The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and his wife Rosario Murillo led an artistic and political event in Managua to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, attended by envoys from Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, and other countries.
Thousands of people dressed in white attended the evening ceremony, which concluded a week of celebrations and featured a carefully staged performance with music and dances.
The audience waved white and blue Nicaraguan flags, as well as red and black flags of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza on July 19, 1979.
“We are free and we will never be slaves again. We will never sell out or surrender,” said Murillo during the event, attended by official delegations from at least 18 countries. Additionally, Iran and North Korea sent letters of greetings.
“Cuba rejects the unilateral coercive measures imposed by Yankee (U.S.) imperialism and its allies against sister Nicaragua,” stated Ramiro Valdés, a historic leader of the Cuban revolution, aged 92.
Vyacheslav Volodin, President of the State Duma (lower house of the parliament) of Russia, read a greeting message highlighting the friendship ties between President Vladimir Putin and Nicaragua. An envoy from Belarus also spoke.
Literacy and Agrarian Reform
The ceremony, which lasted over four hours, concluded with a speech by Ortega, a 78-year-old former guerrilla. The President highlighted the advances in literacy and agrarian reform of the revolutionary regime amid the fight against U.S.-backed ‘contra’ rebels in the 1980s.
“The Soviet Union […], being a power, did not come here to take Nicaragua’s riches but to lend a hand to the Nicaraguan people to help them develop,” said Ortega, who criticized Ukraine, Israel, and the United States.
The celebration in Managua’s Plaza de la Fe took place amid criticism from the United States, the European Union, and international organizations over Ortega’s harsh governance since the violent protests of 2018, which left more than 300 dead, hundreds detained, and thousands exiled, according to the UN.
Ortega claims the protests were an attempted coup sponsored by Washington. Since then, hundreds of politicians, journalists, intellectuals, priests, and government critics have been imprisoned, persecuted, expelled from the country, and stripped of nationality and property.
Palestinian Leader
Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also spoke at the ceremony, saying, “Gaza is asking for help today.” “We will triumph, like you did 45 years ago,” she declared, denouncing Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people.
“These 45 years are celebrated more than ever because it has been worth it,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil. Greetings were also sent from some African nations.
Ortega ruled after the Sandinista revolution’s triumph. He lost the 1990 elections and returned to power in 2007. Since then, he has been re-elected in elections questioned by the international community.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said this Friday in Guatemala that he has “great concern” about the situation in Nicaragua and that there is no “cooperation” from the Managua government with his office.
The attendees, including hundreds of children, sang songs and applauded the speeches of Ortega and the guests, as well as the words of Murillo, who acted as the master of ceremonies.
Community meetings, events, and inaugurations of state facilities were held across the country for a week. Tributes were also paid at the graves of guerrillas who died in the fight against the Somoza dictatorship.
After leaving power, Somoza went into exile and settled in Asunción, where he was assassinated by a group of Argentine guerrillas in September 1980.
