ADDRESS BY NICARAGUA ON THE
65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION
ON THE GRANTING OF INDEPENDENCE
TO COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES
General Assembly
December 18th, 2025
Madam President,
1. Nicaragua associates itself with the speeches delivered by Uganda on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and Venezuela on behalf of the Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter.
2. 65 years have passed since that act of profound historical justice, the adoption of Resolution 1514 (XV), a fundamental milestone in the history of the United Nations and the peoples of the world.
3. We would like to express our appreciation to the C24 Committee, a Committee that has assisted the peoples who lived under the vestiges of colonialism to exercise their right to self-determination and independence.
4. On this day, Nicaragua honors all the peoples who conquered their freedom in that epic of determination and sacrifice. We celebrate every flag raised and every sovereignty recovered, with the clear awareness that the decolonization mission of the United Nations still remains unfinished.
5. It persists in 17 non-self-governing territories and other peoples who are still struggling to exercise their inalienable right to freedom, self-determination and independence.
6. Nicaragua reiterates its long-standing solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, a sister nation subjected to colonial status that prevents it from deciding its sovereign future; with the Saharawi people, the Palestinian people, and all peoples who are victims of oppressive colonialism.
Madam President,
7. This anniversary takes on greater relevance as it is framed in the recent, historic establishment, for the first time, of the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations.
8. This day is an indelible beacon that reminds us that the Struggle Continues but Victory is certain. Our greetings and respect to the National Liberation Movements of Africa, Asia and our Greater Caribbean which in the twentieth century have risen up in Freedom, filled with glories and victories expelling the European colonialists.
9. While recognizing the validity of victories against former colonial situations, we firmly denounce that the vestiges of colonialism persist, mutating and developing towards new forms of neocolonialism.
10. They are chains forged from economic coercion, illegal unilateral coercive measures, internal interference, acts and campaigns of destabilization contaminated with imperial double standards, exceptionalist policies, arrogant and false regional security measures seeking to subdue the will of sovereign nations and legitimately constituted governments.
11. Nicaragua strongly denounces these practices and aggressions, which seek to subdue the will of free peoples and seize their resources, being the face of neocolonialism in the XXI century, a direct attack on the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
12. Nicaragua denounces the new forms of colonial aggression that are being exercised against our Latin and Caribbean America, in a crude attempt to resurrect doctrines of domination and occupation that had supposedly been overcome.
13. We condemn imperialist expansionist aggression on our continent, we reaffirm that Latin America and the Caribbean is a Zone of Peace and we reject foreign interference in our free and sovereign territory.
14. Nicaragua strongly denounces the continuing aggression of the United States government against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in its eagerness to appropriate natural resources that belong only to the Venezuelan people.
15. Our region has declared itself a Zone of Peace, and we will confront any attempt at recolonization. We demand the immediate cessation of all illegal unilateral coercive measures and reaffirm that defense of Venezuela’s sovereignty is defense of the UN Charter, of International Law, of the principle of non-intervention and the right of all peoples to build their own destiny without foreign coercion, without threats or the use of force in international relations.
Madam President,
16. The future we want can only be built on the firm foundations of sovereignty and equality between nations. The struggle to eradicate colonialism and neocolonialism emanates from the divine justice inherent in freedom, now bringing about that equitable, multipolar world permeated with harmony for the coexistence of different political, economic and social systems and enabling the sustainable development of peoples, in mutual respect and in permanent peace.
17. Nicaragua will continue to accompany the peoples of the non-self-governing territories, we salute their resistance and struggles for freedom and self-determination, and remain always in solidarity with the free peoples of the world for the eradication of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations, so that justice and sovereignty become a reality for everyone, without exception.
Thank you very much.