Above photo: Jairo Cajina.
Below is a transcript of the remarks of President Daniel Ortega at the National Police parade.
“Don’t Trifle With Peace” 44th Anniversary of the founding of the National Police held in Managua on September 12, 2023.
Good evening, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. Today, at the opening of this Event, the National Police Parade on its 44th Anniversary, we have received the Torch of Liberty on the 167th Anniversary of the struggle in Central America against the Yankee invaders. And, together with this Torch traveling through Central America goes the Spirit of General José Dolores Estrada, goes the Spirit of Andrés Castro, goes the Spirit, the Courage, the Heroism of those who gave their lives to defend their Nation.
Beloved brother, Compañero First Commissioner Francisco Díaz, Head of the National Police; beloved brother, Compañero Army General Julio César Avilés Castillo; beloved Brother, Compañero, Doctor Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly; beloved brothers, Compañeros Commissioner General Horacio Rocha, Commissioner General Zhukov Serrano; Minister of the Interior, Compañera Amelia Coronel, beloved Compañera, beloved sister; beloved brothers, Major General Bayardo Rodríguez, Chief of the General Staff of the Nicaraguan Army, and beloved sister of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, First Secretary of the National Assembly, Loria Dixon.
Also joining us here are our Compañera Alba Luz Ramos Vanegas, Magistrate and President of the Supreme Court of Justice; Heroic Compañera Brenda Isabel Rocha Chacón, Magistrate and President of the Supreme Electoral Council; Commissioner General Aldo Sáenz, Deputy Director General of the National Police; Commissioner General Jaime Vanegas Vega, Inspector General of the National Police; our beloved Compañera, guerrilla fighter in the insurrection and today Attorney General of the Republic, Ana Julia Guido Ochoa.
Beloved Comrade General in Retirement, but giving battle at the international level, leading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua, also a fellow guerrilla fighter and combatant in the war of the 1980s, General Denis Moncada Colindres.
Our recognition to the guerrilla and brigade Comandante, our brother René Vivas Lugo. He comes from guerrilla combat and also comes from the defense of the Revolution from the Yankee aggression of the 1980s.
Beloved guerrilla Comandante Doris Tijerino Haslam, a Nicaraguan Hero.
Beloved brother and sister members of the Cabinet of our Government of Reconciliation and National Unity; beloved Members of the National Police Council; beloved brother and sister founders of the National Police; beloved Police Chiefs in honorable retirement; beloved members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Republic of Nicaragua; Defense, Military, Naval, Air and Police Attachés, accredited to the Republic of Nicaragua.
Police Chiefs in Honorable Retirement; sisters and brothers all; brother Lumberto Campbell, guerrilla Comandante.
These are times of challenges, of difficulties testing the revolutionary mettle of those who in our region of Latin America and the Caribbean at some point even took up arms to overthrow a pro-imperialist government in the service of Capital, in the service of drug trafficking.
There are those who have stood firm throughout history, as all of you have stood firm, beloved brothers and sisters of the National Police, brothers and sisters of the Army, Sandinista sisters and brothers. Others take part for a while but when the conditions become adverse, then cowardice makes them change sides, cowardice makes them become agents of the Yankee Empire, and makes them betrayers, they betray themselves, betray those who gave their lives when they were leading those guerrilla movements.
Without beating about the bush, I want to refer to the person who is today the President of Colombia, yes, he was a guerrilla, incredibly, he was a guerrilla and a guerrilla victim of the campaigns of the pro-imperialist ruling class in Colombia, among all the guerrilla movements that emerged from the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, headed by someone who never backed down and who died in combat, Comandante Manuel Marulanda Velez, to whom I had the honor of awarding the Order of Sandino in the mountains of Colombia, pinning it on his chest.
Those are the indispensable ones. The others become detritus, after struggles that they led, like Petro, where many Colombian brothers and sisters fell in combat, giving battle out of their heart, their conscience, their dignity.
Well, now Petro has become President of Colombia, a State serving the Yankees, a State that is full, full yes, of military bases of the Yankee Empire, but when he was fighting with the guerrillas Petro said that he was anti-imperialist .
So what are you waiting for, Petro, to get rid of the Yankee military bases in Colombia? He has changed sides, and the turncoats are banding together, now they feel burned as if by a chili pepper after I told the truth yesterday, that the Chilean military and the carabineros have been murderers, that they murdered an entire people and an entire political project 50 years ago when they staged the coup d’état against the Martyr Hero President, Salvador Allende. They’ve become upset because I said they were criminals.
If with the government of this other individual, who is supposed to come from the Left, because Leftist forces, forces of the People supported him in the electoral struggle, I am referring to this other individual, who swore he was going to punish the murderers of young people, of Chile’s Youth who are always giving and have indeed been giving the battle, of the Chilean Revolutionaries who have given and continue to give the battle, because they know that Chile is not a democracy.
Chile is still kept in chains by the laws left behind by Pinochet, it is still chained to imperialism, that is the truth, and they must accept it. And the Chile’s Youth, the revolutionary forces who maintain their principles know this and continue the fight.
And those carabineros whom the Chilean government says are angels and are beloved by the Chilean people, under the government of the previous president, under Piñera, back then the current President of Chile was shouting out, criticizing Piñera and saying that if he came to govern he would put him in prison and that he was going to put an end to the carabineros. Why? Because under the Piñera government more than 9,000 young people were repressed by the Carabineros in the streets of Santiago and other cities, losing their sight, blinded. Those are crimes that you can’t cover up, Boric, you can’t cover it up, Boric. You are a mini-Pinochet, Boric, that’s what you are, a mini-Pinochet.
And the other individual, Petro, what a shame, a disgrace, a shame for those who fought in the guerrilla movement that he led, for those who gave their lives in the guerrilla movement that he led. He has betrayed their blood! Show everyone, Petro, that you have some dignity and expel and close the Yankee bases that you have there in Colombia!
That indeed is a failed state, as they say, where people are murdered every day, students are murdered every day, teachers are murdered, peasants are murdered, every day we hear news of how they are murdered there in Colombia, every day. And it is also a State that is crossed out, of course, since the Yankees are there and the biggest consumers of drugs are the Yankees, no doubt they also do good business out of the drug trade, because it is a State totally complicit in drug trafficking.
The Yankees have a false, hypocritical attitude regarding the fight against drug trafficking and money laundering, because in the United States the biggest banks receive the largest amounts of the billions and billions of dollars from the drug traffickers, but no one closes those banks, not even when there is a law suit against them. What happens? They get a fine.
In other words, there is a combination of a lack of Values, a lack of Conscience, a lack of Humanity, firstly on the part of Yankee imperialism, and then, secondly, from these traitors, sell-outs, turncoats, who betrayed the compañeras and compañeros who gave their lives in combat for the guerrilla forces they led. That other individual has not, that fellow Boric has not been a guerrilla, since after all he is a “golillero”, a “golillerito”, that fellow Boric.
Now, beloved Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, we are going to receive our brothers and sisters of the National Police in their parade, today, on the 44th Anniversary of their foundation. Proceed, General Diaz!