Nicaragua of ours teaches us, transfers to us lessons of life, which are the best lessons. With those lessons from life and by listening, invoking God Our Lord, how can we not go forward!
Thank you, Compañer@s.