10.22.2024: Nicaragua Breaks Relations with Israel; Solidarity Statement to European Nicaragua conference
Message of the Nicaragua Government to the 11th Meeting of European Solidarity with the Sandinista People's Revolution “We express our respect to you who remain firm, with strength and the unwavering will to continue fighting, from within, for your own rights and outwards for the rights of the peoples of the world. Speaking and acting in solidarity, in these times, has very special characteristics. Today we pay tribute to brothers Berndt Koberstein and Tonio Pflaum who came to our land, driven by the idea of building a more just world and who gave their lives for those ideas. We also remember our brother Jacinto Suarez, who fought from almost childhood for the liberation and the revolution in Nicaragua. I think Berndt's words, a month before his death on July 28, 1986, are appropriate: "This is the most beautiful work I have ever done in my life... You know, the many deaths that imperialism has caused in this and other countries are not its only crime; the millions of dreams that it destroys, the many millions who are condemned to live in misery or who are already born into it, without being able to escape from it; that is a much greater crime."
Shortly before turning thirty, this German trade unionist brother, this internationalist dreamer, who collaborated with the Sandinista Popular Revolution on a project to supply drinking water in Wiwilí, Jinotega, was murdered by the Contras in Zompopera…
Let us think for a moment if Tonio and Berndt could see the great advances that began in the first stage of the Revolution and that we are continuing and consolidating in this Second Stage of the Revolution. Let us imagine them there standing on that majestic bridge over the Coco River in Wiwilí or traveling, without any obstacles, along the paved roads in that area. Let us imagine them seeing the dozens or hundreds of healthcare centers, maternity homes, hospitals, drinking water projects, electrification, schools that have sprung up with the Revolution in the most remote communities of our country.
In these difficult and confusing times, you either assume the oligarchic, elitist, exclusionary and racist thinking, which does whatever it takes to maintain its privileges and power, including allying itself with and being facilitators, enablers of Yankee and European imperialist intervention and interference. Capable of murdering the people and destroying their achievements, for their petty interests.
Or you accompany the Popular Movement, which inherits the best of the struggle of our people. Which in the midst of all the difficulties imposed has managed to forge a path to build well-being and defend rights.
Video Short from Attendees at the 11th European Solidarity Meeting: Coleen Littlejohn, a member of the coordinating committee of Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition, attended this meeting in Germany, October 18-20. She has shared this video short, a recording of one of the three working groups, Challenges for the Future. (Coleen is in the back row, third from left.)
Nicaragua National Assembly Deputy Wilfredo Navarro Address condemning the genocide against the people of Palestine We Nicaraguans who have suffered firsthand aggressions, invasions, the presence of the invaders boot on our territory. Who have suffered for years also the barbarism of intervention and the laceration of our nation, we feel the Palestinian cause as our own. It hurts us how children are murdered, women, the elderly along with men. We feel how mercilessly they are persecuted, imprisoned, mocked and condemned in their nation, in their own land, by the genocidal invading Israeli army.
We cannot but also denounce and condemn the support and complicity of US imperialism and the European Union that sponsor and supply arms to those who murder the Gazan people. They protect and defend the Israeli army… Imperialism and the European Union are also responsible for this genocide and barbarism against the Palestinian people and will have to be made accountable to history for their crimes and complicities.
Much is hidden about what is happening in Palestine because as the Western governments control the media they cover up the cruelty, brutality and criminality of the invading army and the Palestinian suffering and destruction. Palestinians are dying in the streets, they are dying on the roads, but there are no medicines and there is no medical care. 11,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in the West Bank, I'm not talking about Gaza I'm talking about the West Bank and those prisoners include thousands of women and almost a thousand children.
80% of the schools in Gaza are destroyed, 800,000 children are deprived of their right to attend school for a second year. 11000 students have been killed and 17000 injured. 700,000 children suffer serious psychological effects.
The Zionists have received 53,000 tons of weapons and equipment from the U.S., including missiles and 2,000-pound bombs. Palestinian families today have no water, no electricity, no food, no medicine, no houses and live in tents. The Israelis have destroyed streets, roads, buildings, hospitals, ambulances, health centers, schools, universities, homes, buildings, and so on and on. They destroy everything that might serve for the survival of the people. An utterly macabre fact is that in almost a year the Zionists have murdered more than 3000 children under the age of 2.
Daniel Ortega: The Nicaraguan Army, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police, all are Continuations of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, such that defending Peace is defending National Sovereignty Daniel first discusses the murder of Sandino… The police today “are guaranteeing Peace, that is the great objective of the Institutions that were born with the Revolution, the Institutions that are no more nor less than the continuity of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty. The Nicaraguan Army, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police, all are Continuations of the Army in Defense of National Sovereignty, such that defending Peace is defending National Sovereignty; defending Justice is defending National Sovereignty; defending the Right to Education and Health is defending National Sovereignty. And in the Struggles we are waging in these Times, as we explained yesterday, to eradicate Poverty, to improve the living conditions of our People, Education, Health, Housing, etc., in all these Struggles the Army, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police, the different Directorates of the Ministry of the Interior, our Firefighters too play a fundamental role.”
Naked Capitalism: Nicaragua Severs Ties With Tel Aviv While Germany Creates “Genocide Clause” to Justify Sending More Arms to Israel On Oct 11, the Ortega government announced that it will break diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming only the fourth country to do since the Gaza offensive began just over a year ago. On the same day, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted that Germany would soon be supplying Israel with more weapons, after a sharp fall in deliveries this year prompted accusations that the German government had been “spooked” by the looming threat of legal action — including Nicaragua’s ICJ accusations of complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza. Lest we forget, Germany has steadfastly denied that Israel has committed any acts of genocide in Gaza.
Of the 165 countries that recognize Israel, only four have officially cut diplomatic ties with the country since it began its Gaza offensive, according to Wikipedia. All of them are in Latin America: Bolivia, Belize, Colombia and now Nicaragua (Venezuela severed its ties with Israel in 2009 while Cuba broke off relations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973).
Resumen Latinoamericano: Nicaragua Breaks all Ties with Israel: “It is a Genocidal System” National Assembly resolution: “Considering the Resolution unanimously approved by the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua, on this date, Friday, October 11th, 2024, condemning the continued Genocide, Cruelty, Extreme Hatred and Extermination carried out by the Government of Israel, and reiterating the demand for compliance with all United Nations Resolutions, for the creation of the State of Palestine, as a Free, Sovereign, Independent and Self-Determined State. We condemn once again this Genocide, the Occupation and the permanent aggression against the Life and Dignity of the People of Palestine, which is now expanding against the People of Lebanon, and seriously threatening Syria, Yemen and Iran, endangering the Peace and Security of the Region and the World….In Permanent Solidarity with the People and Government of Palestine, with the Peoples who suffer Martyrdom, Destruction and Barbarism and in strict adherence to International Law and the Conventions that govern civilized relations between States and Governments of the World, the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua breaks all Diplomatic Relations with the Fascist Government of Israel.
Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition webinar video: Attempted Coups in Venezuela & Honduras: Their Meaning for Nicaragua & Beyond Venezuela suffered an attempted US-backed coup over the July 28 presidential election; the violence was quickly ended, but US coup operations continue... In Honduras, President Xiomara Castro terminated the extradition treaty with the US over allegations of “narco-trafficking,” which the US planned to use against Honduran leaders. Featured speakers: Dr. Francisco Dominguez, National Secretary Venezuela Solidarity Campaign UK; Adrienne Pine, board member of Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), author of Sobrevivir Honduras.
Events
November 11: Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly zoom meeting, 2:30 PM ET. Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com in advance to request Zoom access.
November 17 Nicaragua Webinar: The Friends of ATC is the solidarity network in Nicaragua of the Rural Workers Association (Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo, ATC). This webinar describes how the network was formed and its focus on solidarity with Nicaragua and the Sandinista Popular Revolution. Speakers will share first-hand accounts of the profound changes that have taken place in the countryside in the past 45 years. Today, Nicaragua is 90% self-sufficient in food, mainly grown by small farmers who received land during the 1980s agrarian reform, who are supported today by government programs focused on the popular economy. Testimonies of visitors to Nicaragua with Friends of ATC will share how this beautiful country is on the cutting edge of a new world based upon social justice and respect for Mother Earth. Speakers: Ari Gutman, Michelle Munjanattu, others TBA. Register at bit.ly/NicaNov17
Delegations
Casa Ben Linder 2024 Delegations to Nicaragua:
Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
November 8-17 2024: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
February 2025: The Bird Brigade: Birding in Solentiname Archipelago
March 2025: Power & Protagonism: Women in Nicaragua
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