Central Event to Commemorate
the 46th Anniversary of the Founding of the Army of Nicaragua
September 2nd 2025
Address by Daniel
September is a Month highlighting the Dignity, Strength and Conscience of the Nicaraguan People. Precisely today, we are carrying out this Foundation Event, the 46th Anniversary of the Army of Nicaragua, in which we repeat along with all our People: WE ARE ALL SAN JACINTO!
We are in the Month of the Patriotic Nation, the Month in which Central America became independent from Spain, with Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, participating in the Proclamation of Independence, in the year 1821.
A People who at that time had been subjected to the Spanish Empire, which did not negate the Conscience, the Dignity, of the Nicaraguan people, of our ancestors, who, despite the Spanish and indigenous mixture, that Spanish mixture failed to erase those indigenous roots, the courage, the heroism left to us by the Heroes who fought the Spaniards, like Diriangén.
Today we can affirm that here, in this Act, an Act of Sovereignty, of Self-Determination, of Independence, the People of Nicaragua, on this Anniversary of the Founding of the Sandinista Army, the National Army is nothing more than the Army of Defense led by José Dolores Estrada to confront, with the Indigenous People of Matagalpa and with the Hero, Sergeant Andrés Castro, who knocked down the invading Yankee with a stone.
This is an Army that has Moral Force, a Force that is there within and has always been present there, because how else can we imagine that the buccaneers, that the Yankee filibusters, who already believed they owned Nicaragua, were defeated by a Popular Army, of humble people, of working people, of peasants, led by General José Dolores Estrada.
Here, in this Army, is the Strength of those battles, of those combats which were fought until the filibusters were expelled, and it has not been necessary, as was done in the times of imperialist domination in Nicaragua, it has not been necessary to send personnel to West Point to train Officers, to train Generals.
Here in Nicaragua, the Officers, the Generals, have emerged thanks to the Spiritual Strength, the Strength of a People who knew how to resist and confront the Spanish invaders and who then managed to defend an Independent Nicaragua, with ups and downs, until finally the struggle of all those Heroes converged in the Revolutionary Struggle of the Nicaraguan People, led by the Sandinista Front where young people, boys, girls, took on the challenge of confronting until its defeat a dictatorship imposed and maintained by Yankee Imperialism.
Where did so much courage come from? Where did so many young people, humble and barefoot, come from to join the Revolutionary Struggle and the Insurrection that finally managed to defeat the Somoza Tyranny? That means there is a greater Force here, there is a Spiritual Force, there is a Force where indigenous roots predominate over those who colonized and occupied, imposing languages, religions.
But that did not subjugate Families, did not subjugate young people, did not subjugate the People, on the contrary, what it did was to cultivate greater Strength to continue fighting.
And now we have this Army, an Army already with great Victories, because I was reminding you some days ago that, after the defeat of the Dictatorship and the Triumph of the Revolution in 1979, immediately the Hollywood gunman appeared, declared war on us, and organized and financed the Counterrevolution, and he publicly identified himself saying he was another “Contra”, he said it there in Washington, surrounded by counterrevolutionaries.
That is, we confronted the US government, which was discussing in Congress how many millions they were going to approve for the War against Nicaragua. And it was a bloody war, and how much was fought and how long it was fought, and how many Heroes gave their lives, how many Heroes fought and have continued to fight, and today they are in this Army.
It was a war that lasted 10 years, 10 years we resisted the onslaught of the American Rulers, and they couldn't prevail! They couldn't! In the end, they were defeated.
For in the end peace was achieved, because we, in the middle of that struggle, were looking for Peace, we were looking for Peace Agreements, we were working on them with the Central American Governments, but there was the great obstacle of the United States blocking the possibility of peace for Nicaragua.
This is an Army that really does have experience, it has an accumulation of Courage, of Conscience, of Strength, of not being afraid of Goliath. Here, this is a People that has not been afraid of Goliath, and when Goliath has wanted to crush us, instead we have faced them and defeated them.
Today, in this Act of Promotion of Military Ranks, we salute the Families of the Compañeros and Compañera who have been promoted. A total of 262 Companeros and Compañeras have been promoted, and these are the promotions that we formalize here; in total there are 260, the data is correct.
Here too, although it may make others angry, we have a woman Co-President here, a Co-President who recieves more attacks from them than the person speaking to you. They are angry that the Revolution, the Sandinista Front has a history of Women Combatants, Heroic Women, such that today, in order to achieve better integration and incorporation among Nicaraguan Families, Women are integrated in every field of life, and Compañera Rosario today has taken part in the Graduation ceremony with General Avilés.
They'll be lamenting now about how that is possible... Because they have no respect for women, for them, women are only for domestic work and are not recognized for the abilities they have.
And we have a good number of Compañeras in High Positions, for their efficiency, for their courage, for their bravery, to take on combative challenges. Because we have to combat the failures, the errors that may arise in our Institutions. We have been doing so and that of course helps make better use of the State’s resources.
Our greetings to the Brothers and Sisters of the Countries that have Diplomatic Representation here in Nicaragua and who are accompanying us at this Event.
Our recognition to the tenacious work, to the work at all hours of Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo and his Wife, Comrade Conchamarenco Salinas de Avilés. Because here the wives, the compañeras contribute decisively for us to be able to advance on specific tasks.
To Compañero Doctor Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly; to the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz and his Wife, Compañera Martha Elena Ruiz Sevilla; to the Inspector General, Colonel General Marvin Elías Corrales Rodríguez and his Wife, Compañera Yamileth Moncada Valenzuela.
To the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Nicaragua, Compañera Rosa Adelina Barahona Castro; to the Head of the Police Forces of the Republic of Nicaragua, First Commissioner Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz; to the Representatives of State Agencies that accompany us; to the Directors of Autonomous Entities; Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice; Mayors, Officials of State Institutions.
Because the important thing here is that we all assume our responsibilities in the defense of the country, which is to defend Peace and we already know that, by defending Peace, we defend Employment, we defend Education, we defend Health, we defend the construction of Hospitals, the construction of Roads, we defend all that, and all that has been achieved.
And it is indisputable that, the tasks of the Army, coordinating missions also for productive activities to protect and guarantee also the producers, the agricultural sector, this adds to the tasks the Army has to carry out so as to protect the Sovereignty of the Country, protecting the Country from the activities of drug traffickers.
And on this day I want to express, on behalf of the People of Nicaragua people, that we support the Initiatives being taken at the Meeting in the People's Republic of China, where Leaders, Politicians, Presidents of many Countries are meeting, President Putin is there, from Russia, the Prime Minister of India is there. That is, it is a meeting where they are really defining there is a new correlation of forces to be strengthened not with any warlike designs, but is being designed for development.
President Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, has made an approach that we immediately welcomed, where he proposes joining forces between Countries that are great powers but with the doors open for Countries that are not great powers, but respecting us for our Dignity, for our Courage, for our Honor, and we will join the group so as to develop Programs for Peace.
Already President Xi Jinping has announced an amount of funds for protecting, helping those Countries and Peoples in the most difficult conditions; it is a commitment that he has made there and one that was immediately supported, because I would argue it is a totally solidarity-based commitment, one without conditions.
This is what has been said clearly, in solidarity and without conditions, to support and strengthen all Countries that wish to do so and who seek it in every field: In the field of Health, the field of Education, the field of Economic Development and also in the military field.
Countries that do not have great resources and are victims of anarchy; the case of Haiti, a country totally broken apart and dominated by mobs, by gangs, where there are deaths every day. They are countries that need resources, training, even they also need force, military organizations so as to manage to restore Tranquility and Peace so that the acts of violence taking place in these Countries will no longer be repeated.
I would suggest that really these are the results we should expect from the great powers that colonized Africa, Asia, Latin America, but here in Latin America we have commitments, agreements, like the Community of Latin American States, CELAC, commitment that we are a Zone of Peace, but always there are governments which submit to interventionist policies seeking to disrupt these kinds of projects.
This project belongs to Bolívar, all those many years ago, Bolívar fought for the Unity of Latin America and the Caribbean. and he managed to advance, he managed it in South America where he fought the greatest battles, in South America he managed to unite Peoples, Nations, Colombia with Venezuela, Bolivia, and so on to other countries, towards a powerful conglomerate able to defend the Dignity, Autonomy, Independence, the Right to Peace and the Right to Development of those Nations.
I would say that the greatest destructive force now, because he only talks about destroying, or he is a very unusual case, because he says and has said that he is going to bring Peace, but he has not been able to bring Peace to the US People themselves, where he has unleashed persecution against Central Americans, Latin Americans, Brothers and Sisters who have emigrated to the United States and have been living there for years, have a Family, and now, everyone out! Because, he says, they are drug traffickers, because, he says, they are murderers... The barbarities he has uttered about Mexico!
That is to say, this is the President of a great power with enough armaments to destroy the world, without stopping to think that if he were to commit such madness he would also destroy the United States.
We have always been willing to have relations with all countries, including naturally with the United States; but the policies the United States has been developing, its Government, or the economic, military, political power elites, who want to destroy CELAC, who want to provoke wars and the overthrow of governments, who want to do away with the Bolivarian Revolution, who want to end the Cuban Revolution, they want to do away with every Movement that has Dignity in the defense of their Patriotic Nation, in defense of Sovereignty, that wants Peace...
Of course, we are on the List, we do not escape from being on the List, but doesn’t mean we are going to change our policies, to strengthen the Security of the Country, to strengthen Citizen Security, to continue developing the Programs that we are developing in every area. Despite the blockades, despite the sanctions, we are indeed managing to grow, we are managing to develop.
Of course, we have Cooperation from fraternal Peoples, the Venezuelan People who have given us extraordinary Cooperation; the People's Republic of China that is giving us Extraordinary Cooperation, with no political conditions, never entering into that, put simply. Buses? Here come the buses. Preparation in China in the High-Tech sector they have? Yes, they have given us scholarships for young people to go there to study High Technology. That is, these are Nations offering Cooperation for Peace, for the Well-being of the Country, so that more Homes can be built than are currently being built.
Latin America wants peace. What the United States has done by deploying warships, ships that transport airplanes, helicopters, ships that carry missiles, that's a dead end. They do it so as to intimidate Latin American governments, they do it so as to intimidate Peoples, and thus to try to overthrow governments; and there they have mobilized a number of ships, even submarines, in a wide area of the seas in the region near Venezuela, Colombia.
Today there is the news, a news item that is just a way of saying, look what we are doing, we are managing to control drug trafficking, because in fact it is an area far from the Venezuelan coasts. The President himself came out to report that they had managed to blow up a boat carrying drugs; a small boat was hit by a couple of rockets and blown into bits and 11 people who were traveling were killed.
How do they prove that those people were drug traffickers and that they were carrying drugs for the United States? How do they prove it? In fact it is just a way of trying to show that they are tough, when have no power, no ability to control drug consumption in the United States.
Because if drugs are produced in South America, where do those drugs go? To the North American market, and the President himself says so, he says that he is carrying out all these maneuvers so that they do not continue sending drugs to the United States. But where are the capabilities of the US government to protect US youth, who are the ones most addicted to drugs, to protect the US people from the crimes that arise after the use of drugs?
They have more capital than anyone else, they have more technology than anyone else, they have so many more policemen than anyone else. So then why do drugs enter the United States? Because there are big drug traffickers there who carry out that business and who have bought off the authorities.
We have totally rejected their arguments. Let them start at home, bring order to the United States, control the land customs crossings and the maritime customs crossings, control their Ports and Airports.
They have enough means to enforce that control, but instead they go and do this clownish thing of sending boats to threaten the People of Venezuela, a Heroic People, a Brave People, a People of Solidarity, and the last straw really, even offering a reward for the head of President Nicolás Maduro.
In other words, this is all theater that they are performing to try to divert concerns from the European countries, countries that have been their allies, let alone the rest of the world, that they all have about the tariffs that they are imposing and which are causing an internal crisis in the United States. So really it's a way to divert attention.
The problem of the United States is drugs, but instead they are persecuting workers, detaining them and expelling them from the United States.
But I hope, I do hope, I hope they realize that in fact all they are achieving with what they are doing in Latin America is to provoke an opinion of rejection, a negative opinion. Latin America is coming together to reject the fact that they are bringing in warships, that they are bringing in all kinds of weapons so as to threaten Venezuela.
We are in solidarity with the People of our Brother Nicolás Maduro, who has to face these challenges, the gigantic challenges Venezuela has faced in the struggle for Independence. And then Chávez, Chávez who came to the presidency in Venezuela, for what? To benefit the Peoples, and of course to benefit the Venezuelan People, but also benefit the Peoples who were willing to integrate into a Process of Cooperation, whereby ALBA was founded, bringing so much benefit.
Right here in Nicaragua, we must not forget, because over time it can be forgotten... Here in Nicaragua, when we won the elections in 2006 and the Inauguration was in 2007, Comandante Chávez came, and there talking with great joy, great enthusiasm, he never talked about setting out with a plan to attack the United States or to plant bombs in the United States... Nothing like that! Ever! But rather how to bring together countries with the most fragile economies and then create a fraternal relationship with fair trade, with credits, with donations.
And here I want to tell you, Nicaraguan Brothers and sisters, to remind you that when we won those elections our main concern was that there was no energy in Nicaragua, the neoliberal governments had not invested in power generation and already at that point, under the last neoliberal government, the blackouts were daily by then, there were blackouts every day in the country.
And we were worried because we said we're going to have a huge problem, because where can we get energy from, where do we look for funds to invest in power generation, to invest in geothermal plants, in hydroelectric plants. We were totally in a situation of energy crisis, and a government that starts, imagine, in those conditions, immediately people would say... Hey, they can't solve what the others didn't solve either... They're in charge of the government! But above all we faced the responsibility: What were we doing? What could we do?
So Chávez came to the Inauguration, and we were talking in meetings about Projects; we even felt embarrassed when he would ask us about an issue, no Brother, for that we have no resources! And this other issue? Nothing for that either!
That is to say, we had a serious crisis in the country, and when I explained to him that the main problem was energy, he immediately called his assistants to find out where they were taking some generating plants that they were taking to Venezuela, and they had bought those generating plants in Asia, but Venezuela did not have the urgency that Nicaragua had, because, of course, they had energy there, they produce oil and so on.
And when I explained to him, I told him that the most serious problem is that one, because if we don't solve the energy issue in the short term, the economy, industry, everything here is going to get depressed and it's going to mean a political cost for us because, hey, weren't we going to solve it? Immediately Chávez told me: I have already been informed that we have the plant passing through Cuba.
Some generating plants for Venezuela were coming from the South, they had already bought those plants, I’m not sure if they were Korean plants, yes, they were Korean plants, some state-of-the-art plants from Korea. So, he was already making calculations there, about how much energy we needed to immediately start these plants so that the energy would not stop, that a change would be seen, so that as soon as we arrived in power then energy returned.
Immediately he told us: I have told you now that these plants are coming from Cuba to Nicaragua, the technicians will come to help install and start them up immediately so then it will be seen that the Revolution, Sandinismo, could resolve the problem. Of course, we could resolve it, because we were Sister Revolutions.
And a man like Chávez, generous, with so much help he gave us, that really is the greatest Solidarity we have received in a critical moment like that, and thanks to those generating Plants we are here today gathered underneath these great lights, otherwise there would be no lights, there would be blackouts. Blackouts that lasted for days, even weeks, when the previous government was standing down. Imagine, how disastrous it would have been.
But Chávez, a very generous revolutionary, very Christian, did not hesitate to have those plants that were heading to Venezuela moved from Cuba to Nicaragua, because they were in transit in Cuba. These are really attitudes that are only found in Peoples and Governments with a mentality of Justice, and of helping without setting conditions, like Cuba.
Fidel, Fidel got fully involved, I remember the conversations with Fidel, because we had a difficult moment there, just before the Triumph, which was at Peñas Blancas. We had managed to take Peñas Blancas, but Somoza also had the most powerful Force he had there, and they had aviation, and they had mortars, while we had neither mortars nor aviation, so there we were weathering the bombardment, this way and that, and back then the cooperation Fidel gave us was decisive enabling us, with artillery and mortars, to be able to counter and break the front that Somoza sustained there.
It is these events I recall, because I insist that we cannot fail to mention, to remember, to pay tribute to those who have gone before us, and here today you have paid tribute to the Brothers and Sisters who gave their Lives in this whole Battle, who gave their Lives and did not ask for anything in return. And they are here with us and they commit us to continue fighting for Peace even more, since striving for Peace is fighting for Security, for Sovereignty, it is fighting for Independence, for the Autonomy of the Republic of Nicaragua.
Receive, Brothers and Sisters, the Fraternal Embrace for you, for your Families, and the recognition of the Tenacity, the Courage, the Dignity of being an integral part of the defense of Nicaragua, in the Nicaraguan Army.
Long live the Army of Nicaragua!
Long live the Foundation of the Nicaraguan Army on its Anniversary!
Long live the Heroes and Martyrs!
Long live Peace!
Long live Freedom!
Long live Justice!
And Long live Blessed, Socialist, Christian and Forever Free Nicaragua!