"XI International Security Conference” - Moscow 2023
Conditions for a cardinal change in the political-military situation in the world, of the establishment and strengthening of a multipolar world
Remarks by Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army
I am Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, the sole national armed body established by the Political Constitution of the Republic to guarantee defense of the Sovereignty, Independence and Territorial Integrity of the Nicaraguan Nation.
Beloved Army General Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, our fraternal greeting and appreciation for the invitation to participate in the Eleventh International Security Conference, a forum of great importance that over eleven events has managed to bring together important leaders of military organizations from around the world, in the interest of addressing underlying and current issues in the field of international security.
This conference allows us to develop a frank exchange of visions and valuable information, which contribute to assessing current trends on the existence of threats and factors of risk, which are increasingly disturbing the conditions of global security and stability.
At this conference we are sure we will achieve an important consensus in order to face these threats and realities that we face, adding more and more voices every day to ensure us all an agenda of common interests in the face of the denial of the Sovereignty, Self-determination and sustainable development of our nations, and above all the greatest desire of our peoples; Peace.
Due to its importance, this international forum allows us to analyze and contextualize the prevailing conditions generating changes at the global level, and the advances towards the establishment of a multipolar world, which are vital and transcendent links for the growth and sustainable development of humanity.
We emphasize the importance of this conference, taking place in circumstances in which the Russian Federation is steadfast in facing a decisive situation for its security, in which we are sure you will successfully achieve the proposed objectives, defeating the NATO forces that are really conducting the war by using Ukraine.
General Shoigu, we would like to express our full support for the right of the Russian Federation to guarantee the security of its country, which others seek to violate by installing different weapons systems in areas close to the territory of the Russian Federation, violating signed agreements.
We are called in this conference to pay attention and take advantage of the opportunity to share valid criteria in the formulation of strategies to counter scenarios aimed against all the States that guide our actions based on the principles of Sovereignty and Independence against elites, who try by all means to subdue the world’s Peoples with their unipolar and hegemonic ideology, now out of date and in clear decline.
We affirm that it is appropriate to identify and consolidate spaces to strengthen the mechanisms of cooperation and collaboration in the field of defense and global security, increasing levels of trust and existing ties of friendship, without preconditions of any kind.
We reaffirm that forums of this nature are relevant at a time when the world is going through significant changes transforming the vision that over time seeks to remain unchanged while imposed by global powers of the current world, as against broader efforts at consensus, promoting common strategies for the benefit of our peoples.
We are convinced that we are living in a stage of transition towards a multipolar world, which is the way for nations to free themselves of the subjugation imposed directly or indirectly by ambitions of world control, enabling a multipolar world that proposes common agendas on equal terms and building a more just world, based on principles of respect, trust, collaboration, security, with the same opportunities for mutual benefit.
Our nation, Nicaragua, is located in the center of America, forming part of the Central American isthmus, which has a bioceanic geographical position being the largest country in the Central American region, with more than 130 thousand km2 of land area, 102 thousand km2 in the Pacific Ocean and more than 172 thousand km2 in the Caribbean Sea.
This characteristic places us as a potential interoceanic logistics corridor to expedite agile commercial exchange and economic development in the region, the hemisphere and the world.
Like the other Central American nations, we are prone to the incidence of transnational threats and risk factors, the main ones being international drug trafficking, as a result of more than 358 thousand hectares of illicit crops in the south of the continent, which generate drug production estimated at more than 3 thousand tons having as their main destination the United States of America, whose demand and entailing havoc increases exponentially year by year.
The presence of drug trafficking cartels in South and North America with great economic and technological capabilities, as well as thousands of members of maras and gangs, generate high rates of insecurity and criminality in the countries of such incidence where they have become established.
Likewise, thousands of illegal migrants originating from various parts of the world migrate annually from the south, having the United States of America as the main destination, with figures estimated for the current year of approximately 400 thousand migrants, which from a security perspective increases the risks of their exploitation by terrorist organizations and organized crime to mobilize members of their respective structures.
In the midst of these scenarios, our country is internationally recognized as the safest country in the region and one of the safest on the American continent, a condition achieved and sustained through the implementation of our State strategy of a Containment Wall, by means of which the main intelligence and operational efforts of the Nicaraguan Army work to contain, divert and capture as much narcotics as possible, stopping their entry and circulation through our population centers, and thus avoiding the destructive effects they could generate in Nicaraguan society.
The Containment Wall also allows us to effectively confront the activities of organized crime and maintain strict control over our land, maritime borders, airspace, ports and airports in our national territory, in such a way that, within our capabilities, we contribute to guaranteeing the sovereign security of the State, and with it stability, tranquility and Peace, and from our own national conditions of security, we also contribute significantly to the security of the region and the hemisphere.
At this Eleventh International Security Conference, we would like to present our approach to the challenges, risk factors and threats to global stability and security, out of whose complex analysis derive indicators to be taken note of, because they endanger the very existence of humanity.
We must point out that it is obvious how hegemonic powers influenced by economic elites, promote, promote and finance destabilization and crisis scenarios worldwide, in order to establish conditions that favor their dominant strategies of global positioning in economic and military matters, directing their main efforts to create points of tension worldwide through the historical guidelines of their foreign policy, aimed at eliminating any attempt at change towards multipolarity.
The main factor in this sense is the non-observance of respect for the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, wanting to impose a world based on their own rules, carrying out aggressive and threatening actions in the name of the “restoring democracy” and rejecting what is established by international law, assumed by everyone as a condition for stability, development and peace.
All these actions are aimed at attacking the security of countries that do not agree with their doctrine, generating in Eurasia, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, complex scenarios and even armed conflicts that unfortunately cause enormous costs in human life and economic terms for the affected nations and their effects on the rest of the world.
In this context, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China are identified as the main threats to US hegemony in the economic and military sphere, as well as for their coordinated actions aimed at strengthening the multipolar world, by promoting economic, commercial and financial independence together with other nations such as the BRICS, and countering dependence on the US currency.
In this line, one cannot ruled out in the short and medium term, that greater complexity in security matters will be generated in the Asian region. To date, there are indications that the strategy deployed in the Asia-Pacific region is aimed at strengthening partnerships between allied countries that follow US guidelines and whose purpose is to form an alliance similar to the Atlantic Alliance in this region, with the aim of countering the influence of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, so as to bring it under their control, which foreshadows a possible new scenario of conflict.
Faced with these realities, the international community and this conference are called upon to discuss reaching a consensus on the most appropriate mechanisms to achieve conditions of full collective security without preconditions, whereby no one nation takes the right for its own benefit to decide the fate of another State or region, at the expense of that area’s security and development, also conscious that confronting threats and risks must be carried out in coordination, as the only way possible to reduce their incidence and effects.
The current foreign policy of the United States towards Latin America and the Caribbean is aimed at maintaining its hegemony and control via the implementation of its National Security Strategy to counteract what they call the growing presence of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China in this relevant region of the world.
It is important to emphasize that the United States of America intends to exploit natural resources in Latin America and the Caribbean to the detriment of the development of our peoples, which is why this region constitutes yet one more geostrategic front, which the US does not intend to slip out of its control, despite the positions of some countries that resolutely defend our Sovereignty and Independence from any external pressure that seeks to circumvent ourr national interests.
Nations like ours, with firm, sovereign, dignified and free positions to build our future, are stigmatized internationally as a threat, for the simple fact of not following United States plans.
Nicaragua is designated as a threat to the national security of the United States, a category granted unilaterally and without grounds, just for promoting national, regional, hemispheric and global security conditions, from positions and conditions of respect for the Sovereignty, Independence and Territorial Integrity of States.
The rhetoric on the part of the United States against Nicaragua and our sister countries located in different regions of the world is based on the existence of governments that do not allow interference and the subjugation of their vital interests as a nation, for which they are signaled as anti-democratic and authoritarian.
In this context, the US arrogates to itself the right to enact and execute aggressive disinformation campaigns, making false accusations of human rights violations or crimes against humanity, among others.
Accusations that serve as a “foundation" in their opinion, for the imposition of unilateral measures and the funding of non-governmental organizations that generate destabilization scenarios, thereby seeking to force the legitimately elected rulers to follow the US agenda, or otherwise they promote soft coups d'état through the use of legislative and judicial Powers and other entities not related to progressive governments seeking to follow their own agenda.
Clearly identified cases can be seen in the destabilization processes implemented against Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, and of course, against our country, Nicaragua.
Everything is based on the modern application of the well-known “Monroe Doctrine” - America for Americans -, having as its main objective, clearly and openly what was expressed by senior US officials, about the appropriation of our valuable natural resources such as oil, lithium, rare earth minerals, water sources, among others.
Taking into account the above, it is evident that US foreign policy at the global level is aimed at neutralizing or at least containing the advance of the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China or any other nation with geopolitical weight that opposes its hegemony and promotes the construction, already in process, of a multipolar world.
I would like to state that the Nicaraguan Army reaffirms its commitment and willingness to strengthen cooperation mechanisms, to contribute through our actions to the construction of a new world order with better opportunities for all nations, without impositions or preconditions of any kind, as well as minimizing the influence and proliferation of threats and risks that threaten nations.
Finally, I would like to emphasize our gratitude and congratulations to all the military authorities of the Russian Federation, particularly Army General Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense, for the excellent and successful organization of this Eleventh International Security Conference, demonstrating our willingness to cooperate with each of the efforts made to achieve a multipolar world that seeks the development of its Peoples and Peace.