Central Celebration in Tribute to the Legacy
of Comandante Tomás Borge and of Labor Day
April 30th 2025
Address by Rosario
Beloved Nicaraguan Families, beloved Families throughout our Nicaragua where we are gathered, gathered together, to celebrate Peace.
In this Plaza de la Fé, here in Managua, we gather today to celebrate Life in Peace, Peace with Dignity, Peace with Security, Peace with Rights and Freedoms along Paths of Prosperity, as our People deserve, as we all deserve.
We are celebrating ourselves as Protagonists, Architects and Guardians, Permanent Defenders of the Divine Gift and Mandate to Live in Peace.
We are gathered all over the country celebrating ourselves as a Christian, Socialist and Solidarity inspired People, Children of all the Heroes and all the Martyrs of so many Times. Here we are with our Original Peoples, our Caciques, Diriangén, Nicarao, Adiact... Our Invincible and Glorious Warriors, the Indian archers of Matagalpa... Sergeant and Hero Andrés Castro with his Honorable, Invincible Stone... General José Dolores Estrada... Our Generals Benjamín Zeledón, Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, Estrada, Umanzor... And the Infinity of Popular and National Heroes who have given their lives for this Free, Victorious, and Peaceful Nation.
From this Historic Square we also celebrate the formidable, inspiring and instructive journey of Admirable Revolutionaries: Comandante Tomás Borge Martínez, a Founder of our Glorious Sandinista Front, along with Comandante-in-Chief Carlos Fonseca Amador, Epic Leaders of this Vanguard of Ours, which brings us together and integrates us to continue defending the Magnificent Banners, Blue and White, Red and Black, the Banners of our Nation, of Everyone.
Our Cause is the Cause of Justice and it is the Cause of Love... It is the cause of Peace and Goodness... It is the Cause of Faith, Certainty and Hope... It is the Sublime, Sacred, Holy Cause of the Best of Humanity.
And here we are then, in Light and Truth, just as Sandino, General of Free Men and Women, wanted us and wants us to be, with absolute Conviction that Providence and the God of All Triumphs guides us and directs us towards more Justice, more Truth, greater Strength and Fortitude in Goodness, more Sacred Fire lit in every Home, among every Family, in every Community, whom we respect, promoting and insisting on Love and Peace.
The Knowledge, the Wisdom and all the Songs of Life and Hope of our Great Rubén illuminate us being the Sun that never sets. Peace is the Wise, Indispensable, Miraculous and Portentous Decision of this People of ours, Neither Selling Out, Nor Surrendering, Ever...!
We are at Peace. In Peace Let's Go Onward. With the Power of Peace, United and having grown after all the many lessons, Nicaragua’s People Will Never Be Defeated!
To our Working Families, because all Nicaragua’s Families are about Work, Security, Peace, Joy and Prosperity, our Immense Embrace, in the unbreakable, absolute Unity of Everyone, for the Sake of Everyone.
Long live Our General of Free Men and Women!
Long live the Nobility and Heroism of the Nicaraguan people!
May They Live Always Further On,
Immortal and Indispensable!
Long live the 46/19th!
Long live Daniel!
Long live the Frente!
Long live the People -President!
And long live the Love that is stronger than Hate!
Presiding over this Sacred Act of Celebration of Peace :
The Hardworking, Diligent Families in all this Nicaragua of Ours...
The Historic Combatants of Peace and Affection... The outstanding members of our Nicaraguan Army, of our National Police, of the Ministry of the Interior and of the Federations and Workers' Movements...
The General Command of the Nicaraguan Army, Commander-in-Chief of our Army, Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo; Chief of the General Staff, Major General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz, the Inspector General, Major General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez...
The President of the National Assembly, Dr. Gustavo Porras...
The Director of the National Police, First Commissioner General Francisco Díaz Madriz; Commissioner Generals Zhukov Serrano and Victoriano Ruiz...
Commissioner General Luis Cañas, Deputy Minister of the Interior...
Minister of the Interior, Compañera María Amelia Coronel Kinloch; Minister of Defense, Compañera Rosa Adelina Barahona Castro.
We begin this Meeting, Holy, Sacred, this Ceremony and this Song to Peace, with the National Anthems of our Nicaragua, Blessed, Proud, Dignified, Always Free...
Address by Daniel
Today, exactly 7 years ago, on April 30th in the Plaza de las Victorias, when the attacks by the enemies of Peace, the enemies of the Impoverished, the enemies of the People had already started. Because back then the Oligarchy got together with the Traitors and Quislings, supported by the Interventionist Agents that the Imperialist Governments use, to try and paralyze or destroy Revolutionary Processes.
It is good to remember that, from the year 2006, 2007, already in January 2007, we had managed to reach a Great National Agreement. For the first time in history we reached a Great National Agreement, the Workers, the Peasants, the Landowners, the Capitalists, the Bankers.
A Great National Agreement was reached, because we had been going from war to war, and only Peace was going to allow all Nicaraguans, from the poorest to the richest, to improve living conditions.
We reached that conviction and let's remember very well how we used to hold meetings between Representatives of the Workers, Representatives of the Producers, Farmers, Peasants, Representatives of the big Agricultural and Industrial Companies, and the Bankers.
Back then, there was a very well organized counterpart, on the part of the capitalists, which was known as the Superior Private Enterprise Council.
And also it was true that we had managed to reach an understanding that the Superior Private Enterprise Council was always present there, and that after each Meeting, Compañera Rosario, with José Adán Aguerri, who was the Secretary of the Superior Private Enterprise Council, used to issue Statements, explaining what had been agreed, how well we were working together, that we were in harmony, that we were at Peace; that the Country was improving, that there was growth in the Nicaraguan economy.
And it was, mind you, from 2007 to April 2018, that is, how many years passed... 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. Imagine how many years passed, in that way, at Peace, with everyone happy.
But deep down were the claws of the Imperialists, who could not accept, could not allow a Revolutionary Process with Great National Unity to be installed here and consolidated.
Because business people from other Latin American Countries would come here and they were amazed to see the understanding we had when they talked to Nicaraguan business people. And they asked us: And how have you done this? Because this is a miracle. How have you done it? This has not been achieved in any Latin American Country, this kind of Cohesion, Unity, Understanding, Peace.
And the only way to try to destroy that Path, which Our Country was developing thanks to Peace, was for the Imperialists of the North to begin threatening our business people, and they told them they were not going to allow them to continue carrying out banking operations, that is, to close the Banks. And those who dared to go to the United States in order to see if they could shape opinion in Congress so that they would not do that to Nicaragua, since Nicaragua was doing very well; then, they also began to sanction those people.
The sanctions started before the coup attempt, and of course, that led to weakening consensus and provoked a bloodbath in our country. They wanted a bloodbath, they didn't want Peace, they wanted a bloodbath, so that's what they did.
And with the first incidents that occurred, simply because some reforms were being made to Social Security, where Employers were being asked to contribute a little more to improve the income of Workers, that was the trigger and they set up small groups of propagandists, agents of Empire who had been trained back then by some of the Embassies and they also took them to practice and train to carry out sabotage.
They had already made a first attempt, when the Indio Maíz Reserve was on fire, that's when they started the campaign and multiplied it with the social networks. They already had an international capability that allowed them to smear Nicaragua when it was at peace and was developing; to smear Nicaragua saying that this fire was taking place because of the Government and that the Government was doing nothing. That campaign was worldwide and it was repeated by all the groups in the pay of the Yankee Imperialists.
Meanwhile, the army, the people, the police, there in that area managed to control the fire.
When even some experts from the United States came to make at least a show that they were anxious to know what was happening, to see if they could help, in fact what they did was to say, as their conclusion, that this fire was unstoppable. Because they have had some unstoppable fires there in the United States, so they said that this fire was unstoppable, that it was an unmanageable fire and that, therefore, that was the conclusion they left with; that is to say, they frightened people more, looking for ways to turn the People more against their Revolutionary Government.
Meanwhile, there on site, the Peasants, the Army, the Police, the People, worked by hand using machetes and shovels, opening up ditches until the fire was contained and extinguished. That is to say, we managed to quell the fire without the resources of the Yankees, which are enormous, we quelled the fire with the resources of the Nicaraguans, that is, with the Strength, with the Soul, with the Spirit of the Nicaraguans.
So that was a failure for them, and then they came back later in April with a more articulated plan, arming people with weapons of war, preparing groups to attack Police Stations, to attack Universities, to burn down everything under construction to serve the People: Schools, Hospitals, Universities.
And when that explosion began, when they were attacking the Police Stations, we had a meeting so that they would not continue with this barbarism, and at that meeting appeared the person who had been our great spokesman, Chanito Aguerri, by then he was already on the side of the terrorists, and there were the business people on the side of the terrorists, and there were some Bishops, some of them whipping up feeling, instigating, stirring things up, whipping them along.
So then, what did they propose to us? They suggested to us that, while dialogue was going on and an understanding was being sought, that we should restrict the Police to their stations. And we, with the best Good Will, quartered the Police in their stations.
But the Police Stations then came under attack, just in Masaya the attacks were daily, and the policemen quartered inside acted with great discipline. And we were in communication with the commanding officers: Be patient, Compañeros, do not respond. Even though they were killing our compañeros, killing our compañeras.
That is to say, we did something no government, no police force in the world would allow, no Police Force would allow that. Ah! Let them try doing that with a Police Station in the United States, or try to do that with Institutions of the United States... Immediately it would not be the Police, they would bring out the Army and bring out the tanks. And here we were resisting, resisting, while they blockaded the country, murdering people.
And there came a moment, I remember, when the Episcopal Conference asked us for a Meeting, and so we met with the Episcopal Conference, and they read us a Letter signed by all the Bishops. Of course, everyone had to sign it, even if not all of them agreed, because we are sure that many of them did not agree with what was being proposed there, because it was the kind of Letter or Document that an Army might present to a Government it considered already defeated.
And what did they say in the Letter? Well, they gave us three days to dissolve Parliament and elect a new directorate in the Parliament; and they gave us three days to dissolve the Supreme Electoral Council and elect a new Supreme Electoral Council; and they gave us three days to leave the Government.
I received the Letter, I read it, and I said to myself: These people are crazy! They're crazy! Because this is what is called a coup. But I didn't want to tell them, I didn't want to get into polemics there or denounce them, we just took it for granted, and I told them, let's examine it. They thought that we were therefore accepting everything, that's what they came out and said, that we had already accepted everything
Look, I'm sure that Pope Francis, may he rest in Peace, never knew of these barbarities, never realized what happened. Because there are no known precedents, at least in the our modern era, in which a Conference of Bishops goes to demand the dissolution of the Powers of State and the resignation of a Government. That is unheard-of.
Of course, we had already entered a new stage by then and there was no alternative but to organize, because the People were demanding, asking what were we waiting for to dismantle the roadblocks? What were we waiting for to dismantle them and capture those who were murdering the police? Those who were murdering Sandinistas, those who were killing people as they wanted and setting them on fire?
And local priests were encouraging them, while other priests were going to the barricades with images of saints, manipulating the saints. Since when have saints been street fighters? Saints are not street fighters. And also with the Blessed Sacrament, another Priest was there parading it there in Matagalpa, manipulating the Blessed Sacrament; that is to say, turning the Blessed Sacrament into an accessory of crimes.
Naturally, all this explains how difficult that moment was, because we had no other way but to make them see sense, since they thought we were defeated, they were asking us to hand over Power, and so there was no other way but to dismantle their roadblocks, to arrest whoever had to be arrested.
So the Police Operation was mounted with the Historic Combatants, and it was an Operation that did manage to dismantle the roadblocks, all of them were quickly dismantled, all of them, not a single roadblock remained. And if there were a few prisoners taken, well that was the least that could have happened, a few prisoners.
But then, at that moment, a wound was opened in our defense of Peace in Nicaragua, because they continuing trying attacks from Costa Rica, attacks from Honduras, trying to provoke incidents here as well. And we had to close ranks, ensure better conditions to confront them and not allow such acts to occur again.
It was a victory, a Victory of the People of Nicaragua...
And as I was saying, on a day like today, April 30th, there on the Avenue of Victories we held the Meeting, the Demonstration, that was a Meeting where I remember there was a very large presence of Compañeras and Compañeros who were not afraid of the situation that was taking place.
And well, there the population was convinced that those who had broken the Stability, Peace, Understanding, Harmony that existed among Nicaraguans, were the Imperialists of the World putting pressure on the oligarchs and paying the mercenaries, quislings and traitors.
A total victory! This is completely true, since Peace has been restored, the economy is back to normal; at this point the growth of the Nicaraguan economy is one of the highest in the Region, because we have Peace, and all Producers and Investors can therefore of course join these economic efforts.
We have Peace, Thanks be to God that we have Peace, Thanks to the People we have Peace, but a Peace we have to continue to protect, yes, because this is an Oasis of Peace. When the world is in turmoil, like never before in the history of mankind.
Fascism, Nazism, are looking for how to take over the world, they are doing it from Ukraine looking for how to take over the Russian Federation, launching all kinds of attacks. And of course our solidarity has been and will continue to be unchanging, unconditional, with the brave People of Russia, of the Russian Federation, of the Soviet Union who defeated the Nazis.
We are getting closer to the day when the Comrades of the Red Army who first held back the Nazis, and then came advancing, advancing and advancing. And meanwhile, the other troops that were taking part from the so-called Allied Countries, were not approaching. What did that mean? It meant that the Red Army was the first to enter Berlin, the first to take the Reichstag where Hitler was, and there to install the Red Flag of the Red Army.
And there was a Compañero who came here to Nicaragua, a Hero of the Soviet Union, a tank driver, and when the Revolution triumphed he came here, he was sent here as a Representative. And he, a Hero, was a simple Soldier who came to offer his solidarity to the Sandinista Popular Revolution.
Today, today the situation in the World is more terrible, which means we have to take care of this Oasis ourselves, because at any moment the World may explode in a nuclear war. Because even before this war in Ukraine, where the Nazis overthrew the government and then began to expand, supported by NATO and the United States; such that the war began when Russia then had to intervene to defend its territory, its Nation.
So there began a war in which they have armed Ukraine, the famous European democrats have armed Ukraine, they have spent billions of dollars arming Ukraine, instead of spending billions of dollars to improve the conditions of immigrants and of their own European populations that are facing difficulties, because another kind of bomb has fallen on the World, which comes from the President of the United States, who has launched a package of economic measures without consulting any other Country, he simply decided by himself.
And now he is threatening the world economy and threatening the United States economy as well. The United States People are now starting to rebel, why? Because they feel the impact of the increase in the cost of living.
And, on the other hand too, the criminal attitude of the US government in persecuting, imprisoning all those people who have been working there for years, who have been shedding sweat and blood for that Country to have more wealth, but thousands of immigrants, emigrants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, are imprisoned.
Nicaraguan brothers and sisters who were imprisoned in Guantanamo arrived here today; that is, first they were imprisoned in the United States, and then they were sent to Guantanamo.
Our Venezuelan Brothers have their nationals in El Salvador. And we totally agree with our Brother Nicolás Maduro, with the Bolivarian People, with the families of those emigrants who are imprisoned, in the prisons of El Salvador, with no law, with no justification.
Even the OAS has not spoken designating El Salvador as being a prison for immigrants, but the President of the United States decided to send them there and give a bit of money to the President of El Salvador to keep our Venezuelan brothers there.
And the last straw has been a flight arriving from the flights sent by Venezuela to collect Venezuelan migrants, and a distraught mother arrived on that flight. Why? Because she was with her partner there in the United States, they were working, and they have a two-year-old girl. So when they detained them, they detained the Partner, they detained her and the little girl, and when the mother got on the plane they only put her on, they didn't give the little girl to her.
I mean, these are already horrendous crimes, horrendous! But to have a two-year-old girl kidnapped in prison there, and the poor mother attacked in that way, crying and, quite rightly, demanding that her daughter be sent to her. And what is President Trump waiting for in order to send the little girl to her mother? Because that's a horrendous crime, a crime against humanity.
Likewise, all the prisoners who are everywhere there, bereft of any law, while the government goes against the decisions of the Judicial Branch of the United States. That is to say, president Trump is acting as if in the United States, with his arrival to the Government, all the other Powers of State disappeared, and the only Power is him, and he decides what is to be done and what is not to be done.
So we are under the threat of the damage caused by these waves of migrants who are being thrown back and forth, some who are disappeared. And also threatened by the damage caused in the world by the economic measures that the US government has launched.
Where president Trump has even gone so far as to say that he wants to take over Greenland and that he wants to take over Canada, and that he wants to take over the Panama Canal. He calmly says so and sends his emissaries to talk for the moment, but the emissary who arrives to talk puts a gun to people’s heads.
Like the person who arrived to talk with the Panamanian authorities and put a gun to their head, and the first condition he set out was: Don't go talking about the threats we have made to you, but you need to be clear that if you don't hand over the Canal we are going to take it. They have already invaded Panama in the past, and this person calmly said it, serenely says it.
Before this crisis we had a globalized world, with its inequalities and everything, but with certain points of equilibrium; that has been completely broken.
In the military field, there were also agreements to reduce atomic weapons, stop producing more nuclear weapons and so on. But now billions of dollars and euros are being invested, by NATO, by the United States, in weapons, so as to arm the fascists, the Nazis of Ukraine and to arm the Nazis who rule in Israel.
Israel has a noble People, a people that has been a victim of Nazism, but they have a Government of Nazis that want to disappear the Palestinian People, want to annihilate them, and so every day there is bombing.
So we are dealing with a very delicate situation at a world level, at the global level, and that is why we have to act very firmly, in these times, with great assuredness, with great enthusiasm, with great Faith in God, with great Faith in Christ… Christ, the Greatest Revolutionary that history ever had, Christ Jesus, who has inspired us in these struggles.
We have to show more strength so as to continue defending Peace, to continue developing the programs that we have developed of all kinds; to continue strengthening our relations with the People's Republic of China, a Brother People, a Sister Power, offering extraordinary gestures.
It is a World Power that has dedicated itself to investing in the most impoverished countries, in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America. China has not used force to invest, it does not use blackmail, it does not set any conditions. And this is what the Chinese People are doing here in Nicaragua, the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping, and we are grateful for the extraordinary solidarity of the People of the People's Republic of China, the People of Mao Tse Tung, that great Leader of World Revolution.
And naturally, the Chinese People, the Chinese Government do not run away from menacing noises and is responding to the Government of the United States, insisting that either they reach an understanding or the US will continue doing more damage to the economy.
Because damaging the economy of countries that have made and continue to have investments in North America, or the companies that have investments in China, or that have investments in European countries... to want to disappear all that, as the current President of the United States wants to make them disappear, is simply an act of madness.
Because in the end, the one who is going to end up disappearing is him, and it is the US people who are going to make him disappear, because it is the US people who are now suffering thousands of unemployed, because he ordered adjustments and has taken away scholarships, taken away resources from the very poorest sectors among US citizens. In other words, he is not only attacking Latin Americans, but also US citizens too.
I hope President Trump is able, since he went to the Vatican, maybe some enlightenment touched him there from Pope Francis, so that he is appeased, so that he comes to seek understanding. All countries are willing to seek understanding, but they are not willing to destroy their peoples, destroy their economies and go bankrupt. Nobody wants that, not the Europeans, not the Asians, not the Latin Americans; although there are some fascists, of course, who think in that way. But that path leads to the destruction of humanity.
And as ever, they waste no time looking for ways to launch sanctions against Nicaragua, looking to withdraw visas for Nicaraguans. The US Foreign Minister was boasting there that they have Nicaragua in their sights, as they have Venezuela in their sights, and they have Cuba in their sights. But the US Foreign Minister should be clear by now that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are three Nations, three Peoples, who neither sell out, nor surrender, ever!
On this Seventh Anniversary all our Love, all our Affection, all our Honor to the Brothers and Sisters who were killed in the failed April coup attempt, the civilian Brothers and Sisters, Women, Girls, the Police Officers, the Young People, the Students. And what the failed coup destroyed has already been rebuilt and conditions are better now than they were when they were destroyed.
And while they thought we were going to go under and surrender, unable to move, how many Highways have been opened in these years, highways that never in history would have been imagined over to the Caribbean Coast, to the Northern Region and the Southern Region of the Caribbean Coast.
Highways in all our Departments; Housing Programs, thousands of homes, and in this the contribution of the People's Republic of China has been very important. And there is that Heroic People, a Brave People, a People who do not come to our Countries to impose conditions, but come instead to help, which is what we need, that those powerful Countries, that those great Powers instead of snatching from the Countries where they go seeking to enrich themselves, that they come instead with respect, to cooperate, that they come to help, as the People's Republic of China does in an exemplary way.
Long live the People's Republic of China!
Long live President Xi Jinping!
Long live the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, Sister Party of the Sandinista National Liberation Front!
And long live the Heroes and the Mothers of the Heroes of April!
Sandino Lives, the Struggle Goes On!
A Free Nation or Death!
Long live Nicaragua, Blessed, Christian, Socialist, inspired by Solidarity, and in Peace!
Long live Peace! Long live Peace!
Long live Peace! And we swear by Peace, that we are going to defend Peace. With a show of hands everyone: We will defend Peace! We will defend Peace! We will defend Peace! Onward To Victory Always!
Remarks by Rosario, Co-President of Nicaragua, after the Central Celebration
in Tribute to the Legacy of Comandante Tomás Borge and for Labor Day
April 30th 2025
These Nights, these Days, these Times are bound to be Good, because We Are Going Onward with Immense Love, with a Great Heart and with an Inspired Soul.
How much History, how much Memory and how much Glory in this Nicaragua of Ours, so very Blessed. She is indeed blessed! Our Nicaragua of National Pride and Dignity!
We are finishing April and for us it is the Month to Reaffirm Peace, and we are able to Go Onward by protecting it. The enemies of Peace, the enemies of the People should make no mistake. Here is a whole People, saying: This is Our Nation, and we are alert, in living witness, vigilant for Christ. Because, moreover, Christ is in Nicaragua protecting and safeguarding our Treasure, our Right and our Future.
We live, thank God, in serenity... Thanks be to God, indeed... Thanking God as we work, and thanking God too with the Hope and Certainty of Prosperity. And that is how we Go Onward.
We are heading towards the 46/19th and too, as we constantly say, Always Further On, with Invincible Love, with Growing Strength and Fortitude; a People of Virtues, of Quality and Qualities that truly inspire the World, and inspire us all too, because among us we forge the Sacred Flames of this New History. We tend them and we sustain them.
Every day we recognize and admire the Strength of our People, and every day we thank the Heavenly Father, because He is the One who gives us all that Strength.
God's will is fulfilled here. We are his People here. In the God of All Triumphs we find the Magnificent Strength to make our way, advancing, guarding and protecting Peace and escaping all the Poverty we had been left with.
The challenge is to work together, All Together, and to leave behind the Poverty caused by selfishness, greed, foreign occupation, servility and slavishness.
Ours is the truth, the truth that Nicaragua is on its way, making its way onward, and all of Nicaragua knows, recognizing our Values, there is no going back, as we all know very well,.
Here, They Will Never be Back! Here They Could Not Prevail, Nor Will They! Jesus reigns here forever; Nicaragua’s Families reign, all of us wanting and deserving Peace and Well-Being.
Warm embraces to everyone... Long live Peace! Thank you compañeras and compañeros.