This speech, though long, is significant because it provides the perspective of Daniel Ortega on the current situation, since he has had very few public statements since the advent of the pandemic. Opposition leaders in the Civic Alliance have been very critical of the government for lack of transparency around the incidence of the coronavirus, and not implementing the recommendations of the WHO, and therefore has not been eligible for international financing to mitigate the economic impact of the virus that other Central American countries have already received. Here he calls for sanctions to be lifted, reads a long report from the Ministry of Health that focuses on the other causes of mortality in society, and accuses those advocating for people to stay at home of being the same ones who promoted what he calls a ¨Military coup attempt” in April 2018. By the examples he uses he implies that his opponents want essential workers to stay at home as well.
VIII Anniversary of the Passing of Comandante Tomás Borge to Immortality and Celebration of Labor Day (April 30, 2020)
Speech by Daniel Ortega
[original Spanish; capital letters as reflected in the original document]
Good afternoon, Brother and Sister Nicaraguans, Families of these Blessed Lands of Diriangén, Nicarao, Darío, and Sandino.
Today we celebrate 8 years of the Passage to Immortality of our Brother, Comandante Tomás Borge. He was fighting even before the Sandinista Front was founded. Now in the years of 1956, when Rigoberto brought the tyrant imposed by the Yankees and killed Sandino to justice, Tomás, a young law student, was captured with Ausberto, Edwin Castro, Cornelio Silva; [the tyrant] who later killed Cornelio, Ausberto and Edwin, the father of Edwin, our Compañero Head of the Sandinista Front Bench in the National Assembly. Tomás was already there, fighting. And Carlos, who was a boy studying in High School, going into the streets to demand the freedom of Tomás, with other Youth.
So it is that this day, on the eve of May 1st, Day of the Workers of the World, Workers of the Formal Sector who are less and less every day, to the extent that Industrial Activity becomes automated, less Workers. There are Enterprises where there already are robots, and only one or two people, making sure the robot functions properly. And the Workers of that Enterprise already disappeared.
That is why Informal Employment has grown so much. They are Workers! In other words, that way of thinking, that the only Workers are those in the Formal Sector, does not make sense, because Capitalism itself has taken responsibility, in its development, of creating unemployment, first, when machines began, when Industry, the Industrial Revolution, and the Workers, desperate, took to destroying the machines there in Europe, in England; desperate, they saw machines as an enemy that was coming to take their jobs away.
Of course, in the end machines were imposed, which created an immense amount of unemployment in the Developed Countries, and now in these Times, in the Times of State of the Art Technology, where large industries are becoming automated, vehicles where Workers are not involved either, but are being assembled by the robots that are there in the factory.
That is why on the eve of May 1st, we greet all the Workers of the World, and those Workers who are not recognized as such, Women who even in the capitalist Countries are denied the Right to work…And how much it cost them to achieve that Right! And then, to work, but with a difference in terms of the men. And that Woman working in the Home as well, as if the work of the Home is not work, as if the work of providing Love is not work, caring for the children, as if it is not work to be washing and ironing. Mothers who even are mother and father, and who have to be cooking, and others who are able to get a job, and have to leave in the early morning to work.
So it is that our Greeting is for all the Workers of the World, those who are still in the Formal Sector, who are less and less, as well as those who are left in the Informal Sector, who are more and more.
And well, the Workers who are logically in Field Activities, the Farmers, the Producers of food, in our case, in our Country, are Workers who are getting up in the hours of the early morning. In some farms still, there are many Farms here of Extensive Ranching, with traditional practices, where now at 3 or 4 am the Workers go out, they are called “Fieldhands” in the farms. These Fieldhands are Honorable Workers , they saddle up the horses and go out to the Field to bring in the cattle for milking. They are Farm Workers, like those who participate in the preparation of the land, in planting, for the production of Basic Grains, for the production of Vegetables.
And the Workers who are in the State, at the service of the Population, and I would say there, in the most sensitive tasks are Heath Workers, it is the most sensitive task, because it deals with watching over Life, the Health of Nicaraguans. And Teachers. Without Education, without Culture, there is no Future, and these Teachers ensure us Education and Culture.
And these two large Labor Forces are fundamental for Stability, for the Security of the Country, those who are Workers, Soldiers in the Army, Workers in the National Police.
And the Workers of the Ministry of the Interior who are in the tasks of protecting everything that has to do with movement through the Country. And well, we go also with the Compañer@s of Customs, they do not rest, the Custom Workers, those who are in the Border Posts, land as well as those in the Ports, Airports, working tirelessly there.
Even on the days when we are at rest, they have to always be there, in the Health Sector as well as the Army, Police , like the Compañer@s who work in the Border Posts, in Customs and Immigration, they have to be ensuring those Activities. They do not have the complete rest that Holidays provide.
Then we have also the Brothers and Sisters who drive Ambulances. There they go running with the Ambulances to bring life to the people who suffered an accident, be it a car accident or an accident of one of their organs, who suffered a heart attack, who suffered a drop or rise in their sugar. They go running to take them Alive to the Hospital, and so that in the Hospital they can save their Lives.
And how many Workers in different Activities, Firemen, likewise, who are always ready to treat, with the vocation that they have, with that passion they have, to treat fires, the fires that we have here in Nicaragua, fires are all over the World, every day more fires, they have to do with the imbalances that the development of Capitalism has caused in the Planet.
Just as it has sent into unemployment millions and millions of Human Beings in the time of the bonanza of Capitalism, not even talking about when crises come, then the Workers are in the streets. They are not capable of taking money from their immense fortunes to maintain the Workers…No, they fire them and that is it!
This is what is being experienced at these times in the World, Savage Capitalism sending Workers into unemployment, beginning with the Pandemic. Many capitalists like the Pandemic very much, logically the most powerful of whom are doing the numbers to take over the Enterprises that can no longer resist and whose values fall; so they are already ready to launch a blow and accumulate more wealth. And if that wealth is concentrated in these times in a minority, after this situation that the World is experiencing, that minority is going to be much smaller that is going to take over Capital.
With the exception, logically, of the Countries where Projects of a Social Orientation, a Christian Orientation are moving forward. Christianity, its essence is demanding justice, defending the poor… Christ said it well: it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Reign of Heaven. This is what he said, this is what he said. This is the Force of Christianity, the Force of Christ.
And we meet people who adore the golden calf, there are always those who adore the golden calf, the pharisees, the priests who adore the golden calf and kiss the feet and lick the feet of the Empire. They are the same ones who Jesus Christ went to remove from the Temple at whiplash, and he called them “whitened sepulchers.” That is what he said to them. Human Nature, Human Wretchedness, falsifying Values.
But the People, they do have that Spirit, they have that push, and for that reason so many battles, so many struggles have been fought in the World, and continue being fought. In these moments a battle is being waged, where Savage Capitalism wants to take advantage of this Pandemic to exercise greater control over Wealth, and impose its tyranny with more force, because Savage Capitalism is a tyranny that is disguised, like the false priests, is disguised as Democracy.
So they want to take advantage of this situation. What for? To exercise greater control, and we are seeing how they are acting, in the midst of this situation intensifying sanctions against Peoples, sanctions which are attacks. Because no International Organization of the United Nations has approved any sanctions against Cuba; on the contrary, the United Nations has pronounced that the blockade on Cuba be lifted.
Year after year the immense majority of the Countries in the United Nations, with two exceptions, have voted that it be lifted, but because Democracy is not respected, and since what has been installed in the World is the tyranny of Savage Capitalism, so the United Nations is worthless, it is worthless, because the votes of more than 190 Nations are not respected, which is the average of those who vote to lift the blockage against Cuba.
Taking advantage of this circumstance, the spokespeople for Savage Capitalism, in order to attack with more rage, violence, venom the Brother People of Venezuela, taking measures which are completely demented, which show what Martí named well, when he said, “I know the monster, because I live in its bowels.” Because he lived in the United States and knew the monster well, Martí defined it in this way.
It is the monster striking blows on all sides, taking advantage of a tragedy. For what purpose? To try to destroy Cuba, try to destroy Venezuela, try to destroy Nicaragua…Yes! And it attacks Countries which are Countries now of greater weight, it is striking out in a total confrontation.
Our Solidarity, on this day, with the People of Cuba, with the People of Martí, of Fidel, our Solidarity with the Government of Cuba led by Compañero Miguel Díaz-Canel, and under the direction always of Comandante Raúl Castro, Victorious Comandante.
And our Solidarity with Brother Nicolás Maduro. Today Nicolás sent a Message of Greeting on the anniversary of Tomás. Nicolás was here for the funeral services of Tomás, he accompanied us in the Plaza, he was there, and how much we are grateful to Nicolás for that Message. And as we said to Nicolás what affection and love that the Nicaraguan People have for the Bolivarian Revolution, the Venezuelan People, Comandante Chávez, under the mantle of Bolivar who covers all of us.
And Nicolás leading that battle, one of the hardest battles that any Government in our America has faced against the Empire, and where it is able to fight in a victorious manner. And the barbarians have gone to the extreme of deploying their warships there in the zone, under the pretext that they are fighting drug traffickers.
Let them fight the drug trafficking in the United States! There are the biggest drug traffickers in the World, in the United States, because there is the largest consumption in the World. And who are the ones who move the drugs in the Neighborhoods of US Cities? Who are moving them? Who are enriching themselves? How many Yankee officials bought off? How many Yankee Policemen bought? But if they themselves show them in the movies they make, the FBI, the DEA, they make their movies and they themselves show there the way in which their agents are bought, in the United States.
And with what arrogance that demonstration of force in these moments in which the World is dealing with a tragedy. Yes, it is a tragedy because, well, it is true that the World has confronted a lot of tragedies, this is one more tragedy, how many times wars, World Wars, wars in certain areas have caused enormous damages, death to Humanity, and all of a sudden this epidemic appears.
And instead of the Government of the United States assuming a constructive attitude, assuming leadership in the United Nations and saying, “This is the moment to suspend sanctions, this is the moment to unite efforts to confront this Epidemic which is affecting all of us, the Developed Countries and the Developing Countries, the rich Countries and the poorer Countries, the Epidemic affects all of us.” They have not done that, what they have done is throw punches everywhere, and throw slander around, like that one of offering rewards[1].
What is it that they want? A reward to kill the legitimate President of Venezuela. This is an openly criminal attitude of the US Government, be offering that millions of dollars. For what purpose? So that they kill the President Nicolás Maduro and other Officials of the legitimate Government of Venezuela.
They are doing it openly, blatantly. And where is the United Nations? What does the United Nations say? And where are the Countries that say they are respectful of Democracy and defenders of Human Rights? What greater violation of Human Rights? Who has given the Yankee Government the right to be going around offering rewards for killing Rulers of the World? Really this has not been seen, from what I remember, as brutal a moment as now had not been seen before.
They have been accustomed to committing their crimes, well, offering rewards when situations have happened, like the acts of terrorism that we condemned, there in the [Twin] Towers. They offered a reward afterwards for Bin Laden, the people of Bin Laden who they themselves had trained, they trained the terrorists that later blew up their Twin Towers.
We have to unite Peoples to continue defending the Right to Self Determination, to Sovereignty for the Peoples of the World, and demand Unity, respecting diversity, that Unity of Nations, respecting diversity in terms of Military Powers, Economic Powers, and Countries with small Economies. For what purpose? To unite efforts, and that passes through suspending first of all acts of aggression that the Government of the United States is launching, aggressions of every type, opening and reheating wars, a trade war.
Which it is doing in these moments with China. The latest, the US Government announcing that it is going to take sanctions against China; in other words, at the last minute trying to cover up what came to light with this Pandemic. And that is that, that powerful Nation, with so many resources, with so much wealth, was left naked, in terms of its enormous deficiencies in Health matters… There are no beds! There are no respirators! There are no masks! They are fighting over them, they are snatching them up. Suddenly, a Country bought masks there, and they ran to buy them, to offer more in order to end up with the masks. This is a thing of mortal madness. They are the barbarians of the Modern Epoch. It is Attila destroying the World.
They do not realize that this is destroying a great Nation, and they are destroying that great People, but we already know, nothing is eternal, and I am sure that changes will have to be made in the United States. The ideal would be that the current Government of the United States would dare to take one step forward, to act really with courage and assume leadership, respecting all Nations and suspending all aggression. That would really be what would win respect for the United States of North America. I hope they reflect and do it, because it would be the best sign that the World could be receiving to continue confronting this Pandemic.
We have received a Letter from the Network for the Defense of Humanity, Network of Intellectuals, they are organized for some time now, where in the face of these acts of terror, of terrorism, the face of the defamatory campaigns that are launched against our Peoples, they say, “Not only do we refute this infertile and mean-spirited method, but in addition we forcefully reject the disrespectful and unfounded descriptions, and we call for an in depth debate of all the ideas that really would help to overcome the threats that hang over Humanity during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
The Message says, the Letter that they have sent us, “It is our desire to communicate to You, one of the Presidents alluded to in the libel of the International Foundation for Freedom…” They are people from the Right who continually meet and publish their Proclamations, dispensing fire on People, of course, they are instruments of the Empire.
So they say that what is proper here, in any case, is to debate, in a positive sense, to do an assessment of the social and ecological holocaust produced by the Policies that the signers of the libel preach, embody and publicize.
“Discussing the comparative merits for everyone of the selfishness and unfettered individualism, in the face of the Ethics of Solidarity and the Economy of Good Living.
Debating about what would sustainable modes of production and just production relationships be in the World that is coming, that will no longer be the prior one.”
Certainly it will not be the world prior to the virus, because the great failure has been revealed, the great disaster of the summit of World Capitalism, in the Health System which is what is most felt, which is what is most cherished by a People, it is the Life of the US People, and there are no beds! The stories are on US television itself.
Yes, there are big Hospitals, we already know that, but how much does it cost to go into one of those Hospitals? How many North Americans can have access to one of those Hospitals? And the Health System in the United States has been debated, it has been an issue of deep debate, and that Policy of privatizing Health has been imposed.
And here we have the results: Who can go to a Private Hospital here, and say, look, treat me? Let´s see, pay first, or provide your credit card. That is what they tell them in a Private Hospital here. The patient could arrive dying there, and it is not a matter that they are going to say to him, go ahead, we are going to treat you. The Sacred Principle that Doctors have is not respected, it is not respected, nor what a Hospital should have. You simply look where? To the State Hospital, to the Hospital of the People, and that is why we have made so many investments in the Field of Health.
This explains, note well, that in the midst of all this situation, where logically you have to treat, deal with this new Epidemic…How many epidemics have we not confronted! Well, I was born in La Libertad, Chontales, there in Chontales is my Town, in La Libertad, when I was born my older brothers had already died, my older sister, Germania, who had died at the age of 4; afterward a boy was born, he was the second, Sigfrido is the name my father gave him, inspired by the novel of the Nibelungs, of the Germans, a Hero, Sigfrido, and they named him Sigfrido. Likewise Sigfrido died, at an earlier age than Germania. They are there in the cemetery of La Libertad, there are the tombs of the two, the boy and the girl.
What did they die of? Of these epidemics. They called it in those times Whooping Cough, the children ended up suffocated, of course, it sounded like a whistle, a noise there, so popularly they called it Whooping Cough. I am talking about the 1940s. The children, victims, and my parents did not have the possibilities to take them to a Health Center or a Hospital, simply there, as best they could…
My father worked in the Mining Enterprise, he had gone there, he had gone from around Masatepe. My father had been born in Masatepe, in the corners of Masatepe, son of a Peasant woman, in a hut of straw. This Peasant woman was a cook in the home of my grandfather, my grandfather had resources, he was the Director of the Institute in Granada, he was married to a woman from Granada, he had standing. Well, they were married, they had no children, and suddenly my grandmother the cook started showing she was pregnant, and she left to have my father there in the corners, because logically she could not continue working there. So afterwards my father left for La Libertad, looking for work there, where he found my mother and there were born those two children who died from those very epidemics.
And I was telling you that, here we are waging the struggle, seeking the balancing point, For what purpose? So that we might confront the epidemic as all epidemics are confronted, maintaining the norms that the Health Authorities order, while vaccines are found. Because this happens with epidemics, epidemics hit hard, and vaccines do not exist, because a new epidemic appeared, H1N1, the last one, before this one, that caused a lot of deaths.
So, well, be fighting there with the epidemic while treatments are found, in accordance with the knowledge that already exists, the experience that one has, what treatments can be applied to be able to protect the most vulnerable People, and that this cause the least number of victims, of deaths. That is what we have done.
It is impossible that there not be deaths, it is impossible that there not be People who are infected, why? Because we are connected, the World is interconnected. The epidemic did not originate here, it is true, it was there in the People of China, in Wuhan, but then there is communication, and the people who come and the people who travel, Nicaraguans who at the time the epidemic started were in places where it was already beginning to spread, who were in Europe or were now in the United States, and then traveled here to Nicaragua, then already were bringing in the virus, and no one knew they were bringing the virus, because we were not yet in a state of Alert as later the WHO declared, the World Health Organization, that declared the Pandemic on March 11th.
All this began already since December of last year, it had begun, take note, but where was the great Medical Science of the United States? Where were the Health Authorities of the United States and the Developed Countries? Where were they? It simply was advancing, advancing, and suddenly when they realized it, there was contamination all over, and the Developed Countries were contaminated, and so they took extreme measures.
But in spite of that people moved, here in Central America, for example, the Brother Central American Countries have prohibited the passage of People between our Countries, only Commerce and trucks, logically passing through the controls that they have to pass through; but it is very difficult to prevent people from passing through trails, in the World, not just here, in the World, all over, and so there goes the contamination.
And in the midst of this situation, notice, we have had 4 People die, and I believe in total there are 14 people infected. A number of cases have been treated who have been taken into isolation to give them treatment, and then do exams on them there on whether they have the virus or not. And extreme measures have been taken in what has to do with International Air Travel, and we logically have to join this type of Measures, where simply, what is proposed? That a person who comes from another Country, come with the Certificate that they did the exam on that person there, and the person is not bringing Coronavirus. He came to Nicaragua and here he is given another checkup, because it is said that at times the Technology in the tests does not work well, and the exams fail and give the wrong diagnosis. So that is what we are proposing.
Ah but there are some Countries that want to send us people without those conditions…They impose those conditions there, but we already know what Country it is and what Countries those are. Here they want to send people, and there we are sending them some Notes: Yes, they can come, but fulfilling all these Requirements. Pilots fulfilling these Requirements, complying with the Norms, not ones that we are inventing, they are the ones that they have invented, they have invented them. The Measures that they have invented are very strict. So, it is fine, we have Rights as well, to defend our population, to apply that as well, and we have told them that.
We have been in the Meetings where the issue of Air Transport has been dealt with, with World Organizations, and there you have been as well, and you know how the issue has been debated, and where we are going in terms of the Measures that have to be taken, so that a greater contamination does not happen if air traffic is not controlled, when air traffic is reopened, but air traffic has not been reopened yet.
There they sent us, before the Pandemic was decreed, they sent us like 70 Nicaraguans in a flight, and of course, since there was no Pandemic yet, we did not do it, the pestilence already was there, but it was proposed that they would do the test, this and the other, and at the last minute they did not do the test, they did not do the test! In other words, the US Authorities did not do the tests and sent us 70 Nicaraguans who were coming from those jails, Detention Centers which are jails.
There is a news report now, where there is a Nicaraguan who left in the 80s for there, and they received him as a political exile, he now is 70 some years old, and the poor man is in a wheel chair and cannot move himself, and his wife desperate because they are throwing him out. They gave him the status of an exile, and they have him stuck in there, where they are not reviewing those people who are stuck there. What the Yankees have there is a little concentration camp. It is a concentration camp! They have no reason to be jealous of the concentration camps of Adolf Hitler.
Read the story. It is in a US newspaper. The people are desperate, all on top of one another, hundreds of immigrants all crammed in, and all feel that they already have the disease, and no one is treating them. They are demanding attention, and the Authorities themselves say that there is no way to treat them. In other words, they are really dramatic situations where the Human Rights of the people that they have are not being respected, of the Citizens who they have in the places where they have put them one on top of the other, there overcrowded.
So, note well, I was telling you that, here we are waging the battle, taking into account International Norms, that is our starting point, but without falling into extreme, radical Measures, which would be to kill the Country, they would kill the Country, they would kill the People. So maintaining normal Activities, observing the Norms, taking Special Measures with the most vulnerable people.
Here is what we have in this period: On March 18th the first case was reported, as of today now 14 people have been treated; many more have been treated, but the virus has been found in 14 people, the virus has been confirmed in 14, and follow up has been given to 162 people, until ensuring that the virus did not exist, the virus was not there, there were other problems that they had, but they had indications in Health that were concerning to them, and they sought treatment, to see if they had the Virus.
So, in this fight 971,443 Families have been visited, where Prevention Talks were offered to 3,336,096 Citizens, People. This Report is from yesterday, now we have reached 4 million with that was done in the rest of yesterday and today. 18,891 Talks on Preventive Measures have been offered in Health Units. Fumigations with Clorox have been done in 29 Markets, 31 Bus Terminals, 137 Transportation Units, 427 Schools, and 187 Health Units.
Notice closely, if we say to people, stay at home, who is going to fumigate? If we say stay at home, what Nurse is going to work? Hey, they have Rights too, and if you stay, I am staying as well. What doctor is going to work? What Police is going to work? What Soldier is going to work? That is why I say to you, the Country is destroyed! Through that way the Country is destroyed, and those who have had this discourse, are the same ones who wanted to sink the Country in April of 2018, and that always take advantage if there is a fire like the one in the Indio Maíz; now they are taking advantage of the Epidemic. For what purpose? So that the Country be destroyed, thinking that if the Country is destroyed, they are going to survive, they do not realize that here no one is left, and they are the ones with that discourse.
Then, Clorox has also been distributed, 10,325 pounds of Clorox in homes and Health Units. I was telling you that, since March 11th until April 29,th 4 Citizens have died. Homes in which BTI has been applied, which is for Dengue. What I mean to say by this is that we have not stopped the battle against the other Epidemics, because if we focus only on Coronavirus, and we do not treat the other Epidemics, suddenly all the Pestilences will rain on us, and then yes it would be a death toll in the Country; so the other Pestilences also have to be treated.
Rat control in homes to fight rats. Rat urine, when it has Leptospirosis, kills. You pick up a piece of fruit from the ground, that was urinated on by a rat…I remember a Brother Cuban General who was here in the 90s, he had been here before, he was healthy, we were talking, he returned to Cuba, and in days passed away. He picked up some guayabas and they had been urinated on by a rat. It was devastating, a devastating Leptospirosis!
So, you have to protect the population from all evils, all the pestilences that are circulating, because they circulate all over. And that is why vaccinations, in other words, we got into vaccines, Vaccinations had to be done. Here we have the data of Vaccinations, afterwards we will give you the data on Vaccinations.
Then we have in this battle against COVID-19, 21,707 Health Workers have been directly involved in Actions, and indirectly 15,952, for a total of 37,659. In other words, the Health Workers have not gone home, if they go home, there COVID-19 rains on us and all the other evils begin to multiply, until Polio would reappear that we were able to eliminate many years ago…Yes!
So, take note, Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, I was telling you last time that we should not lose sight that here in Nicaragua, like in the entire World, many people are dying now for other illnesses, and we have in this period, since the moment that the Pandemic was announced, was formalized, the Pandemic was decreed on March 11, until today April 30, we have 4 deaths from the Pandemic, but we have 2,829 deaths for all the other problems that affect our Country and all Countries.
Of course, it is understandable that the World has focused on keeping track of only those who are dying from the Pandemic, and logically a death in any part of the World hurts us, we are in solidarity with the Families who are grieving and who are suffering over the death of a relative. Yesterday we saw 3, the father, mother and daughter, 3 deaths in the United States.
So no one is keeping track of those deaths from other diseases, the deaths from traffic accidents, deaths through drownings, deaths by suicide…No one! This counting is not done, why? Because we are all focused on, and we ourselves are not talking about how many died in this, we simply are focused on the Report, because, of course, in these moments the principal enemy to attack is that, but pain is also in all these other Families.
Deaths by acts of violence, by crime, take notice, 2,829 deaths. There are heart attacks, and we are in solidarity with those Families as well. In other words, we are in solidarity with all the Families who have lost a Beloved Member in all this period as well, and at any time.
We cannot allow that these Families might believe that here our Heart is only with the person who dies of Coronavirus. We are with all the Families who have a deceased Loved One, who died from heart attacks, diabetes, kidney problems, that kidney problems that affects our Country so much, from tumors, cancer; hypertension, whose blood pressure has shot up, more so with this heat you have to be careful, because blood pressure can easily shoot up, and with an increase in blood pressure, there can be a stroke, or heart attack, easily.
Traffic accidents; cerebral vascular accidents, as I was telling you; homicides, liver insufficiency. Note that in traffic accidents in this period, from March 11 to April 29, 108 Men and 12 Women have died. How terrible! How terrible! But we are now so poorly accustomed to traffic accidents that they no longer move us, and rather become an act of yellow journalism, and attract the curiosity and bad parts of people. Of course, there are other people who do have feelings and when they see it, it hurts them, but there are others who see it just to see blood, unfortunately they enjoy that.
Among those deceased by traffic accidents, between the ages of 13-21, 8 boys, in other words, from youth between the ages of 13 to 21, 8. Now those older than 21 year of age, 112 Victims of violence, there are homicides, femicides, patricides. There I saw on television today that they had captured the person who murdered a 19 year old girl, he killed her and threw her into a well…Terrible! Terrible! Terrible! And that is when, since they are such brutal acts, some say, you have to impose the Death Penalty!, But we are convinced that they are problems that have cultural roots, social roots, psychological roots, and that to the extent that we work more in this field, as we make more progress in this field, less crimes of this type are going to show up.
Here we have those deceased by criminal activity, 85 in total, of them 81 Men and 4 Women. In terms of age, a boy, 13 year old child; from 13-21 years of age, 8, by murder, by acts of violence, who were stabbed or shot. Older than 21 year of age, 76. This is a monstrosity, if we sit down to look at, a lot of deaths, a lot of grief in all these Families. But of course, we do not see that now, because we are all watchful of that Coronavirus, and it is right that you have to be watchful, but we cannot be insensitive to the pain that all these Families are suffering.
Imagine through drownings, from March 11 to April 29, 37 deaths by drowning. Poor Families, who were out on a trip, who were out for recreation, and well, a child or an adult drowns. 37 deaths through drowning.
By suicide, note…40 deaths by suicide! 40 deaths, 40 wakes, 40 funerals for suicide. Of them, 35 Men and 5 Women committed suicide. Of those, between 13 and 21 years of age, note, young boys, 9 suicides, in the fullness of their youth. The pain of those parents, the pain of those Families. Older than 21 years of age, 31. Look, 40 suicides!
So it is that our Condolences for all those Families of the 2,829 Brother and Sister Nicaraguans who have died from different causes in this period. Our Condolences, our Solidarity, our Love.
During this period as well, since here it was not a matter of going home, but it was a question of waging the battle, observing logically the Measures that the Sanitary Norms order, the Services offered from March 11 to April 29, and here is some Good News, Marvelous news, that makes us happy, in the fullness of the death toll, 2,829 deaths, in addition 4 more from Coronavirus, 2,833 deaths…14,571 births! Blessed be God! 14,571 births. In other words, 2,833 died, including the 4 from Coronavirus, but 14,671 were born, many more than those who died. How many times more? 7 times more, the population multiplied, Thanks to God.
Then in the Health Posts, in the Hospitals, Doctor Visits, treating the population, if not, who is going to treat those people, if the Doctors and Nurses go home? Or who is going to come if the sick stay home? To wait to die at home. Doctor visits in this period, note, in those days 2,454,522 doctor visits. The effort, work, discipline and dedication haves to be recognized of the Doctors, Nurses, Cleaning Staff, Auxiliary Staff, those Responsible for Emergency Areas, Responsible for the Ambulances, etc. Note well, 2,454,522!
Emergency Treatments, 408,230 Nicaraguans have been treated in Emergency Treatments; Doctor Treatments, 2,454,522 Nicaraguans have gone to their Doctor Visits, have sought out treatment, because they feel bad and they go for whatever problems they have, from a blow that they received, to more serious discomforts. But if they stay at home, that they might die? Are we going to tell them to stay at home and not go to the Hospital to seek treatment?
Also in this period weight and size has been measured, because this is a work that is done to monitor the nutrition of the Boys and Girls, 1,370,363 Chlldren under the age of 6 and Students of the Primary Schools of the Country, as part of the Nutritional Census. We have not stopped! We have not stopped!
Within the framework of the Vaccination Campaign, up to April 29th 1,217,960 doses of vaccine have been applied, and logically will continue to be applied, to protect Children, pregnant Mothers and Elderly against 16 diseases. If diseases are all over, and if we concentrate solely on COVID-19, then diseases attack us from the other side, and there they will devastate us. That is why it is not a question of “staying at home.”
In the period between March 11 to April 29 a total of 9,049 pregnant Women have been sheltered in Maternal Centers. Note well, these Women did not stay home, whatever they were told, they did not stay home! They are intelligent women, they know what they carry, they carry Life, they bring Life and it has to be cared for, so they go to the Center to receive treatment so that that baby that is coming can be born with all the right conditions.
Note that a total of 58,003 people were admitted to Hospitals in these days. 57,976 people were released from Hospitals, in other words, people entered the Hospitals, were given Treatment, in other cases were operated on, and when they had the conditions, the Patient then wants to go home immediately; well, there they have to wait until the Doctors decide it, and then are released.
How many days are there between March 11 and April 29? 49 days, note in 49 days everything that has happened: Deaths and births, vaccines, fumigations, medical treatment in Hospitals, operations, we are not going into the detail of the operations, because there are so many operations that are practiced.
Dialysis…737 Patients treated with Dialysis, which is very delicate, and generally there are 3 Dialysis per week, note, 3 Dialysis per week, it is very delicate work, because in each Dialysis that is applied the person runs the risk of decompensating, because there is a sweeping there in the cleaning of the toxins that also carries away the good part, so critical situations happen there with the Brothers who have to go to Dialysis because they have kidney problems.
Chemotherapy has been administered to 2,368 Patients, Why? Because they have Cancer. Hey, are they going to stay at home? Or the others that have renal problems, are they going to stay home? If they stay home and do not do Dialysis, their urea will shoot up, and they die, they die at home. So they are Lives that have been saved, Why? Because with total responsibility, with their Family and they themselves have gone to the Health Posts, Health Centers, to the Hospitals.
Then 3,870 Health Fairs were held, Mobile Clinics moved around to treat 5,656 Communities, note well. And then fumigations, 126,892 homes fumigated. There it ends.
So this is a Report about the treatment given to Nicaraguan Families in the field of Health. Here the Health System has not gone home, nor have the Patients gone home, because they would all be dead now, without their Dialysis, without their treatment in Emergency cases.
Then we have had this painful loss of 2,833 Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters who have died for different reasons, but the Miracle of 14,000 Births, that is why we say, Blessed be God! And well, continue working, Dear Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters.
Expressing also on this day our Solidarity with Brother Nicolás Maduro, and we send him our Message with the Strength of Tomás, with the Spirit of Tomás, that unwavering Spirit of Tomás. Because today, note well, April 30, is the one year anniversary of the Coup attempt, that was arranged, it was a plan organized by the Empire, compromising a number of Governments who were there to concentrate, and combining that with Coups, Military Coup attempt with small groups who they had penetrated there. But the Coup was defeated.
And we say to our Brother Nicolás Maduro, that we accompany him in this great battle that he is waging, a battle where the Spirit of Struggle of the Venezuelan People is put to the test, which is the same Spirit of Struggle of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples, and that we are always together in that noble Project that Fidel and Chavez left us, ALBA; ALBA is always working there, advancing, in spite of all the aggressions that ALBA has suffered and suffers.
Dear Brother and Sister Nicaraguans, Dear Families, good evening, and to continue in this Fight for Life, in this Fight for Peace, in this Fight where the Principle of Love, this Christian Principle of loving your Neighbor as you love yourself, this is the Principle that has to move us, to continue moving forward.
And accompanying all this effort concerning what are the activities in the Production Field, of those who are working and not waiting, of those who are planting and not waiting, not setting conditions. Because the wealthy what they want is that we give them money to recover from what they “have lost”. Let them take out a bit of the money that they have accumulated, that is what they should do, and let them invest! And then, it is absurd to ask us for money as if this was a Developed Country, where they can peacefully grab 50 billion dollars and put them in programs for the rich, not for the Poor, for the rich. Printing money, of course, start printing money there.
So to continue practicing this Principle, Love the Neighbor as yourself, this Principle which is what gives us Strength, gives us Optimism, gives us the Security that we are Moving Forward, and that the World is going to Move Forward. These are moments like in other times that have been experienced. So it is that now we are going to the Mausoleum where Comandante Carlos is, Coronel Santos Lopez is, and Tomás is, to deposit a Wreath. Good evening.
[1] Refers to the fact that on March 26, 202 US announced a $15 million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro for drug trafficking.