Greeting of the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Forces of the Army of Nicaragua,
Army General, Julio César Avilés Castillo, during his visit to Cuba
October 8th 2025
First of all, on behalf of my Pople, I want to convey the greeting, as part of the Nicaraguan people, to this fraternal people of Cuba, to its main authorities, to its leadership, on behalf of the Presidency of our Republic, Comandante Daniel Ortega, Compañera Rosario Murillo and of course, on behalf of all of us who make up the Nicaraguan Army, of brothers and sisters, of brothers and sisters in struggle, to this dignified fraternal people of Cuba, and to do it in this sacred place, where General Antonio Maceo lies, for us it is a great honor, to be here on this day, honoring, rendering tribute to him and to Lieutenant Panchito Gomez.
This is a sacred place for you, but also for our America. We are responding to an invitation made to us by the Minister of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Cuba, our brother, Army Corps General, Álvaro López Miguera, within the framework of the strengthened bonds of brotherhood and cooperation that we have, and I do not say friendship, I say brother and sisterhood, because the peoples of Cuba and Nicaragua are brothers and sisters, we have had a similar history.
The Cuban people lit the torch of dignity to illuminate our America, with the triumph of the Revolution. We also did so in 1979, and those torches which have now been lit will continue to be issue light because they illuminate the hopes of a Latin American and Caribbean America, always aspiring to be a Great Patriotic Nation. The Cuban nation, the Nicaraguan nation, the Latin American and Caribbean nation, to which we have always aspired.
And we, as Peoples, continue to struggle, because in order to be able to say that we have a nation, we have to have independence, sovereignty and self-determination so as to guide our own destinies without foreign interference.
Today, then, we are still fighting the same aggressor who is trying to make us bow. But in fact, the dignity of our Peoples always imposes itself in the face of the aggression of those who throughout history have wanted to subjugate us as a Nation. And here we are, with our brothers and sisters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, working together, visiting the various units, exchanging experiences so as to strengthen these bonds of brother and sisterhood, built with steel, but steel with blood too, because so much blood has been spilled by our Cuban brothers and sisters there in our country, as a great Nicaraguan patriot, Carlos Ulloa, did here, defending the Cuban revolution, during the imperialist aggression of Bay of Pigs, fighting with a Sea Fury plane and giving up his life for this patriotic Nation, which is ours as well.
So our embrace to you all and let's keep up the fight because that is what we have to do under current circumstances in which US imperialism continues to attack our America, and in particular Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, such that we have continue raising high our flag of dignity, to fight on and to be victorious always.
Thank you very much.