This rather long speech is important for several reasons. First of all, it takes place within the context of the European Union´s recent approval of a framework for applying sanctions against Nicaragua over the continued violation of human rights, and it is delivered in the very presence of the new ambassador of the European Union to Nicaragua. But more importantly, it lays out in some detail Ortega´s view of the April 2018 uprising and its implications today.
He places the events of April 2018 in the context of historical US interventions in Nicaragua, and then buttresses his position by referencing news stories about small armed groups that appeared in the press in Miami and local papers as far back as 2007. He vehemently criticizes the new Foreign Minister for the European Union for his position on Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. He then makes the case for how the Government under his leadership has fought poverty, promoted growth, fought organized crime and drug trafficking, and how all this was set back by the events from April to July 2018. He therefore asks for aid from the international community to support Nicaragua´s current efforts to resume the attack on poverty and increasing economic growth.
He does not address any of the past and ongoing reports by the UN and OAS Human Rights organizations on the systematic and ongoing abuse of human rights by the Government, which are the immediate causes of the sanctions he condemns. Nor does he mention any interest in negotiating about these rights. By ignoring this “elephant in the room”, and keeping heavily armed police and paramilitaries in the streets to prevent any expressions of dissent, the conclusion can be drawn that any international support will be given in a context of the ongoing repression.
(The use of caps reflects their use in the original Spanish).
President Daniel and vice president Rosario in the presentation of credentials, October 16, 2019
Dear Brother and Sister Nicaraguans, Dear Families, Nicaragua is a People, a Nation that always has its doors open to develop, deepen relationships with all the Nations of the Earth. We are a small Nation in Territory, but with a lot of Dignity.
Nicaragua, you know the why of the presence, starting with independence from Spain, in other words, we became independent from Spain in the year 1821, a small People, but at that time the Spanish Conquistadores had already discovered, more than the Gold that they could find in Nicaragua, more than the labor force with other forms of slavery that was installed in our Countries with the Encomienda.
There began the dispute between England and Spain over Nicaragua. England dominated half of the Territory, and Spain the other half. And why did the dispute over Nicaragua exist? They had discovered that River that some of you will now get to know, the Rio San Juan, and the Lake that leads to that small strait in Rivas and that therefore was the passage that the Conquistadores were looking for.
In other words, apart from the thirst for Gold that they brought, the subjection and extermination of entire Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, our Ancestors, they began to fight over the passage, and the British as well as the Spanish said: The one who dominates that passage that allows traveling to the two Oceans is going to dominate all of America. This they were saying in the years of the Conquest, after the Conquest, when the British and Spanish were constantly fighting one another. And now independent Nicaragua, well, continued begin the victim of the Powers who wanted to take over Nicaragua, to take over that passage.
This is where the anti-imperialist sentiments come from in Nicaragua, a People who have never been the enemy of any People of the World, neither the Spanish People, nor the British People, nor the US People, but that, yes is a People that has resisted and fought against aggressions, the interventions of these Powers.
It is always good to recall History and the yankee expansionism from the South of the United States, when they were opposed to the North. They had a presence in Nicaragua, after a Transit Route that had been opened, through which thousands of North Americans moved from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast of the United States.
They were the years of the Gold Fever in the United States, and, well, US Businessmen found that there was a much safer Route than crossing the entire Territory of the United States; and it was to sail the passage in New York, going to a small port on the Rio San Juan. Then they sailed on the River, navigating the River, navigating the Lake, then crossing the isthmus of Rivas in Stagecoaches that the US Company had, and then sailed once again to take the course to the West Coast of the United States.
Gold! Always Gold! Gold brought the Conquistadores. Gold brought the yankee expansionists. Gold imposed on us here a yankee President, William Walker, a slaveholder, who came accompanied by those who were a force of the Armies of the Southern United States, who were fighting the North at that time, the most conservative Forces, the most reactionary forces. And he made himself President of Nicaragua, William Walker, and was recognized by the yankee Government, and there in his inauguration was the yankee Delegate, present when William Walker took possession here in Nicaragua.
This reminds us of an event that the US Superpower should be ashamed of, but unfortunately there is no shame, and we see how they invent Presidents. Now they have invented a President there in Venezuela, a President who has not been elected, who was elected for the Parliament. Ah, but the empire already decided, along with the European Powers, a good part of the European Powers decided to recognize as President someone who is not the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The President was elected and is named Nicolás Maduro.
A bloody fight had to be waged here against Walker to expel him; but then the United States imposed a Treaty on Nicaragua, so that Nicaragua would not be able to use its Territory to build canal constructions on the Rio San Juan, or Canals through Nicaragua. And then left Nicaragua while also it relocated to Panama, to what was Great Colombia, uprooting Panama from Great Colombia to then have two alternatives.
Here studies for the Canal were carried out, the US Troops did them, the Body of Engineers of the US Army did the Studies, because there was a Mandate from the US Congress, deciding since Nicaragua was a Colony of theirs, that they had to do the Studies to build the Canal through Nicaragua, while they did the same in Panama.
In other words, Nicaragua has been under the gaze of the Powers there, and above all, the US Power, that deposed Governments, and behind the deposition of a Government that had promoted a Liberal Revolution there in the years of 1893, as President Zelaya was promoting a Policy of more connections with Europe, so it was, as they used to say, “America for the Americans, this meant America for the United States, and it meant that the Europeans could not approach this Region. These were the rules that the expansionist Policy of the United States dictated.
Well, and after overthrowing Zelaya, the Resistance of Nicaraguans, of Nicaraguan Patriots, resenting, confronting who? The yankee Troops who shipped out then. Year 1912, the yankee troops disembarking in Corinto and advancing then to Masaya, to fight the Patriots who were defending the Sovereignty and Dignity of the Country.
And Sandino then rising up against the yankee Troops. And Sandino,, now with the yankee Troops withdrawn, well, dialoguing and arriving at Peace Accords, and the President invites them to a dinner in the Presidential Home, while the chief of the Army, who the yankees had organized, who was under yankee tutelage, who had been under the orders of the High yankee Officials, was waiting for Sandino to leave the dinner, right here in the Center of Managua, to capture him and then shoot him with those who accompanied him.
Peace agreements had been signed; the Chief of the Army imposed by the yankees, Somoza, had taken photos with Sandino after the Peace Accords, embracing one another as Brothers, and then Somoza complied with the last task that the yankees had entrusted him: Killing Sandino!
They gave the mission of killing Sandino to Somoza. And he killed Sandino on February 21, 1934. From there a long tyranny that was recognized by the International Community, it was never described as a Dictatorship, in so far as it was a tyranny imposed, armed and financed by US Governments.
Unfortunately History continues repeating itself, the US Power feels it has the right to attack those who do not subject themselves to it. And the Latin American Region is shaken, but I would say even more, the World is shaken, by all the ways in which the order that Global Capitalism had designed has been violated, and that continues advancing, with profound imperfections, but was advancing under the rules, under the norms of Globalization.
There was a type of Consensus to which the United States adhered, and that provided a little bit of stability, in the midst of enormous challenges that Humanity had to face, it gave it a little bit of stability, it provided a direction to the Developed Countries and to the Developing Countries.
It now is completely affected, it is destabilized, but we have Confidence, we have Faith that there will be maturity and sensibleness in the Countries that have the greatest power, the greatest capacities to enrich, strengthen, within the framework of the Principles of the United Nations, to get all us Countries on track who are a reality.
Beyond the cultural nuances, beyond ideologies, beyond specific formats of each Nation, the truth is that it is indispensable, it is a matter of life and death to achieve a Consensus that does not just continue alienating Developing Countries, but alienating and conflicting and clashing among the Developed Countries themselves, who are more united under a path that they set, and where in one way or another we all were walking along, this Process of Globalization, seeking Sustainable Development, convinced that you had to and have to fight against Global Warming, that you have to fight for the Environment, signing Agreements.
All this is put into question, the big goals that we had committed to in the Fight against Poverty, Extreme Poverty, all this is affected, because to the extent that the Powers do not help, above all the US Power does not help to consolidate Multilateralism, that it understands that Planet Earth does not belong to them and does not belong to just one Power, that it belongs to all of us, and that the Powers have to unite their efforts, for what? So that Equilibrium Points are achieved, Points of Stability, and not continue sowing instability, as is being sown at this time, as continues being sown in these moments.
The challenges that the Developed Countries have are enormous, and logically the steps that the Developed Countries can take are going to contribute to the fact that the we Countries might progress, we countries that have to face enormous challenges in terms of Extreme Poverty, Poverty, in search of better living conditions for our Peoples. And we will be able to advance if there is Reasonableness, if there is Understanding, if there is a new Contract, starting with the Principles of the United Nations, among the Powers that today see themselves confronting one another as a result of the hegemonic attitude of the greater Power that the Planet has.
We welcome You, Dear Brother and Sister Ambassadors, because beyond our differences we are one Family on this Planet. [He goes on to welcome personally the ambassadors of Germany, Mexico, European Union].
Since we would like to have good relationships of respect with the United States, and since we would like to have good relations also with the European Community, but since understanding, since understanding that just as the United States has marked the transition announcing the annihilation, the destruction of the Sandinista Revolution, the Bolivarian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, they had said it very clearly, the European Union is aligned with US Policy.
It is incredible, the European Union recognizing a phantom President in Venezuela…Incredible! Incredible! Someone who was elected as a Deputy. We would like to know when, what day, at what moment the election of that man took place, that 50 Countries, of course, promoted all this by the yankee Government. The European Union dragged along by the yankee Government in its madness, to do the ridiculous thing of recognizing someone who appeared there simply by the will of the yankees…Incredible!
Incredible that the European Union has as Chief of Foreign Policy, he has already been named, already presented, Mr. Borrell. I met Mr. Borrell at the time when Mr. Borrell was from the most radical wing of the Spanish Socialist Worker Party. I met him, then he was married to a very revolutionary French woman. And now, it is incredible to hear it, but as it is said: Incredible! But true!
To top it off, that His Majesty the King is going to visit Cuba, and there in the conversation of Borrell with the Cuban Foreign Minister, he tells him, that he hopes that when the King visits Cuba, that neither the President of Venezuela nor the President of Nicaragua be there. I did not know that a Meeting of this type was being scheduled. It never occurred to us that because Mr. Borrell was going to be in Cuba, that we were going to run over to Cuba for Mr. Borrell to receive us.
It is a disgrace for the European Community to have leading the Foreign Policy of the European Community a person like Borrell; in other words, how seriously could one speak with Borrell? He does not have the same tact, he is someone who rather appears to have gone mad by the way in which he speaks, the way in which he rants. But incredible, the European Union named him.
I don´t know how Dialogue will be promoted with the European Union in these conditions, where threats of aggressions, of Sanctions come from the European Union itself; they call them Sanctions, but really they are aggressions. It is like the yankees, every time they impose what they call a Sanction, that is an aggression! The sanction is established under a Legal Order, and if you have to sanction, well, that passes through a procedure, if a State thinks that it has to sanction, but simply it occurs to them and now they strike, they attack.
But “there is no evil that lasts 100 years, nor body that resists it”, and I do not believe that this situation is going to last for a long time, we hope that changes can happen in what the established Norms are for carrying out Dialogues, for carrying out Respectful Communications between all States, no matter how large and powerful some may be, and no matter how very small others may be.
I believe there will be sensible people in the european Peoples and in the European Parliament. I had the opportunity to receive here last year a Delegation of the European Parliament and they seemed to be sensible people. But it is like there is a competition here of who shouts the loudest against our Countries, because coming out of the Meetings and returning to Europe, since they had to look at how to win Elections in a Region that has moved to the right, hence the messages to who was more harsh, who was more violent, and asking for blood. They are asking for blood. That is what they are asking for, blood from these Countries who have not done any harm to anyone.
[He then welcomes the ambassadors of Mauritania, Syria, Suriname, and after welcoming the Ambassador of Finland, adds the following]:
Many of these Nations we visited in the 80s, likewise Finland. They were years of the war, and we always found in those Peoples a lot of Affection, a lot of Solidarity. Seeking Peace! We wanted to put an end to the war, the war imposed by the United States. And we not only resisted here that aggression that led the United States, its Rulers, to ally themselves with drug traffickers to circumvent the stoppages that on occasions they had in the Congress to not continue financing the war, and that caused [legal] Processes.
We went to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, well to continue the Path that they demanded, and that established the International Laws to which we are all committed in the United Nations. We went to the Court, and the Court ruled condemning the United States and ordering them to stop the acts of terrorism and aggression against Nicaragua. Yes, the United States condemned by the Court for terrorist practices against Nicaragua, and then ordering it to compensate Nicaragua. That Sentence is alive there still, it has not expired, the Sentence has not expired.
[He then welcomes the ambassadors of Austria and Namibia]
As I was saying, Nicaragua is a People, a Nation that wants to establish relations, develop relationships with the Countries with whom we have relations, but that these relations might develop in a respectful way. We do not want to be a Colony! Being a Colony is not in our veins, that desire to be a Colony does not run in our blood, and I think that there is no Human Being nor any people who want to be colonized, and what we ask is that you let us work.
How much sacrifice it has cost Nicaragua to have achieved, after the periods of war like those that I mentioned to you, to spend 17 years in the Opposition, a Party with enormous strength, that never proposed toppling Governments, deposing Governments, regardless of the contradictions that we had, and we always said to them, there is no other Path than resolving the problems among ourselves, and talking, negotiating there with the Social Sectors, Economic Sectors, Peasants, with those with whom there could be contradictions, because of the Government Programs of the three Governments who were installed in those years.
Then we returned to Government in 2007 and we were able to install an Alliance here, Workers, Peasants, Business people, and the Country was able to progress, was able to grow, but a growth that was reflected also in the decrease in Extreme Poverty and Poverty, they were being reduced, and in the expansion and free Health and Education services for Nicaraguan Families.
And in the fight against Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, Terrorism, with the smallest Budget of the entire Region, we have been able to make Nicaragua a Contention Point to what is the scourge of that epidemic that affects our entire Region and that has a starting point.
If there is a lot of production of drugs in the South, it is because there is a large market and a great demand for the drugs in the North. But they want to demand that we control that, and of course, with our scarce resources, resources that we could dedicate to Health Care, Education, we have to invest them in the fight against Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime that demands a lot of resources. And with the smallest Budget in the Region, Nicaragua has more and better results in the Fight against Drug Trafficking, likewise in terms of Citizen Security.
We have been growing, economic growth, but the US Power did not have a good opinion about it, they did not want a Nicaragua developing itself in a Policy of Alliances that gave it Security, Stability and Growth in the Economy of the Country. Even in the worst moments of the crisis of 2018, Nicaragua had rates of growth, Nicaragua had the best rates of growth in the Region in that period of crisis.
Meanwhile aggression against Nicaragua was planned again. Armed groups were organized, since 2007 when we returned to Government armed groups were organized, and these armed groups financed from the United States of America, and presented in the communications media in Florida, from the United States and from Nicaragua, as Patriots who were fighting against the Dictatorship.
Since then this aggression began that caused more than 450 deaths and more than 1,000 wounded, since 2007, 2008 up until April of last year. When simply because a Reform to Social Security was applied, where Business people were taxed to contribute, and on the other hand the Workers also contributed; simply put, the explosion came from there. In other words, the Business people could not resist the pressure of those who accused them of being complicit with the “Dictatorship”, for being in Alliance with the Government, and received threats that they were going to apply that famous Magnitsky [law] on them. And of course, the Business people who have a lot of interests in the United States, if they applied the Magnitsky law, that would liquidate them.
And the radical groups of anti-Sandinistas always bent on going to the United States to seek out the Congress, to look up the State Department, what for? So that they would sanction also those Business people who were accomplices of the “Dictatorship”. And there they bet on a Reform to Social Security…They took out weapons! It was no peaceful protest, and that is easily demonstrated by the amount of dead; the destruction, the destruction of Schools, destruction of Hospitals, destruction of homes; burnings; setting people on fire, simply for being Sandinistas, the Police murders.
In other words, they went far beyond, why? Because they had weapons, and had weapons that they were accumulating, they were collecting, they were using already since 2007, 2008, when armed groups appeared in the Communications Media of the United States and also here in Nicaragua. They were not Terrorists, they were “Patriots”, fighting for democracy.
A Country that really was recognized for the way in which it has been achieving progress in the fight against Poverty, in Health, in Education, in the Field of Production, in the Field of Commerce, well, was seen subjected to a hard blow. And there the claim of the Coup supporters was not about the pretext of the Decree that had to do with the Reform to Social Security, that was the pretext, but the demand was not that the Decree be removed, that the Decree be withdrawn, that was not the demand, the demand was “that the Government leave”, that was the complaint, “that the Government leave”.
And then the fact that attempts had been made that Reform to Social Security be done by consensus, that we would discuss it, they refused to discuss it, because the order was already given and the threat was made from the North. It was a terrible situation, harsh, tragic for the Nicaraguan People, for all Nicaraguans; beyond ideologies, beyond Political Positions, the truth is that the suffering was for all of Nicaragua,; but we have been able to make progress, first being able to recover the Stability of the Country, which is basic for being able to later progress, to take up again the Path that we brought of Economic Growth with Justice, with Equity, and in Peace.
And this is what we ask of the International Community that shows itself interested in the situation of Nicaragua…Well, that they support us in this direction, that they support us so that we can continue strengthening a Process that would allow putting an end to Extreme Poverty, to Poverty, because we still have a challenge, we have made a lot of progress, but we still have to reach the goal.
There we hope for the Collaboration, the Cooperation of the International Community in an unconditional manner, more than those that establish regulations when Agreements with Organizations are signed, etc. and that we Nicaraguans might continue passing through the Route that we brought also within the framework of defining [our] Authorities.
In other words, we have a Constitution that establishes National Elections along with Elections for President and National Deputies and for Deputies to the Central American Parliament, in accordance with the times of the Law; well, those Elections will be in the Month of November 2021.
A Constitution that also establishes Municipal Elections that are held after the National Elections, and that also establishes Regional Elections in the Autonomous Regions of the North Caribbean and the South Caribbean, given that in those Regions of the Northern Caribbean and the Southern Caribbean we were able to achieve [it], in a Historic Struggle of Communities, of Original Peoples that had been marginalized.
There they have their Parliament in the North, their Parliament in the South, and they are the owners, by Law, of their Territory. In other words, in these years we were finally able to provide titles of more than 35,000 square kilometers that in Deeds, by Law, by the Constitution, belong, are in the hands of the Communities of the Original Peoples. And the Norms that exist for carrying out Projects, Programs, Investments in the Zone, already in the Business Plan, that it first has to pass through the Communities where that Project will be carried out, and then the Regional Council has to approve it, and only then can the National Government move it forward.
So we have these Elections that have been able to be held, in a timely manner these Elections have been carried out, they are three moments: The National Elections, the Municipal Elections and the Regional Elections. And that is the Path that we have,
For what purpose? To take the Government. The Political Forces that want to take the Government, this is the Path, this is the Route that we have; it is a Route that is within the Norms that the Constitution of our Country establishes.
Meanwhile, to continue uniting efforts yet in these difficult conditions in the Economic Order. We cannot say that we already achieved resuming the Route of Economic Growth that we had; yes, but the conditions are there, and the Morale of the People is there, working every day to be able to progress. That Blow that the Economy suffered! In other words, if we had an average of 4.5% up to 5% growth, with these acts of terrorism that were produced in our Country, since April of last year up to July of last year, it caused an enormous blow to the Economy and we dropped to 0, and to less. In other words, we lost 4.5%, 5% that was the average that we were advancing, promoting and that we had as a goal, and we add that loss to this, 3.5% and lower still. In other words, a nearly 9% drop.
It was a terrible blow for the Economy, and if the Economic Activity remains standing, it is thanks to the Strength of the People, the Workers, Small and Medium Business owners, and Investments also, that did not allow themselves to be dragged toward the Policy of destruction that was aimed at, and tried to overthrow the Government.
The challenges that we have continue to be very big, the Economic Field continues being a Field that we have out front, we have it out front. The Budget we had to reduce it, in other words, there was no way to grow with the Budget.
We are working now on the Budget for the year 2020, and what we are looking for is how to consolidate what we have been able to make progress on, but we cannot talk about the fact that we are going to msake a Budget larger than what we executed in the year 2018. But yes ensuring…In other words, here not one School has been closed because of budget cuts, the budget cuts have been in other directions; not one Health Center has been closed, nor one Health Post, not one Hospital; rather just the opposite, Schools are being inaugurated, Health Posts are being inaugurated, Hospitals are being inaugurated, continue being built.
Projects of Roads, Highways continue advancing. The very year 2018, last year, they continued working in the midst of the attempts to paralyze the Country, because then it was, they wanted to paralyze the Country. As if they did not understand that now with the Blow that the Country had suffered, betting on paralyzing the Country would have wiped out the installed capacities that the Country has in the Economic Field, in the Productive Field, in the Social Field.
But in that same year we continued inaugurating numerous works, right here in Managua the Overpasses were inaugurated; Roads, Highways; the Highway that unites for the first time in the History of the Zone of the Pacific Region of Nicaragua with the Southern Region of the Nicaraguan Caribbean, in other words, with Bluefields, we inaugurated it this year, because the works never stopped.
And a Highway was built in spite of our limitations, but well, there was no other option than consider [doing it] with our own resources and with the support of International Organizations, a Highway that cannot be made of asphalt because of the amount of water that falls there, it quickly destroys the asphalt; so, concrete. And the entire Zone of the Caribbean now we are working on it with concrete Highways, because that now provides us a great certainty that the Highways will last over time.
That Highway we inaugurated this year, the Highway to Bluefields, and opening the Highway to Bluefields opens the door for Nicaragua to have at the same time its first Deep Water Port there in the Caribbean, because we do not have a Deep Water Port in the Caribbean, they are small ports that we have in the Caribbean Ocean.
And with the Highway now there is the road to be able to transport merchandise and bring in merchandise. Before the Route was, either by air, very expensive, or by land with a much longer route, and then put it on boats in El Rama, and from there in small boats to go to Bluefields. That was the only way to get to Bluefields.
Really works have been done that help to integrate the Country, that help to strengthen the conditions so that Nicaragua can, and I am sure that our People are going to achieve it, can resume the path that we already were resuming. Well, our goal this coming year in the Budget is going to be, from that collapse that we had to minus zero, minus 3.5, now look to raise and get close to .1 or 1.5% of growth. We cannot aspire to more in these conditions, because rather the budget situation does not provide for larger investment. But getting now to this point we will be resuming a starting point to be able once again to move forward with sustainable growth in the medium and long term.
We welcome all of you Dear Brothers and Sisters. Beyond our Political and Ideological differences, we are not going to arouse fanaticism, because we might have Political and Ideological differences, we are not going to arouse fanaticism, let us not become fanatics, but yes we do ask of you comprehension, comprehension with a People that historically has been subjected to aggression, to intervention, and what we ask for are good relationships, exchange.
With the European Union we had a Process that was very well worked on with all of Central America in the Agreement for Association with the European Union. I followed it very closely with the Compañeros who were working on the Agreement, and there a maturity, a Respect was shown on the part of the European Union to the Central American Countries. We did not feel an arrogant attitude, that because we are Powers now you have to do this and in this way; rather there was rationality and the understanding that Europe is a Market for the Central American Region, and Central America in turn is a Market for European investments, and that from there new spaces are opening up in all Fields.
We trust that we are going to be able to resume, beyond the outbursts that I have mentioned on the part of some Leaders of the European Union, well, I think that we have to have trust that Europe will know how to have the tact, the sensitivity to treat our Latin American and Caribbean Region, and in this particular case with the Central American Region that we have made one in the relationship with Europe; very small markets where the most helpful thing is that we negotiate united with Europe as we have done, and always open to exchanging on those points that we are not able to agree on, but logically exchanging with respect, and you are always going to find that disposition in us.
So it is that we say welcome to Nicaragua and that this Land is also your Land, this House that is called Nicaragua, also is your House, and you have the doors open for you and for your Peoples. Thank you.