Commemoration of the 42nd Anniversary of the Navy of the Army of Nicaragua
August 15th 2022
Address by Daniel
Beloved Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters; Beloved Families, we are here exchanging with our Brother the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Julio César Avilés and with other Commanders, a few memories, about how since 1979 when the Revolution triumphed the Naval Force has grown, in a country with a very small economy, and that therefore, does not have great resources with which to buy huge boats, we do not have enormous resources to buy those huge, gigantic boats that developed countries have.
And we were remembering that all we found was what was left behind of the National Guard the United States had installed, armed and trained here in Nicaragua after murdering Sandino. What we found were two small coastguard boats, of the Dabur type, and I remember that I got to know the Dabur on the journey we made to the Coast in September of '79.
After the Triumph of the Revolution we made a trip by land and arrived in Bilwi, and in Bilwi we went to the quay and I asked about the coastguard vessels, and there were the Daburs, small naval boats, small coast guard vessels, nothing like the ships that developed countries have. They were small, compact, very strong coastguard vessels.
The Naval Force had not yet been created, we are talking about the year 1979, and those who were in charge of those boats were our Miskito Brothers, who are great navigators and they had taken over the coastguard. And I said, Can you sail those coastguard boats, do you know how to sail them? Yes, they say. But did they work with the National Guard? No, they said; but already in the days that they had been using the coastguard boats they had learned how to handle them.
And I asked them: Can we take a tour along the Coast, from the North of the Caribbean Coast, from Bilwi, to look for Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon, and from there we get across to Corn Island? Yes, they said. Have you guys made that trip yet? Never, they told me. But won't you get lost? No.
Well, let's go on an adventure, we said, and we went with them on the coastguard vessels to make that tour along the shoreline. We visited the communities there, entering the communities, disembarking, and going community by community until we reached Pearl Lagoon. And in Pearl Lagoon, by Tasbapauni, we disembarked in Tasbapauni, and in Tasbapauni there was no shore disembarkation, what they did was, and the crew already knew the drill there, they stopped off shore by the little town, in front of the community with the coastguard boat, and the community on seeing the coastguard boat stopped then and came with their boats, sailing quickly , they approached the vessel and we switched into boats that took us to the Community, and later on they returned us to the coastguard vessel.
And then the trip from Pearl Lagoon to Corn Island; by then on that journey we were calm, and the time was running by, time was passing, and a storm burst on us, one of those violent ones, with rain, lightning, huge waves, but the miskitos were happy, they were shouting at the waves, and we were worried. They would come and check the chart, and I asked them: But will we go in the right direction? Remember you told me that you have never done this journey. We'll get there, we'll get there, they told me.
And the storm did not calm down, did not abate and saw no lights confirming Corn Island was near. At one point I remarked to the Compañeros, Rosario was there, Lumberto was there, a Cuban journalist compañera was there too, I tell them: Well, it looks like we are going to end up at San Andrés, we're on a journey and we're going to end up at San Andrés, for sure.
But, then in the early morning we saw the lights, and it was a great joy to see the lights of the town, and we arrived at Corn Island; then later we did the return trip by El Rama. That was our Naval Force at that time, not yet formally constituted, it was just those two coastguard boats.
Later the Naval Force was indeed constituted, and we could count on the cooperation of fraterrnal peoples, friendly countries, back then it was the Soviet Union that provided us with medium-sized coastguard vessels, and the force then added up to 8, 10 or 12 boats.
President Mitterrand, from France, I remember, gave us two boats, and upset the Americans because President Mitterrand... They criticized President Mitterrand's greatly! But that was also because President Mitterrand had announced during a visit we made to France, that they were going to give us fighter jets, because we had no planes.
The situation was similar too for our Air Force. We had no planes, a few small planes that had been left behind, but they were nothing like the Air Force we have today, which is now an Air Force, like the Naval Force, I would say, serious, solid, thanks to the spirit of the Compañeros who are the Soldiers and Officers in these Institutions.
Their strength lies in the sailors, in the Officers, in the Compañeros who work in different Missions, more than in the fact that we have big ships.
Later some ships were purchased from Spain, and finally, I remember the last purchase made with a great budgetary effort was to get two corvettes. They are the only corvettes we have and they are Dutch made, we bought those two Corvettes from Holland.
But for now, you can see, these are enormous limitations, namely, we cannot say we have a Naval Force with large ships, with aircraft carriers, like the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier now sailing there along the coasts of China. The aircraft carriers that the United States has are sailing there, as a provocation, they continue to provoke. While the People's Republic of China is holding its maneuvers, and it holds them in its maritime territories. What business do the aircraft carriers, the big US aircraft carriers have there, in the China Sea?
Anyway, meanwhile here our Naval Force has done what it can so that we can have two more coastguard vessels, and it does so with the creativity, the entrepreneurship, what we are developing now in all fields in our country.
And what the Compañeros did, taking them three years to do this work, on fishing boats that had been discarded there along the Caribbean coast, in Bilwi, in Bluefields, in all that Caribbean area, what did they do with those fishing boats were used to fish in that area? Well, with a lot of creativity, with a lot of tenacity, with a lot of daring, they said: we are going to turn these ships that are have been discarded there into coastguard vessels. And it took them three years, and here now we have the model of two coastguard vessels built with the Spirit, with the Soul, with the Courage of our Navy. And here we can say, "Made in Nicaragua", by Nicaraguan hands.
And you can see, they are very well built coastguard vessels, already in service, of course they are armed too, and they were located in the Caribbean, so how were we to transfer them to the Pacific area, since they needed to patrol here along the Pacific area? So they went around via the Panama Canal, and there they crossed, through the Panama Canal, until they reached the Pacific area here.
So I want to congratulate you, Brothers and Sisters, General Avilés who knows how to give you encouragement, motivation; Rear Admiral Fonseca, congratulations, because Nicaragua is building coastguard vessels, who could have imagined that... Yes, building coast guard vessels! For what purpose? As the Rear Admiral already explained in his report on the amount of work they have carried out, and General Avilés also summarized: the Coast Guard is a Naval Force, for Life, for the Economy, to save Lives in times of cyclones, hurricanes, floods.
And all our Brothers and Sisters of the Naval Force accompanied by their Families, their Families accompanying them from afar, praying for them from afar, because it is very high risk work.
And on behalf of our People, beloved General, beloved Rear Admiral, congratulations on this Work that has made possible two coast guard vessels for Nicaragua, made in Nicaragua. Thank you!
Beloved Compañero Rosario Murillo, Vice President of the Republic; beloved Army General, Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Julio César Avilés Castillo; Major General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez, Compañero, Brother, Chief of the General Staff; Major General Marvin Elías Corrales, Inspector General of our Army; Compañero Minister of Defense, Rosa Adelina Barahona; Comrade, Brother, Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz, First Commissioner General, Director of the National Police; Beloved Brother, Compañero, Rear Admiral Ángel Eugenio Fonseca Donaire, Chief of the Naval Force.
Also, here we have before us too retired General Moisés Omar Halleslevens, former Head of the Nicaraguan Army and former Vice President of Nicaragua. Beloved Brother, compatriot, chontaleño, liberteño, welcome always!
Beloved Compañeros, Comrades... Attorney General of the Republic; Ministers, Members of the Government Cabinet; Directors of Autonomous Entities; Corps of Generals and Senior Officers, Members of the Military Council of the Nicaraguan Army; Mayors of the Municipalities of Corinto, Bluefields and Corn Island; former Chiefs of the Naval Force in the honorable condition of Retirement; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Military, Naval, Air, Deputy Defense Attachés, and Heads of Military Missions accredited in Nicaragua.
Beloved Officers of the Naval Force in the honorable condition of Retirement; beloved relatives of General Sandino, relatives of Comandante Richard Lugo, he was one of the first heads of the Navy, relatives of Comandante Hilario Sánchez Vásquez, a Hero, Guerrilla Fighter, and there fighting for Nicaragua he gave his Life. Relatives of Subcomandante Mario José Alemán Escobar; beloved relatives of Members of the Naval Force fallen in the line of Duty; Chiefs, Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, Classes, Sailors and Members of the Naval Force; beloved Compañeros and Compañeras of the Social Media; All our sisters and brothers, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, Nicaraguan Families.
We greet on behalf of our people, in alphabetical order here, the Ambassador of Abkhazia and Compañero Inar Igorevich Ladaria, and Compañero Valeria Logua, First Secretary of the Embassy.
To the Chargé d'affaires of the Argentine Republic... Argentina, the Land of Che, Minister Jorge F. Steven.
From Bolivia, the Land of that Heroic People, Ambassador Palmiro León Soria Saucedo, and his wife Belinda Romero de Soria... Welcome!
To the Ambassador of Chile, Francisco Javier Sepúlveda Valenzuela... Welcome, Ambassador!
To the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, Chen Xi, and his Madam Wife, Zhang Qing... Welcome!
To the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Shin Seung-Ki... Welcome, Ambassador!
To the Chargé d'affaires of the Sister Republic of Colombia, Francisco Leandro Niño Contreras, and Consul Edwin Rocha.
To the Brother Ambassador of Cuba, Jorge Luis Mayo Fernández, and his Wife, Deborah Quintana González. As always, all our Love and all our Solidarity with the People of Cuba in the face of this tragedy that they have faced and that they have as always managed to control with the Strength, with the Conscience, with the Spirit of the Heroic People of Martí, Fidel, Raúl and Miguel Díaz-Canel.
To the beloved Ambassador of El Salvador, Central American Brother, Hugo Javier Merino Lazo.
I studied in El Salvador. My parents, looking for ways to escape persecution, sent me to study there, in Santa Tecla, at Santa Cecilia School.
There I learned to play a little football, because more football is played there than here in Nicaragua. And also basketball. I remember that the most hotly contested games there, of basketball being played, were between the day students Team, that of the Jesuits, with the Santa Cecilia team. The Stadium burst to overflowing, I got to see those games, and that's how I got to know El Salvador.
That's where I met, I came to meet His Eminence Cardinal Miguel Obando and Bravo while on an excursion, they took us on an excursion to do some long walks and we arrived at the Salesian Seminary. A priest who was Nicaraguan told me: Look here, there's a countryman of ours leading the Seminary. Oh, really? So we went to say hello. He wasn't a Cardinal then, he was the Priest Miguel Obando y Bravo.
When we met he mentioned my mother and it turned out that we had been born in the same town, in La Libertad, Chontales, that's where we were born, in La Libertad, Chontales, and he had known my mother very well. From there a friendship with him began, and he later became Cardinal of Nicaragua, Cardinal Miguel.
Beloved Ambassador of the Sister Republic of Guatemala, Jaime José Regalado Olivas.
Beloved Representative, Chargé d'affaires of the Sister Republic of Honduras, César Abadí Membreño, and Diana López, Assistant of the Embassy. Our Greetings!
Beloved Ambassador of Iran, Parviz Mansouri, Chargé d'affaires.
Second Secretary and Consul of Japan, Mrs. Suehiro Yuki... I'm so glad you are here!
Beloved Ambassador of Libya, Libya, the Libya of Ghaddhafi... Who can forget Gaddhafi, fighting for the Unity of the African Peoples! Masuod Issa, Chargé d'affaires.
Beloved Ambassador of beautiful and beloved Mexico, Guillermo Zamora Villalta, and Mrs. Valentina Toussaint Florense, Wife of the Ambassador... Welcome!
Beloved Chargé d'affaires of Panama, Mrs. Menitza Mendiche.
Beloved Chargé d'affaires of the Palestinian State, Mohammed Shafei.
Beloved Ambassador of Peru, Alberto Esteban Massa Murazzi. Esteban Pavletich, Peruvian, who fought with our General Sandino, yes, Peru was present in the fight of our General Sandino against the Yankee invaders.
Beloved Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Alexander Nikolaevich Khokholikov. Fighting a battle for Peace, against Fascism, against Nazism, that is what is being played out in that battle there in Ukraine, and therefore, to put an end once and for all to Fascism, to Nazism, which is a matter of life or death for Humanity, because Fascism and Nazism have been multiplying in different countries, including in the United States of America. Our solidarity always with your people, beloved Ambassador.
Beloved Chargé d'affaires of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Abderraman Mohamed Yeslem.
Beloved Minister Counselor of the Dominican Republic, Compañero William Polanco, and Mrs. Amy Mendieta Sánchez, Wife of the Minister Counselor... Welcome!
Beloved Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, José Francisco Javier Arrúe de Pablo. He is accompanied by the First Secretary, Anzonit Albano. Beloved Ambassador of the Land of Bolívar, of Chávez, of that Heroic People, now led by our Brother Nicolás Maduro Moros.
I would say that we are going through a painful period like those that Bolivar went through when he was fighting, fighting for the Unity of Our America, and achieving Glorious, Extraordinary Victories, a Soldier who was truly a Combatant with strength of Spirit, with boundless vitality.
How hard it was for Bolívar when he saw that what already seemed to be turning into that Great Unity was breaking up, becoming fragile, there were even clashes and wars between the same Peoples that he had liberated. Brother against Brother making war on ourselves after having been slaves of the colonialists. How terrible!
The times today, it is true, are different. It has been possible to build the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, a Dream come true, an instrument, the instrument was created; but then that instrument is made up of States with different political thoughts, with different ideologies. However we started from the founding principle, when we founded CELAC, we started from the principle that our Unity was going to transcend political and ideological differences, and that our Unity was going to be stronger than the attempts that we knew very well the Empire would make to divide us, to destroy us, to liquidate us.
And we are living in a painful moment, because the country holding the presidency of CELAC precisely now, which is Argentina, is betraying the principles of CELAC, becoming an instrument of the Yankee Empire. When did Argentina cease to be Independent and answers now to U.S. laws and U.S. judges, and U.S. persecutions? Since when? We have always known an Argentina that is independent.
And the most painful thing is for a President of CELAC acting, I would not say just the same as Almagro, because he has a greater responsibility given the fact that he represents a People and because he was elected by a People, the brave Argentine People. He is playing a more shameful, more sad, more degrading role than Almagro, who is openly an instrument of the gringos.
He has 11, 12 Venezuelan brothers held kidnapped there, simply because the Yankees ordered it from Washington, and they now wash their hands saying: oh it's a matter for the courts justice. I didn't know that Argentina's justice now submits to the dictates of the Yankee Empire.
And they have hijacked a plane there, following the same steps of the British Empire that has stolen from the Venezuelan people the gold that Venezuela's people had deposited there in the British Banks. Or following too in the footsteps of the United States, given that there the same United States are stealing from Venezuela the companies that Venezuela had installed with its own resources, with its own capital.
It is really a sad, painful moment, because with such a President in CELAC it is a shame to be in CELAC. I don't know what purpose CELAC may have, if Argentina doesn't find the decency, the honor of not submitting to the Empire, and that can only be demonstrated by immediately setting free the Venezuelan brothers imprisoned there in Argentina, as if Argentina were a district of Miami, a district of the United States, and also returning the plane to its true owners, who are not the Yankees, but the State of Venezuela, of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
This is a painful moment, a sad moment, because we do not feel represented in CELAC any more, given the performance of the President of CELAC, who is the President of Argentina.
How much it pains us! How much it hurts us! How much pain for the Argentine people too! How much pain for the Peoples of Our America after it has cost so much to build and make CELAC a reality! But we have the confidence, we have the hope, that the Argentine People will know how to defend the Honor of Argentina and will know how to recognize the Right that corresponds to the Venezuelan People, to the Bolivarian People.
Our solidarity with the families of those who are detained there in Argentina. And our solidarity with President Nicolás Maduro and with all the Bolivarian people engaged in this fight, this battle, as always against the Empire, because it is the Empire that is involved there, it is the Empire!
We have here 22 Countries, 22 Nations, 22 Peoples from different Regions of the World who are joining us on this occasion. In fact, we haven't had time to receive all the Credentials yet, I think we will have to do a mass event with all the Ambassadors, with all the representatives from whom we haven't received copies of their Style Letters.
Of course, the Chancellor has already received the Style Letters, and thus after the Chancellor receives the Style Letters an Ambassador can then move around, with all the rights that his Representation as Ambassador gives him. But we have to, and I do in fact, take this opportunity to greet you all and, through you, send greetings to your peoples.
Beloved Brothers of the Naval Force, beloved relatives of the Compañeros and Compañeras of the Naval Force, our recognition and our affection, our respect, for the work they have been developing, with great limitations.
Because if you pay attention, the best proof of our great limitations is that we have to resort to converting fishing boats that were abandoned and destroyed, and turn them into boats that help protect the economy, protect fisheries, protect the country's Sovereignty, safeguard the Lives of Citizens facing tragedies throughout Nicaragua, with limited resources, because these are limited resources.
Nicaragua would need double, triple the number of ships, and of greater displacement, of greater capacity, not for war, but for Peace, because we all know that here in America, in the Region there are countries that already have larger, stronger Naval Forces. It's good, we are happy and we will have to continue striving here with these means to which we have been adding over the years.
Throughout the 42 years of the Naval Force we have been adding resources, from the Dabur, I don't know if the Daburs are still working, but from the Daburs that we found there, at the time of the Triumph of the Revolution, to these latest Nicaraguan-made vessels, which are added to the other naval resources that we have, and which now have much more advanced and more developed technologies.
And to our Veteran Brothers, Retired, of the Naval Force, who served, our fraternal embrace for you, for your Families, and for all the Brothers who throughout these 42 years have died in different circumstances, but all as I emphasize, died in the line of Duty. For them, Honor and Glory, Honor and Glory for them, and all our Love and all our Affection for their Families!
Long live the 42nd Anniversary of the Constitution of the Naval Force of the Nicaraguan Army!
Long live the Nicaraguan Army!
Long live Nicaragua, Blessed and Always Free!
Long live sovereignty!
Long live Peace!
And Long live the Dignity of our Soldiers of the different Branches of the Army, who carry on their breast the Dignity of the Nicaraguan People, who carry on their breast the Dignity of all our Historic Heroes who have known how to defend Nicaragua, at the cost of their own Lives!
And on a day like today, August 15th 1912, the Yankee troops landed here in Nicaragua, the Army of the United States of America. They had already suffered that first defeat in San Jacinto with the Nicaraguan Forces of the National Army headed by General José Dolores Estrada, in the year 1856, 1856! But then in the year 1912, on August 15th a day like today, the Yankee troops landed, but there were Nicaraguans with dignity who fought and confronted, even creating a Provisional Government with General Mena, and Zeledón.
Then when the Yankee troops arrived Mena did not resist, while Zeledón continued fighting, General Benjamin continued fighting from August 15th 1912, until October 4th 1912; that is, he fought from August to October, and after those two months he gave his Life for Freedom, for the Dignity of Nicaragua.
And these are the Heroes, the Men who are in the Hearts of Nicaraguans, and they are in the Hearts of you Brothers and Sisters of the Navy, and with that Spirit, with that Dignity, with that Strength, we will continue fighting for Peace, for Stability, Freedom, for the Well-Being of the Nicaraguan People.
And Long live, long live, long live the Nicaraguan Naval Force!
Remarks by Rosario, after the Commemoration of the 42nd Anniversary
of the Naval Force of the Army of Nicaragua
August 15th 2022
Good evening, to everyone at home, all the Families who are watching us, who have been following us this afternoon, in this beautiful commemoration, an Occasion that always stimulates us and moves us.
As does also the capacity of Love for our Nation that our Sailors, our Soldiers, our Compañeros and Compañeras in the Nicaraguan Army have, who moved us today reporting all their Work, a Work of Art, we might well say of Art, the Art of Life, the Art of Striving, of the Struggle for Peace, and who have been capable of converting discarded boats, made for fishing, turning them into boats for the struggle in defense of Sovereignty, of territorial Integrity. And in defence of Life too.
Because we are constantly learning of, receiving messages and learning of the calls made by relatives of fishermen when they lose their way, and of course, in times of disasters or the prelude to disasters, there are the Communities that also depend, those Coastal Communities, on the Naval Force, to save them, get them to safety, to take shelter.
Pride of Our Country, our Army and all its Soldiers, its Airmen, its Sailors, and as we say in our Texts, in our Speeches and Messages, they are our People in Uniform, they are our People full of Patriotic Love, of Dignity. They are the Heroic People of Nicaragua, as their Anthem says, they are full of the Dignity and National Honor which we have known how to defend throughout our history.
Comandante Daniel a few moments ago reminded us of this date in 1912, another of the invasions of Nicaragua by Yankee troops. How vile, how vile that Imperialism against Nicaragua's people and the Nicaraguan Nation!
And well, I think the explanation in the first place lies in the imperial greed that always wanted to take over our Canal. Because although it is not actually built, a Canal does lie through Nicaragua, and they have known about it and of course wanted to dominate it, make it their own. And Nicaragua has managed to defend its resources and also defend that route, from one Ocean to another, which one day we will be able to bring about so as to improve everyone's Life.
For my part, in these days that are of such intense commemorations, I want to send an embrace to all the Compañeros and Compañeras who were Heroic Literacy Teachers, and also to all those who gave their Lives teaching our Sisters and Brothers to read, while also learning great Lessons of Life from our hard working Sister and Brother campesinos with whom the Literacy Brigades worked.
Tomorrow the commemorative season of that Epic Achievement is launched, and on the 22nd and 23rd we will be celebrating it in a great way. Every day is one to celebrate, for this is a Country full of great deeds and Heroes, that's why every day we celebrate our Nation through our Heroes and our Heritage that is, I would say, not only a Cultural Heritage, but a Heroic one as well.
Today is a date to not only remember, but to take up again the example of National Dignity of General Benjamin Zeledón, who confonted that Yankee invasion. These are Dates that show us what we are: A Worthy People, a Glorious People, an Honorable People, full of Honor, full of being Honorable, a People that lives out its History and one that at every step we have taken, because we learn from our History, learning to be better and better, I would say to be even more loving among ourselves and towards the Motherland, more Patriotic, and to be more and more exemplary in the ability that we show every day, to work hard creating the Future.
To Study, to show Initiative, to Prosper, and to achieve a Model like the one we have, of Protagonism of the People, of the Good Life, with the Well-Being that we all deserve. And those Routes of Prosperity can no longer be taken from us, because they are a decision and a conviction of the People, for there to be Work, Security and Peace, every day seeing how we work better, how we develop more Programs allowing us to work better and to achieve better results from all that work.
How much we have for which to thank God, and how much we have to celebrate! We are heading toward the Celebrations all next month of our Blessed and Free Nation... Every day is for saying, Long live Nicaragua, Blessed and Always Free...!
Every day! And every day, in these months of August and September, are to make manifest and make more evident the commitment that we have to live in Freedom, Dignity, Fraternity.
So, Compañeras, Compañeros, may we all have a good afternoon, a good night, and may we always remember to thank God, for who we are, for what we have been, for what we are becoming, and above all for that Realm of Concord, of Love, which we must consolidate and defend, protect, every day, as we are indeed doing.
A big embrace to everyone. And well, let's move onward, keep working so as to prosper, keep working so as to improve our Lives, keep working so as to live better and to be better. Thank you, Compañeras, Compañeros.