Event to Commemorate the 128th Anniversary of the Birth
of the General of Free Men and Women, Augusto C. Sandino
May 18th 2023
Words of Daniel
Good afternoon, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. Good afternoon, Nicaraguan families, it's quite late tonight, already entering the evening on this day.
On a day like today, 128 years ago, in Niquinohomo, a small town in Nicaragua, Margarita Calderón, a humble Woman, a "servant”, as they said in those days, a domestic worker, a domestic worker, but that was the qualification worn by those humble women who worked, cooking, washing dishes, washing clothes, mopping floors; and roasting coffee. She reminds me of Rosario, who comes from that town, the great-niece of our General Sandino, Compañera Rosario Murillo who leads a strong group of women.
And there in that humble village, Margarita Calderón brought into the world, gave birth to a child, a child who would later become one of the great giants of history; just as David faced Goliath, and defeated him. Back then, the boy, the young man, Augusto César Sandino, seeing how the Yankee troops who had invaded Nicaragua to overthrow the government of General José Santos Zelaya, a national hero, who brought about the first Revolution in our country; in those times when totally Conservative governments served the Yankees, served the Vatican, served the Clergy.
In those times, before Zelaya's Revolution, there was no religious freedom here, here the only Religion that could be preached and practiced was Catholicism, and if someone died they could not be buried except under the rites of the Catholic Church. All this was nothing more than the expression of what had been imposed by the colonialists, the imperialists of the Earth, and which in those days were indeed called Empires, they were Empires! Empires all over Europe, with monarchs who killed each other and caused death among their own peoples, as they vied for dominance in Europe.
Such that what Hitler did afterwards was not at all strange, just as before the European empires were killing each other looking for how to control all of Europe in order to dominate Africa, Asia, the known world from there, when this region, this continent, was not yet known.
One person managed to achieve a lot on that score, a Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte. The Pope had crowned him, because the Pope crowned emperors for them later to commit crimes, enslave Peoples. But it happened with Napoleon, that when he prostrated himself before the Pope and the Pope already had the crown in his hands to place it, Napoleon took it from him and crowned himself, as if to say: I'm in charge here!
Then Napoleon waged war against the whole of Europe, dominating Spain, dominating European nations. And then he went against Russia, which was, we should say, an area, a People, who also had their emperor, and Napoleon attacked Russia, because he was convinced that if he defeated Russia and occupied Russia he would in effect become the owner of the known world at that time.
He became the owner of all of Europe and from there, well, he would not have given space to the monarchs of Spain to come and colonize these lands, to occupy them, it would have been the French. They would not have given either the English or the other European monarchies a chance to occupy the lands they occupied in our region and those that were earlier disputed in Africa, in Asia; if he had occupied all of Europe, Napoleon would not have let Portugal to occupy all that immense nation that is Brazil.
And Napoleon marched on Russia and thought it was going to be a cakewalk, but the Russian People have always been a People who have loved their Land, and they began to give battle, and Napoleon's troops began to advance over the immense Russian territory, and there, one can see looking back now, General Kutuzov who was the Head of the Russian Army decided to adopt a strategy of letting them advance, letting them advance, and making minor attacks from the flanks on the advancing troops so as to to wear them down a little, without seeking to defeat them, but letting them move forward. And Napoleon thought that he had already won the war, because he was progressing, entering and advancing, even as far as Moscow, they let him advance!
I mention this, keeping things in proportion, it is somewhat like the coup mongers here, because we did not impose order and because we appealed to dialogue, because we appealed to the famous “mediators”, who were also coup mongers. All the priests who appeared as mediators were in fact coup promoters.
We told the police: Hold on, police officers! Hold on! Remain in your stations! The coup promoters thought, as they said themselves, that we were practically already on the plane out, and they said it quite calmly because they thought that we were already defeated. And they did not understand that our purpose was to find a way out that would not lead us to a confrontation with them to clear them from the roadblocks where they were carrying out murders every day.
Instead, they felt emboldened and committed more crimes, murdering more people and setting fire to more policemen, and they went to the police quartered in their stations, and threw themselves at them with numerical superiority and with firearms, and they ended up killing many police officers.
Just as General Kutuzov noted, that the other Generals didn't understand him, saying him, "What's going on? Why let him through!" We too wanted to avoid the losses involved in having to clear them out, and in the end that was perhaps the most startling thing and what made the People generally and some people in particular realize that they were totally confused... many people were confused, some Sandinista sisters and brothers were also confused, believing it was all over, especially with all the media campaign being waged.
But we made it clear to the people concerned that we wanted them to dismantle the roadblocks, because dismantling the roadblocks at that moment was the best proof that there was a will for understanding, for reconciliation. And since too they were asking for the national dialogue to be broadcast on television, live, because it was indeed being broadcast on television, live, on a national channel.
And when our delegates, from workers, and the transport industry, farmers, came to the negotiation table and made their case, explaining that the opposition were destroying agriculture; bankrupting traders, stopping families from going with their relatives to the hospitals, not letting them pass through the roadblocks. All this was said during the dialogue and made know throughout the country.
At that point, they justified the crimes they were committing defending their roadblocks, defending the roadblocks! Those who themselves left on the plane, sat there there defending the roadblocks, and Nicaraguans witnessed that; because when it came to a vote they were told, all right, let's vote: Who is for the roadblocks to be lifted and who is against the roadblocks to be lifted? Only the government delegates, the transport businesses, the traders and the families who were being affected, raised their hands.
And then, who is in favor of keeping the roadblocks? Those who in the end left on the plane raised their hands for the roadblocks not be lifted. This helped create the necessary conditions, because it was necessary to create conditions for the People to realize the value of Peace and Stability.
As the days passed, the people naturally got irritated with those who were operating the roadblocks, and they had already begun to complain to us: When are you going to dismantle them? And the people managing the roadblocks believed that our problem was that we had neither the strength nor the decisiveness to do it, and so they were more determined to maintain the roadblocks.
But after a few weeks had already passed, and the country was completely blockaded and crimes were being committed every day, burning buses, assaulting universities, Nicaragua witnessed all this, and that should not be forgotten, it should not be forgotten, but rather remember well the violence waged so as to destroy a process that had been working peacefully. Who pays the sacrifice? The People, big business, workers too are also affected.
And opinion in the population eventually reached a state when it was demanded of us: When are you going to finish with the roadblocks? And that was when we said: Now is the time! And we went, and no big battles needed to be fought, just the police accompanied by the volunteer police quickly dismantled the notorious roadblocks. How so? Because the people behind those roadblocks, the ones who promoted those roadblocks, the ones who sustained the roadblocks, were mercenaries, they had no roots in their Nation, and on the other hand, they thought they had already won because we let them continue there, they thought that they had already won, and they were just waiting for us to leave the government.
And who had the chance to promote that message, to communicate that message? The entire Episcopal Conference, all of them, everyone came to that meeting, every one of them. The Episcopal Conference, the bishops, the cardinal was also there, but there were some who were especially belligerent, hurrying things along because we were already on the way out.
And after all, they presented us with that famous document signed by all of them, where they told us that the State had to be dismantled. Complete madness! An aberration! And already when that message was given to us we said: These people are crazy and there was no other way left but to dismantle the roadblocks and restore order in the country.
And we went and did it, we did it at the time working with the police; with the army protecting strategic points; the police with the volunteer police were already finishing their operations, and always when we prepared the operations we took care to avoid losses, avoid as much as possible that any injuries, beyond those forced on us in order to defend the lives of our citizens, of the volunteer police, of the police. And so it turned out, and victory was achieved.
Already for the Repliegue we worked out the route, I remember, there to Masaya, and we went to Masaya for the Repliegue and the country was already beginning to recover Peace recover Stability in the country.
Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, and I'm talking to those who were carried along by the coup attempt at the time: When were you better off? When the blockades were operating, or now? And I say to the businessmen who called for lock outs after they were doing very well as big business in alliance with the government. When were you better off? With the "peaceful" coup promoters paralyzing the country, or now that we have recovered Peace? When were you better off?
And I was telling you that today, we are in this process of strengthening Peace, without dropping our guard, because those who promote wars are always there, the very same ones who made war on Russia and ended up retreating with Napoleon, but we all know the General's strategy that they did not understand, was to allow Napoleon's troops to conquer cities and everything else to enter.
They arrived in Moscow and the cold winter began, and General Kutuzov already had his troops ready, he had them ready to start a campaign attacking the Napoleonic troops that had been trapped by the cold at an enormous distance from their logistical sources, that is, operating the logistics on that long journey was no longer possible, that was Napoleon's strategic error, and Russia managed to strengthen and maintain itself with all its Sovereignty, its Unity, its Territory.
And as for our General Sandino, well, he found himself confronting the most powerful empire that existed at the time on Earth, and I was telling you that when he was a boy, he witnessed the heroic deed of that General who, after the coup against Zelaya, that is, after the Yankees expelled Zelaya, when an armed resistance came about, at the head of that armed resistance was a national hero, General Benjamín Zeledón. Yes, the Assembly gave him the status of a national hero, just like Zelaya.
But Zeledón, as well as Andrés Castro and General José Dolores Estrada with their fighters were among the important battles at that time fought against the Yankee invaders; just as Diriangén and Nicarao are the first, we cannot say Nicaraguans because Nicaragua did not exist then, but they are the first owners of these lands, owners of these waters, who faced imperialism for the first time, at that time when they were indeed called empires, the Spanish empire was an empire formally, the Spanish empire with its monarchs, along with all the other European empires.
And here the Spanish came and we have already recalled the way in which Nicarao and Diriangén agreed to set up the ambush for the imperialist invaders. And it was the first battle against imperialism to be waged in these lands, against European imperialism, because Yankee imperialism did not yet exist, the United States did not exist, although they were beginning to be invaded also by the English Empire.
And Zeledón is the first Nicaraguan hero to confront the official troops of the Yankee Empire, and there we must see courage, love for the Nation, as Zeledón expressed it well in his writings, dignity, as much as to say: Here I am, and I'm not surrendering, and I'm not selling out! And the Yankees made him offers, the Yankee troops, the Yankee Colonels sent parliamentarians to him to secure his surrender... But no surrender! And he is the first national hero to fall fighting against the US Army troops who had landed in Nicaragua.
And Sandino, a boy, sees this and instead of provoking fear, which perhaps is normal to think, some may have thought, given the end of Zeledón confronting the Yankees. Sandino no, Sandino thought that Zeledón did what a Nicaraguan patriot should do and all those who love their nation, those who love their land, those who have dignity, should do. That was what struck him and forged the courage there, the courage that gathered up at the same time the courage of all the Heroes who had previously faced up to the empires, from the Spanish Empire to Yankee expansionism.
General Sandino gathered all this together, and he managed to rise up and did rise up, in these lands with a very small population, with a very small economy at that time, he managed to rise up, earning the respect of the world's Peoples, earning the respect also of North American citizens who were ashamed of the criminal, cowardly, interventionist policy of the Yankee Empire. And what had seemed impossible, expelling the Yankees from our lands, was achieved by General Sandino. He expelled them!
Then came the Peace Process, as we have talked about before also, trusting in President Sacasa, but the Yankees did not want that and could not forgive General Sandino for the defeat he had caused them in these lands of Nicaragua. There it is written, back in the United States, in the list of defeats that the United States has suffered, in its official Pentagon lists there he appears on a par with the heroic People of Vietnam, General Sandino appears there.
Today, on his 128th Birthday, we pay Honor, Love and Respect, to his Mother. Without that Mother the General would not have been. Heroes are born from mothers' wombs. And we say to her, towards that other plane of life in which Margarita Calderón finds herself: Thank you, dear mother, thank you for giving a son to Nicaragua, like General Augusto César Sandino. And to the General we say and sing: Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Sandino! Sandino! Sandino! Long live Sandino!
And I am going to conclude, don't think that I am going to speak for long, I am going to conclude by reading this message, we received this message today, this message is addressed to us by our brother Nicolás Maduro, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He sent this message with all formality.
"Caracas, May 18, 2023
Most excellent
Comandante Daniel Ortega Saavedra
President of the Republic of Nicaragua, Managua
Fellow President:
From the Nation of the Liberator Simón Bolívar and the Eternal Comandante, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan People and government join the commemoration of the 128th Anniversary of the national hero and reference point for the anti-imperialist struggles of our continent, the General of Free Men and Women, Augusto César Sandino
General Sandino was a man of action, of effective combat on the ground, of intrepid courage who defeated the arrogant invading white man, exuberant in technology, but miserable in dignity and courage; a man of principles, of patriotic love, of unwavering will, of service and dedication to others, incorruptible, General Sandino, and with a magnanimous moral authority that nurtured his political and revolutionary leadership, but above all a man of ideas.”
Yes, because the General clearly forged a way of thinking, and forged that vision beyond the struggle of the Nicaraguan People; he forged a universal vision in the struggle for Sovereignty, for the Dignity of our Peoples.
And here Nicolás says something that sometimes we do not realize: “Sandino, more than continuing the Bolivarian ideal, he completes it and updates it with liberating action.” Mind you, it was Bolívar's lot to confront the Spanish, and Sandino was inspired by Bolívar's example and above all by his approach to Latin American Unity.
And as Nicolás well says: "Sandino, more than continuing the Bolivarian ideal, completes and updates it with liberating and Latin Americanist action, in a letter sent to the rulers of the Americas, dated August 4, 1928.” And a textual quote from General Sandino: "We must focus on our unification and understand that Yankee imperialism is the most brutal enemy threatening us and is set on ending, through conquest, our racial honor and the freedom of our Peoples.”
Nicolás quotes from Sandino, where Sandino is really working out an approach that, in fact, completes and updates Bolívar's Ideology.
"Dear Daniel and Rosario
Honoring Sandino today means ratifying our anti-imperialist and internationalist conviction: it is time for Revolution, it is time for Loyalty, it is time for Unity, to continue with conviction the defense of Peace, Stability and the new Victories of our Peoples.
In times of resistance, we are strengthened by the Historical Strength of the Liberator, General Sandino and the Eternal Comandante; they, side by side with our Peoples, will guide us along the way to continue forging the Independence and unity of Our America.
Dear friends, Cilia and I send you an embrace of infinite solidarity from the Venezuelan People and the Peoples who are fighting for their Sovereignty. We end wishing you farewell , convinced and confident that Nicaragua and the Sandinista Popular Revolution will remain undefeated.
A Free Nation, or Death!
Long live Sandino!”
Remarks by Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the event to commemorate the 128th Anniversary
of the Birth of General Augusto C. Sandino
May 18th 2023
There is a Nation...! There is a Nation...! There is a Nation...! How can we not feel the energy of Love that vibrates in Nicaragua, that lives in Nicaragua, that spreads in Nicaragua, that Love which we know well, which we live out with immense Pride. Because to love is to always be ready to give the best of oneself; it is not to receive, but to give... To love is to give, and how very much giving strengthens us!
And how we must feel when we imagine the times of struggle of our General, alone to begin with, alone before the World, alone confronting the most powerful empire on Earth, and he was able to give his all, he was able to fight, and to win.
There was no fear. There was no wavering. There was no hesitation. There was Determination, Conviction and Love. That is why we say that Sandino is an Immense Spiritual Force, because the Spirit is Love, and it is what we inherit from all our Great Human Beings: Love and the ability to give, to give, to live in giving, and in Love.
When I witness each of these Events, I see that Nicaragua's Youth feels and vibrates around Love and is disposed with infinite Nicaraguan conviction, Nicaraguan decision to undertake the struggles that create Victories, these Victories of today, Knowing that we will overcome misery, fighting Poverty, in the midst of so much complexity, as the World has, so much division, so much chaos, so much lack of Peace, so much discord.
But we, step by step, inspired always by the best Nicaraguans and those who have given their lives with Love and in Love to Nicaragua, we are moving forward, knowing that our strength is the Spirit, that our strength is the Soul, that our strength is the Heart; that we are Soul, Life, Heart, Immense, Infinite Spirit, that creates. Why do we create? Because we have faith.
I always say that creating comes from having faith, believing that you can, believing that you should, and believing that the way forward is the true way. The future is the one we are creating. The Past for us is of Glory, of Honor, of Victories; the Past is there and fills us with Strength and Fortitude. The Past does not change, but the Future changes and, learns from that Past, in the case of a People and a country like Nicaragua, heroic, infinitely heroic, exemplary, inspiring.
That's why on a day like today, May 18th, our General is born and we are all born, we are all born to true Life, which is the daily struggle for Justice, the daily struggle for Truth. And what is the Truth if it is not the Right of everyone to live well, to live like sisters and brothers, to live with Rights, exactly; to live convinced that we are free. We will never be slaves again! We will never be slaves again! We say it every day, and the facts of our lives affirm it every day as well.
We are a warrior People, a heroic People, heroes, a People that understands Love, and who also understand Peace and the Value of Peace.
Just now, the Comandante was talking about how "They could not prevail, nor will they", because the Nicaraguan people love Peace, we saw ourselves in the mirror of those terrible days... Horrible! Even more horrible, because people who are supposed to be people of faith, betrayed their Nation; people of faith, I'm talking about people who are supposed to represent Christian values. That's why I say people of faith, how they betrayed their Nation and how they were on the side of the coup promoters, on the side of heartbreak, on the side of treachery. That really hurt.
But we are already coming out of that pain and grief, with Love, with Hope, with Faith in God, because Christ Jesus is our guide; Christ Jesus, as the Great Revolutionary of Humanity, is not only our beacon, our light, our guide, our permanent Hope, but thanks to Him I can achieve everything, as our People say, “I can achieve everything in Christ who strengthens us.”
We can do everything, because we are strengthened by Divine force, which erases, wipes away the pain and generates more and more strength of victories. We are a People that overcomes, and to overcome is to live in Love, to live in fraternity, to live in freedom, and to live with Dignity, Dignity of the highest!
A big embrace to all the Families of our Blessed Nicaragua, on a day like today and on every other day, because every day takes us forward, Always Further On. A warm embrace, Compañer@s!