Daniel’s speech: 44th anniversary of the founding of the Nicaraguan Army
Transcript of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at the central act to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the founding of the Nicaraguan army.
Nicaraguan brothers and sisters; families of this Free, Sovereign, Dignified Nation, fighting for Peace to eradicate Poverty, fighting for Peace to improve the living conditions of all Nicaragua’s Families.
How much joy and how much optimism it gives us to receive this recognition from the Conference of Armed Forces of Central America. The CFAC, as the General explained just now, is made up of the armies, the armed forces of the countries that make up the System for Central American Integration, that is, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
This is a very clear sign of the New Times the World is living through, that there is a New Vision, a New Awareness and, above all, the will and decision to achieve relations between all the countries of the planet, which are relations of respect, which are relations where we integrate efforts, resources to address hunger, poverty, migration. And that is what is happening on the planet.
The BRICS, five countries, the BRICS: China, the Russian Federation, India, Brazil, South Africa, five countries that are there opening the way, while the empires, the Imperialists of the Earth, naturally trying to avoid that integration between Nations wanting to cooperate, Nations that integrate and work together, not to invade another country, not to bomb other countries, but working together to strengthen relations in the economic field, in the commercial field, in the social field, in the productive field. It is a struggle for Peace! This is the first great break, the first great blow to the tyranny of imperialism to which the World has been subjected, to the tyranny of the imperialists of the Earth to which the World has been subjected.
Here we are also seeing how the African Peoples have integrated, how African peoples who were subjected to slavery are fighting for their Independence, for their Self-determination, for their Sovereignty.
And here in Latin America we see how the Armed Forces of the entire Region are managing to get closer, they are managing to integrate, they are holding meetings, not to plan some invasion, not to plan attacks against other Peoples, but to strengthen the defense of the Peoples of the Latin American and Caribbean Region; to ensure the Peace of our Peoples by fighting crime, drug trafficking; offering Solidarity to the Peoples in the face of the difficulties caused by natural phenomena; fighting crime, drug trafficking, as we were saying. That is the Agenda of the Latin American and Caribbean armies, and that is the Agenda of the Central American Armies.
And how grateful we are for this Recognition, which is a recognition of the Nicaraguan People, the Nicaraguan Army, which has been able to strengthen this integration between Central American brothers and sisters. Merely to recall that Honduras and Nicaragua developed, through their armed forces, those operations named after Sandino and Morazán… Morazán, the Great Unionist, who fought for Central American unity, this is a clear example that there is a new consciousness in the Region, that a solid consciousness is being established in terms of achieving Independence, to be commanded by our Peoples, but not to be commanded by Empires.
This is really extraordinary news, because this is giving rise to what is already being established in different ways, which is how the World, Humanity develop multipolar relations, that is, all the Peoples of the World, from the one with the smallest territory and the smallest population, to the one with the largest population. China, India, to give an example, have the largest populations in the world, India and China, and we see how they do not go on military adventures, nor do they embark on aggressions, and what they receive is a smear campaign.
As General Avilés denounced just now, the defamation campaign is planetary, because the Imperialists of the Earth defame those who want to be Independent, they defame those who do not want to be slaves, they defame those who are willing to be free. And how they defame the People’s Republic of China every day, simply because they establish relations with Peoples who have difficult conditions and offer cooperation with these Peoples. Of course, that is not in tune with the sentiments promoted by capitalism.
Capitalism is not about to cooperate with the poor, because it exists to squeeze the poor, to rob the poor, to steal the wealth of the world’s Peoples, both in terms of labor force by turning them into slaves, and in terms of natural resources. They know that in Latin America, that in Africa, that in Asia, there are natural resources, and they do not want those Peoples to be independent, because then they could no longer practice what they engage in right now, extracting, stealing those natural resources, they could no longer do so.
And this is the struggle that is being waged in the world and, of course, these are complex historical transitions, taking place in the midst of enormous contradictions, at a time when we see how the imperialist countries are investing billions and billions and billions to try to stop, to take away the right of the Russian Federation to recover what has historically belonged to the Russian Federation and is populated by the Russian Federation.
In that regard, NATO is united, and while the world is crying out over the need to feed people who are going hungry, they are investing billions and billions of dollars, or euros, in a war that will only lead to the defeat of the imperialists of the Earth.
It is NATO confronting the Russian Federation, confronting the Russian People, and also confronting the international community, because the international community does not applaud or look favorably at the way in which they are investing more and more in armaments, more and more in resources to ensure the blood of human beings continues to flow there, across all that territory, the territory of Ukraine and the territory that belongs to Russia, running with blood, when those problems could well be solved by recognizing the agreements that had been reached earlier.
When the Soviet Union ceased to exist and agreements were reached where borders were delimited and where elections were held, where a President who was a friend of Peace and was a friend of the Russian Federation triumphed in Ukraine, there lay the path to Peace. And what did they do? The coup d’état took place, they resorted to the Nazi-led Coup d’état, because there is a large Nazi population there in Ukraine.
In the Second World War the Nazis established important bases in Ukraine and there continued to be forces that still think, act and defend Nazism publicly. During the coup d’état the Nazis were there with the notorious Hitler Swastika, they were wearing it, along with their Swastika flags, and they still wear it.
This war is a war that is being imposed on the World, a war imposed on the whole World because it hurts humanity in general, of course directly the Peoples of that region, and it also hurts the Peoples who are subject to the capitalists, the imperialists, it hurts the European people, it hurts the United States people.
They are constantly worried in those countries, because instead of those millions being invested there, they go on the war, they do not invest them in Europe, where there are hungry people in Europe, they do not invest them to take care of the thousands of migrants that the Europeans leave to die. Those millions are not invested in the United States where there are also millions of citizens who are hungry, who have no house to live in and who have to live under bridges. That is to say, in capitalist countries there is a lot of wealth, it is true, a lot of abundance, but it is in a very few hands.
The majority of these Peoples suffer, a good part of these Peoples suffer, and this war is making these Peoples suffer more, since it also affects the World community, because fuel prices alter, food prices alter, and so by altering food and fuel prices, this also hurts the European Peoples, the United States People, all the Peoples of the World, everyone!
But we are optimistic, because we see that, on the other hand, from among countries with a sense of humanity, nations that are great powers and have a sense of humanity, integration has been promoted, and now in the BRICS there are no longer only five Countries, Iran has joined, Argentina has joined, the Arab Emirates; that is, the BRICS are no longer five, there are eight and how many other countries, Ethiopia also joined the BRICS, that is to say, they have grown and others are knocking on the door, we too are among them knocking on the door, because this is the multipolar World where Peoples come together, from the most powerful Countries to the most impoverished Countries, to join efforts in the struggle for Peace, against hunger, in the struggle for the survival of humanity, in the struggle for the defense of the environment.
There, the agenda is not to schedule wars like those that NATO, led by the United States, and, subordinated to NATO, of course the European countries, has scheduled and spend their lives planning. But some countries that are members of the European Union do not agree with the way this issue is being treated, because everyone is losing out.
Take wheat, wheat is a fundamental food for the world’s peoples, for us, and these situations tend to make the price of wheat more expensive. So there they seek how to make agreements so that the wheat being held up in that area due to the war can be mobilized, mobilized for the benefit of the poor.
Because there was a first agreement, and it turned out that the wheat that came from there, which they swore was going to the poor, was given into the hands of the rich countries that did tremendous business with that wheat, and only a small part was given to the poor countries; that is, people got rich with the pain, with the blood, with the hunger of the world’s Peoples.
Beloved brothers and sisters, beloved families, beloved Compañer@s, brothers, sisters, Compañer@s of the Nicaraguan Army, today, September 4th, the General has reminded us of the date on which our General Sandino established, formed the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, in the struggle against the imperialists of the Earth, always fighting with Courage, with Dignity, with the Courage of our Heroes and Martyrs, who throughout History have confronted the invaders.
And in these first days of September, in the year 1928, when our General Sandino was fighting, three bombers of the United States Army and three other planes entered Nicaraguan airspace, that is, six planes to deliver death.
That is, the United States in making war on a People that has never harmed the United States, thought that by using those planes, they were going to terrorize, they were going to frighten the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty… No! On the contrary, this gave more Courage, more Bravery, more Dignity to the combatants of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, which represents Courage, Combativeness, Dignity, and these are the Values that you, beloved brothers and sisters of the Nicaraguan Army, have inherited from the Army of our General Sandino.
We congratulate the Compañeras and Compañeros who have been promoted in rank. We know all that work, of which this Memorandum is a sample, brings together a synthesis of all the effort, all the sweat, all the blood, all the time dedicated, by land, by sea, by air, going from one place to another, always ready to serve the People, it brings together everything that is the work, the sweat and the blood shed by this Heroic Army that today reaches its 44th Anniversary.
Honor and Glory to the Nicaraguan Army on its 44th Anniversary!
Honor and Glory to the Heroes and Martyrs!
Honor and Glory to the Families of the Heroes and Martyrs, and of those serving in the Army who fulfill the Sacred Duty of accompanying their children in the Struggle for Peace and for the People!
Honor and Glory!