Tomás Valdez Rodríguez, November 9th 2018
A personal tribute to Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra
Next Sunday November 11th, Comandante Daniel Ortega will be setting a big table for his birthday. A special day for most of Nicaragua’s people who are glad to celebrate our President’s birthday and, for me, a challenge to write an account of someone who has given all of himself to the world’s most noble cause, namely the struggle to free our people from the Somoza tyranny, consolidate a solidarity-based model of Christianity and Socialism, restoring dignity and human rights to our people, working with passion to eliminate poverty, being a leader and strategist able to defeat the terrorist coup mongers and also a tireless fighter for solidarity with the oppressed peoples of the world.
If life is God’s most precious gift to women and men, and knowing that we only live once on this earth, Comandante Daniel has shown he knows how to live it with humility and bravery. He can justly feel and say that all the years spent in guerrilla struggle, in hiding, in prison under torture, enduring hunger in the guerrilla areas, risking his life; none of it was in vain. His time was dedicated to fighting on behalf of others, the imperative command of Jesus. It is noteworthy how he has always lived a process of interior growth, personal, political, social, cultural and ideological and that process led him and guides him to take on the challenges each moment presents, more knowledgeable, more experienced, with greater mastery and he remains more serene with the years, rejuvenated by the daily expressions of affection and appreciation from the Nicaraguan people and the Sandinista party members.
Over all these many years, accompanied by Compañera Rosario, by Sandinista militants loyal to and in solidarity with the cause of the oppressed – and too with the support of the People! - Comandante Daniel has had the task of bringing about Revolution and promoting Social Justice in a world in crisis, with the model of brutal Capitalism in crisis . That has been his great challenge, one he has known to confront with victorious tactics and strategy, without dogma, without any catechism, learning from mistakes made, innovating at every moment, finding a way to make Revolution, Justice, Socialism, Christianity and Complementarity, in accordance with those very values but also in accordance with Nicaraguans’ Identity, Culture, Idiosyncrasy and way of being and he has done so despite philistine incomprehension and attacks
Comandante Daniel’s leadership has achieved the acceptance, among ordinary people, without needing to impose it, of a modern revolutionary project among a broad and diverse People who have been its promoters and protagonists. That is why is is a Revolution!. Respecting ordinary people, based on values, on the Spirit of Solidarity. We Sandinistas, alongside our people , led by Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario have been through all the battles, we have managed to overcome storms, hurricanes, floods, drought, blockades, aggression and an attempted coup d’etat, wihtout losing confidence, without those vicissitudes destroying our hopes and our joy. We have prevailed based on Christian principles and from those principles we have neither excluded nor discriminated against anyone.
It’s important to make very clear that my revolutionary and ethical conduct, and too my Christian education and ideology, prevent me from flattery or adulation. Just as Comandante Daniel himself neither expects it nor needs it, because he has demonstrated that he does not permit adulation. But my sense of human justice tells me that witness in solidarity and justified admiration is healthy and we should not be mean by failing to recognize Comandante Daniel’s merit. He has fully earned it throughout the course of his life. So what I am writing is not calculated in that sense since we have always expressed our opinion freely.
I know this text may well be mocked and attacked by resentful ex-Sandinistas and traitors, but I don’t care about their comments or those of the terrorist right wing coup promoters and lose no sleep over them.
Comandante Daniel’s qualities of revolutionary leadership
I venture to list the qualities or enduring, diverse characteristics of doing good, the essential, distinctive peculiarities and virtues that as a Christian I have observed in Comandante Daniel Ortega, which show us how and what he is:
1.- His concept of unity and collective endeavor and its inseparable component, collective leadership. This trait of our leader has allowed us to maintain the stability and structure of the FSLN despite all the difficulties, to work out the objectives and collective interests of working together united for the good of the people.
2.- The dialectic thought and practice allowing him to understand processes of change in Nicaragua’s society and its essence, proceeding based on those presuppositions and applying practical reason to those principles.
3.- The strong personal and internal party discipline applied with the necessary information and persuasion with firmness but also with an understanding of social developments.
4.- Making use of constructive criticism and self-criticism, allowing varied expressions of disagreement with policy and decisions, like the thousands that resulted from the acceptance of being forced to keep the police n tehir stations duirng the attempted coup, that avoided a war with thousands of Nicaraguan dead and which has allowed everyone to take part in very quickly rebuilding the economy, in rebuilding reconciliation and peace. His attitude helped create a collective self-criticism, avoiding damaging actions and costly errors in human and material terms, by analyzing causes and not just isolated events.
5.- Turning revolutionary ethics, rooted in the thought, values and principles of General Sandino, of Comandante Carlos Fonseca, of Comandante Tomás Borge... into the fundamental rationale for the government and State of Nicaragua and of the FSLN. That is what explains his exempary moral authority for the People who admire him and which his very detractors cannot admit that they secretly envy
6.- His clear distaste for exhibitionism, homages, vanity, material things, all of which led him to renounce professional advancement and dedicate his life to the popular cause.
7.- His personal example in the moments of battle, doing what the revolution asked people to do. Those who don't understand this, demand he goes into the streets for tasks better done by Frente Sandinista militants and the people themselves. Of course, the critics' confusion makes it impossible for them to understand that Comandante Daniel has always been ready to do whatever is needed and in every task he has shown his social sensitivity and ability to learn from the people, just as he now fulfils his role as Head of State.
8.- His conduct as a family man, as a loving and responsible father, protecting his family and all Nicaraguan families.
9.- Finally, so as not to make this text overly long, I emphasize Comandante Daniel’s indomitable spirit, faced with the unexpected and sorrowful electoral defeat in 1990 and the falling away of those who betrayed the People, the Frente Sandinista and his leadership. He still knew how to maintain the unity of loyal Sandinistas, to struggle so as to make that defeat something temporary and later on he turned it into a resounding victory. That same spirit was put to the test and finally triumphed over the evil of the terrorist coup leaders.
It is absolutely clear that over this weekend of November 10th and 11th, Comandante Daniel will receive the messages of congratulation and expressions of affections of Nicaragua’s people, of other writers and thinkers of the Frente Sandinista and all the people in Nicaraguan society who value Comandante Daniel.
Sincere congratulations Comandante Daniel!
Managua, November 9th 2018
¡Onward to new Victories!
Tomás Valdez Rodríguez