Central Event in Tribute to the 90th Anniversary of the Transit to Immortality
of the General of Free Women and Men, Augusto C. Sandino
February 21st 2024
Address by Daniel
Good afternoon, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, good afternoon, families of Nicaragua; good afternoon, Youth of Nicaragua; Comrade Rosario Murillo, niece-granddaughter of our General Sandino, Vice President of the Republic; Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army; First Commissioner Francisco Javier Díaz, Director General of the National Police; Doctor Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly; Comandante Lumberto Campbell, Magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Council; Deputy of the National Assembly Loria Raquel Dixon. This is the Caribbean, Lumberto, Loria and the thousands of Brothers and Sisters who, with the Autonomy Law, finally managed to set themselves free, to be free, to prosper, to get ahead.
Major General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez, Chief of the General Staff of the Nicaraguan Army; Major General Marvin Elías Corrales, Inspector General of the Nicaraguan Army; Commissioner General Horacio Rocha, Minister Advisor to the President for Security Issues; Commissioner General Zhukov Serrano, Deputy Director General of the National Police; Commissioner General Luis Roberto Cañas Novoa, Deputy Minister of the Interior.
February is a Month in which two Giants took the Step to Immortality, Giants in their steadfastness, in their courage, in their Love for Nicaragua. First it was Rubén, Rubén’s anniversary was at the beginning of February, February 6th is the Transition to Ruben's Immortality.
And to talk about Rubén, well, he was born in a small town in Nicaragua, in Metapa, from a poor, humble family, but Christ worked the miracle that Rubén transcended in the world and that he revolutionized Literature, Castilian Letters. He had not been born in Spain, it might have been expected that a Spaniard would have promoted that great change, the transformation that Rubén achieved.
He was born here, in Metapa, and then, in fact, by the Hand of God he was traveling, first his native Nicaragua, and then he traveled the world, and he had this vision of telling the American Empire, the Yankees, at that time, just imagine, telling them: “You are the United States, / you are the future invader / of a naïve America that has indigenous blood, / that still prays to Jesus Christ and still speaks in Spanish.” And Rubén ends up saying to the Yankees, in fact, he tells them that they are powerful, that they had power, they were already a world power in those years, the United States, he is explaining things to them and at the end he says: You may have everything, except with God. And whoever counts on God, no matter how much they suffer, no matter how much other Peoples or Nations may occupy them militarily, as the Yankees have done, that People will ultimately emerge victorious out of death.
And in one of those deep, magical poems by Rubén, he says in a few stanzas:
./.
“by the light of the dawn:
it was America, pure, lovely.
A hymn is playing; the sonorous ocean
daughter of God humming the verse;
and the Future of delirious joy
throws her resounding stanza into the air.
The Angel of the Lord his golden clarion
blowing to the four winds;
the echoing sound rolled
from the orb to shake the foundations.
And the Lord looked
more radiant than the midday sun.
He raised his sacred hand,
and his sovereign accent rang out.
He said, "Blessed be she!
And he anointed the human race
with the divine oil of his idea.
As the universal party trembled
in the creation of the sleepy joy,
of the Future I felt its tender kiss;
and through the immense vault came rolling
a deep echo saying:
"America is the future of the world!”
What a vision of Rubén! And Rubén also quotes Bolívar, talking about the Unity of our Peoples.
And in the month of February, as in every month of the year, Heroic Dates are present, because also in the month of February, well, practically every day, you see, this is a summary of the month of February and every day there are the Heroic Dates with the Sacred Blood of the Heroes and the Martyrs flowing in all the Municipalities of our Country, in the battles against Imperialism, in the battles against Somocismo. There is not a day, there is not one day in which the blood of a Martyr, the blood of a Hero, is not present there.
On February 1st, 1874, our National Hero of the war against Yankee expansionism headed by William Walker was a Teacher who was a Hero in those Battles, Emmanuel Jeremías Mongalo y Rubio, who fought against the Yankee troops who were defeated in the end, he died. But he is present! He is present!
Then again, the list here is countless. Just as a sample, he was murdered on February 1st, mind you, just one example, another is compañero Julio Eduardo Hernández Gallo murdered in the Community of Mina El Limón in the Municipality of Larreynaga, in the Department of León; he was originally from El Viejo. This was in the year 1978, killed by the troops that the Yankees had here under Somoza.
In the year 1928, when our General Sandino was fighting and because he was giving the Yankees a hard time, back then and according to Official Statements of the United States, they had sent 4,609 Marine Infantry men to Nicaragua, the Navy Department already gave as dead 24, and wounded 45.
That same day, February 1st of the year 1979 and then the year after 1980, in 1979, the militants of the Sandinista Front, Luis Domingo Osorio Carrillo and Santos Francisco Castillo Montenegro fell in combat in the Community of San José in the Municipality of El Sauce, in the Department of León. And the Somoza Guard killed Fellow Sandinista Front Militant Juan Francisco Bermúdez in the Santa Rosa neighborhood, in Managua. They are names that have to be present for you young men and women, young people, so that we cannot forget them.
In Bluefields, mind you, in 1980, after the Revolution had already triumphed, but there were still remnants of the Guard who had not surrendered, nor left the Country, the Sandinista Militant Comrade, Patricio Denis Guevara Herrera, fell in combat in the Municipality of Bluefields, in the Autonomous Region of the Southern Caribbean. He was originally from the Municipality of El Viejo, but he went there to fight the Battle.
In other words, what courage, what strength there was of Nicaraguan youth fighting the battle on all fronts!
After all, this list is endless, endless. But for these Heroes, our Heroes, we swear to continue the Battle!
We are going to multiply all this information, because there will be their grandparents, Siblings, older people, relatives, and with them we always have to be remembering and honoring them. This is just one month, if I start reading the whole list, it will take till morning
So, let us talk about our General Sandino, Father of the Nicaraguan Revolution, Father of the Anti-Imperialist Struggle in Nicaragua, but not one that he let stay in Nicaragua, but one he communicated, seeking communication with Latin American Friends and Patriots, many of whom came to fight here in Nicaragua, from Venezuela, from Peru, from the Dominican Republic, they came to fight here in Nicaragua, from El Salvador they came to fight with our General Sandino.
And he, when he took the decision to break with those who had ended in betrayal, because he had been fighting with forces that called themselves ”Constitutionalists" and that were flying the Liberal Flag; he had been fighting with them, and Sandino was a great fighter and had been achieving Victories with the Detachment that he led.
But the Yankees, seeing that the Conservative Government which was totally subordinated to them was in danger, sent their troops, and the troops were drawn up on the battlefield, after all, this was a battleground, here are Sandino's troops, here are the Yankee troops, the Conservative troops, and then the Yankee troops landed and stood in the middle, and said: Nothing must happen here.
In those conditions, of course, the local forces were not prepared to confront the Yankees, so Sandino naturally rebelled; but meanwhile the Yankees called the conservatives to negotiate, led by Moncada, who is mentioned in the song “El Avioncito”; then Moncada ran to negotiate to surrender the weapons, so that all the troops would surrender their weapons, and they would give them a dollar for each rifle they delivered.
And so he left, not because they didn't want to fight, but simply because they weren't prepared for such a situation, and they confused the troops and convinced them that surrendering was the best thing, because fighting with the Yankees was lost cause.
Only Sandino did not sign, he did not accept, and on May 4th which was when the Espino Negro agreement was signed, when the Yankees signed along with the traitors, Sandino did not sign, and what Sandino did was prepare a very small detachment, at the San Albino Mines and there our General presented, wrote and made known The Manifesto. It was the first Manifesto of our General Sandino.
And so said our General on July 1, 1927:
"To Nicaraguans, to Central Americans, to the Indo-Spanish race:”.
This Manifesto of our General Sandino is still valid, because the Struggle continues, t"he Battle continues, the Imperialists of the Earth have not disappeared, rather they are committing horrendous crimes, like those they are committing against the Palestinian People, day by day, in the sight and patience of the countries that call themselves civilized, the European countries, accomplices of these crimes, and they launch aggression against all Peoples, against the Nicaraguan People. They launch aggression against all the Peoples of the World, but the Peoples resist, the Peoples do not surrender, the Peoples do not sell out, Ever!
And in this Manifesto our General Sandino says:
"The man who does not demand even an inch of land from his nation for his burial deserves to be heard, and not only to be heard but also to be believed.” You see, General Sandino is talking to all of us, he is talking to the Nicaraguan people, he is talking to the Central American Peoples, he is talking to the Indo-Hispanic Race, as he rightly mentions at the beginning.
"I am a Nicaraguan and I am proud that Indian blood circulates in my veins more than anyone else…” He is not ashamed of his Indian blood! He was proud of the Indian blood that ran through his veins, “the American Indian blood that by atavism contains the mystery of being a loyal and sincere Patriot.”
That is Indian blood!
"The link of nationality gives me the right to assume responsibility for my actions in the issues relating to Nicaragua and, therefore, to Central America and to the entire Continent of our speech, regardless of whether pessimists and cowards give me the title that suits their quality of eunuchs the most.”
He is alone at that moment, with only 29 Fighters; “There were 30 with him” says the Anthem, the song says, there were 30 with him, launching this Message of immense courage, of immense dignity.
"I am an urban worker, an artisan as they say in this country, but my ideal is based on a broad horizon of internationalism, on the right to be free and to demand justice, although to achieve that state of perfection it is necessary to shed one's own and others' blood. The oligarchs like geese in the mud will say I am a commoner.
It doesn't matter: my greatest honor is to come from the bosom of the oppressed, who are the soul and the nerve of the race, those of us who have lived relegated, at the mercy of the shameless thugs who helped nurture the crime of high treason: the Conservatives of Nicaragua who wounded the free heart of this Nation and who fiercely persecuted us as if we were not children of the same nation.
Seventeen years ago Adolfo Díaz and Emiliano Chamorro stopped being Nicaraguans,”
like those who have stopped being Nicaraguans and are now in the United States, they are now Yankees, they must feel happy to be Yankees; others are in Spain, they feel Spanish, very happy to be Spanish, they must already speak like Spaniards, for sure.
He says that “Emiliano and Díaz stopped being Nicaraguans because ambition killed their right to their nationality.” That's right, that's an elementary principle: Whoever who betrays their Nation ceases to belong to that Country, ceases to have a Nation, and that's why those who betray their Nation are called stateless; “because they tore down the flag that covered all Nicaraguans from the pole. Today that flag droops lazily humiliated by the ingratitude and indifference of its children who do not make a superhuman effort to free it from the clutches of the monstrous bent-beaked eagle that feeds on the blood of this People.
While on the Field of Mars…" yes, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, here on the Field of Mars there was not the Blue and White Flag, but the one flying was the flag of the Yankees, the flag of the United States, “which represents the murder of weak peoples and the enemy of our language and our race”
"Who are those who tied my homeland to the pole of ignominy? Diaz and Chamorro and their henchmen who still want to have the right to rule this unfortunate Nation, supported by the bayonets and the Springfield rifles of the invader.” The Springfield rifles of the Yankee sailors and the Yankee Infantry.
“No! A thousand times no!
The liberal revolution," Sandino reclaims Zelaya's liberal revolution that had been betrayed, "is standing. There are those who have not betrayed, who did not give up or sold their rifles to satisfy Moncada's ambition. Nicaragua is standing and today more than ever strengthened, because only elements of courage and selflessness remain in her.
If, unfortunately, Moncada the traitor failed in his duties as a soldier and patriot, it was not because most of the leaders we formed in the legion of the Liberal Army were illiterate, and that he could, for that reason, impose his unbridled ambition on us like an emperor. In the ranks of liberalism there are conscientious men who know how to interpret the duties imposed by military honor, as well as national decorum, assuming that the Army is the fundamental basis on which the honor of the Nation rests, and for the same reason they cannot be selfish in their actions because they would be failing in their duties.”
That is, Moncada decided on behalf of the Army, of an Army that came from a Revolution, the Liberal Revolution. We cannot forget that before our Sandinista Revolution the only Revolution that had taken place here was Zelaya's Revolution, and that's why the Yankees staged a coup d'état, and that's where the figure of Zeledón standing up to the Yankees figures.
"I judge Moncada before history and before the Nation as a deserter from our ranks, with the aggravating circumstance of having crossed over to the enemy.
No one authorized him to leave the ranks of the Revolution to conclude secret treaties with the enemy, mostly with the invaders of my Nation. His rank obliged him to die as a man rather than accept the humiliation of his Nation, his Party and his fellows.
Unforgivable crimes that the vindicated denounce!
Pessimists will say I am too small for the task I have undertaken; but my insignificance is outweighed by the pride of my patriotic heart, and so I swear before the Nation and before history that my sword will defend national decorum and that it will be redemption for the oppressed.”
And our General says: "I accept the invitation to the struggle and I provoke it myself and the challenge of the cowardly invader” because the Yankee troops were already here in Nicaragua “and to the traitors of my Nation, I answer with my battle cry with all my heart and that of my soldiers that we will form walls against which legions of the enemies of Nicaragua will come crashing down. The last of my soldiers, who are the soldiers of freedom of Nicaragua, may die, but first, more than a battalion of yours, blond invader, will have bitten the dust of my rugged mountains.
I will not be a Magdalene on her knees begging for forgiveness from my enemies, who are the enemies of Nicaragua, because I believe that no one on earth has the right to be a demigod.
I want to convince those cold Nicaraguans, indifferent Central Americans, all the Indo-Spanish race, that in the foothills of the Andean mountain range, there is a group of patriots who know how to fight and die like men, in open struggle, defending national decorum.”
Look at what he says to them, to those who appear accusing Latin American countries and other countries of being drug producers and drug exporters. Even back then the Yankees were drug users, and he tells them:
”Come, you bunch of morphine addicts“, which was the drug that was in fashion, morphine, at the time; ”Come, you bunch of morphine addicts; come to assassinate us in our own land, know that I am waiting for you on a firm footing at the head of my patriotic soldiers, regardless of how many you are; but keep in mind that when this happens, the destruction of your greatness will take place in the Capitol of Washington, reddening with your blood the white sphere that crowns your famous White House, the den where you plot your crimes". The famous White House.
"I want to assure the governments of Central America, especially Honduras, that they should not be worried about my attitude, believing that because I have more than enough elements, I would invade their territory with warlike intent to overthrow them. No. I am not a mercenary but a patriot who does not allow an outrage to our Sovereignty.
I wish that, since nature has endowed our Nation with enviable riches and has placed us as the meeting point of the world and that this natural privilege is the one that has led to us being coveted to the point of wanting to enslave us, for that same reason I long to break the bonds with which the nefarious Chamorrismo has tied us.” Tied to the Yankees.
"Our young nation, tropical and dusky, should be the one with the Phrygian cap on her head with the beautiful motto symbolizing our Red and Black ethos, not the one violated by adventurous morphine crazed Yankees brought by four monstrosities claiming to have been born here in my homeland.”
They are the same ones who were with Somoza who left fleeing in '79, the same ones who wanted to disrupt this country in 2018, they are the same traitors, sellers of nations, stateless.
“The world would be out of balance allowing only the United States of North America to own our Canal,” because the Canal was already being talked about even then, “because it would be as much as being at the mercy of the decisions of the Colossus of the North, of who would have to be taxed; the bad faith carpet baggers, who want to appear as owners without being able to justify such a claim.
Civilization demands that the Nicaragua Canal be opened...", and the Nicaragua Canal is going to be opened! Notice what Sandino's vision is, he says "But let it be done with capital from all over the world and not exclusively from North America, because at least half of the value of the constructions should be with capital from Latin America and the other half from the other countries of the world that wish to have shares in the canal company, and that the United States of North America can only have the three millions that they gave to the traitors Chamorro, Díaz and Cuadra Pasos; and Nicaragua, my Nation, will receive the taxes that correspond to it in law and justice, with which we would have enough income to install railway across our entire territory and educate our people in the true atmosphere of effective democracy, and also allow us to be respected and not looked upon with the bloody contempt that we suffer today.
Brother People:”
Listen, fellow Nicaraguans who are listening to us all over the country, this Message is for everyone, for those who are there on the banks of the Coco River, for those who live in the Communities on the plains of the Northern Caribbean Coast, for those who live on Corn Island, in Bluefields, for those who live, looking now across the San Juan River, those who live on the borders with Honduras, in the border departments with Honduras: Chinandega, Jinotega, Matagalpa. This message is for everyone, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, for everyone.
"In exposing my ardent desires for the defense of the homeland, I welcome you into my ranks without distinction of political color, as long as you come well-intentioned to defend national decorum, because keep in mind that everyone can be deceived some of the time, but not everyone can be deceived all the time.
Mines of San Albino, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, CA, July 1, 1927.”
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Our Nation and Freedom!
Remarks by Compañera Rosario, Vice President of Nicaragua,
after the Central Act in Tribute to the 90th Anniversary of the Transit to Immortality
of the General of Free Women and Men, Augusto C. Sandino
February 21st 2024
The Struggle Continues...! Sandino Lives On...! How relevant that historic Manifesto of San Albino is, and how it has inspired us all. At home, in the family, it was read, it was declaimed, and we all admired, respected, knew, committed ourselves to that Undefeated and Immense Sandino, General of Free Men and Women.
What a privilege for Nicaragua! So much Heroism! Every day, every day, not one, but dozens of compañeras and compañeros who have given their Lives for the Nation, out of Patriotic Love. Because, really, the number of people who lost their nationality is insignificant, those who do not love their Nation, who do not have a Patriotic Heart; on the contrary, they suffer, because it is really a disease and a disease, I think, a painful one, not to be filled with Love for the Earth, for the Sacred Land, which saw us born, which sees us grow, and which gives us Life, because the fruits of the Earth, of this Land of ours, give us Life... Life, and our People, Everyone Together, we are also the Certainty of Hope.
That is why we say: The Struggle continues and the Victories are Certain, and in these Times the Victories are everyday. First of all, Peace. The Peace that we have won with Determination, Conviction, Courage, Vigor, Honor and Glory: Peace! And from Peace flows everything else, because with Peace we can make our way, we can move forward, with Peace and in Peace we can learn more every day, and above all learn to take care of it, to treasure it, and to relate better to each other, to be a true Family of all Nicaraguans who love Nicaragua.
90 Years is easy to say... How long we have lived! And well, thank God for the Life that has given us so much. So much learning! When one takes that look, and we do say "take a look”, for those of us who think it's a look back, no, it's not simply a look back, it's History and it's Glory, Glorious and Victorious Memory.
And when one leafs through it all, and thinks of so many paths, of so much grief, of so many joys, of so many hardships, of so much separation, tens or hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans who had to leave their Families to go and fight, to fight heroically for the Nation.
That is why we say every day: There are dozens of Heroes who have bequeathed to us, with their Testimony of Life, the Duty to defend Life and to be Life and Hope, which is what we are trying to be and with increasing strength... Spiritual Strength, Strength of that vocation our People has, that Nicaragua has, a Providential Vocation, to continue to be Inspiration and Example in the Struggle, in Courage, in the Defense of what is ours: Of our Dignity, of our Decorum, of our Sovereignty.
It is a privilege, it is an honor, and above all a Mission, a profound Spiritual Mission that we try to understand better every day, because it is not only to live it, but to understand it, to make it concrete, to transfer it, to bequeath it to our children. Because it is truly honorable to live a Life with Purpose, a Life with Meaning, a Life beyond any form of selfishness.
Life, to be lived as God commands, as Brothers and Sisters, with Love, and the Strength that Faith gives us, Love which we know is not from this Plane, but is Supernatural, and that it is in all Nicaraguans who love our Blessed Nicaragua.
90 Years and We are moving forward. And now we have New Times in the World. The whole world is rising up against injustice and creating True Truths, the Justice that we Peoples deserve. The whole world is speaking out, shouting, demanding, demanding Peace, Peace, Rights for the Palestinian People; Peace, Rights for the Peoples of the World, for the Original Peoples. We are the owners of our Natural Riches, of our Cultures, our Languages, our Heritages.
The whole world is already awake, and we know that we are not only winning, but we will indeed overcome because we are that Force of the Universe that abounding with Justice, Light, Life, different Life with Rights, True Truths, and Love, which is what we must cultivate, which is what we must try to have in our Lives every day.
A warm embrace to all Nicaragua’s families. Nicaragua is made of Vigor and Glory, and it is made for Humanity, for Freedom, for Joy, for Happiness, for Well-being. We are made to Live Well, to Live Better, to create the Future we deserve.
A lot, a great deal of Love to all Nicaragua’s Homes and all Families on this great day, which allows us to value who we are, where we come from, everything we have done and where we are going, building Everyone's Future Together. A warm embrace to you all.