11.5.2024: Nicaragua statements on Palestine, Cuba Blockade; Daniel Ortega speech
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega: “We have to engage the struggle, give battle, to put an end to the genocide being committed against the Palestinian People” The People of Israel did not give the order to start bombing the Palestinian People. Rather it has been the ones who are in power in Israel, who are nothing but representatives of the Imperialists of the Earth, both of the United States and of Europe, all Imperialists, together now in NATO. It is amazing how at the head of the Government of Israel there is a Prime Minister who is the son of the devil. Why? Because he is carrying out a policy of terror in practice, and he is a Hitler. Yes, the Prime Minister of Israel is a Hitler, installed there, calling for the destruction of Peoples, just as the person who presides over Ukraine is another Nazi, another son of Hitler, wanting to commit NATO to a war against the Russian Federation.
We can see how people’s lives and World Peace are being toyed with, what the American Rulers are doing, using Israel, arming Israel, what the American ruling élites are doing together with the European ruling elites; these Empires have joined together thinking that in this way they will be able to defeat the Peoples, but they do not realize that, in the end, they are either leading the Planet to total war, or they simply have no alternative except to await their defeat.
I remember that I went to talk to Comandante Fidel [during the Contra war], I told him the situation is really critical, because they are blocking the entry of oil to us. And Comandante Fidel told me: We’ll do the following: We’ll talk to the Leaders of the Socialist Countries… I’ll propose that each of us put a quota of oil, and first of all I am going to discuss this with Russia. So Comandante Fidel did so, and the answer came, the response came from this Community of Countries who decided to maintain our oil supply….
All [our free education,free health care, and housing policy] follows the policy of attacking Extreme Poverty and Poverty, because housing is a Human Right that cannot be denied to anyone, and as long as we still have Families in conditions of Extreme Poverty, living on the banks of the waterways, or in shacks, with plastic or bits of tin for a roof, we are not going to be satisfied. Rather, we are ashamed and it hurts us, and we have to keep striving until every Family in Nicaragua has Decent Housing, has Decent Living Conditions, has Decent Work, and then we can say that now we can all live here in Peace, when we all have Decent Conditions.
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke : “The BRICS break the hegemonic logic imposed by the global north” The BRICS represent a huge opportunity to break with Western unipolarity by paving the way for the emergence of a new world order, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke, whose country applied to join the group in April this year, told Sputnik exclusively. He also discussed relations with Russia, China, and the Israeli mass murder in Palestine.
John Perry: Latin American governments pay a price for challenging Israel’s genocidal war Of the 165 countries that recognize Israel, only four have officially cut diplomatic ties with the country since it began its Gaza offensive, and all of them are Latin American: Bolivia, Belize, Colombia and Nicaragua (Venezuela severed its ties with Israel in 2009 while Cuba broke off relations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973). A further eight countries have withdrawn their diplomats from Tel Aviv since October 7, 2023, of which Chile, Brazil, and Honduras are from Latin America.
Israel has often acted as a surrogate for Washington when the U.S. doesn’t want to “get its hands dirty”. In Nicaragua, it supplied arms to the “Contra” forces that attempted to overthrow the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s. In Honduras, it helped prevent President Mel Zelaya from returning to power after he was ousted in the 2009 coup.
Four days after Ortega’s speech [above], the Israeli consul in neighboring Costa Rica, Amir Rockman, gave an interview in which he claimed that “Iranian interests and, in particular, those of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, are installed in Nicaragua.”
He further claimed that “radical Iranian forces and terror groups operate freely” in Nicaragua, although he was not asked for, nor did he provide, any evidence. Mijal Gur-Aryeh, Israel’s ambassador in Costa Rica, told La Prensa that “Nicaragua had been converted into a platform for terrorism in the region.” A few days later she added that Hezbollah had “bases” in Venezuela and Bolivia as well as Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government rejected Israel’s allegations on October 21 [below]. While there is, as of yet, no evidence that Israel’s claims have resonance in Washington, if Nicaragua were to be designated a “state sponsor of terrorism” (SSoT) the effects could be very serious.
Nicaragua Government Statement in UN in Response to Israeli diplomats’ claim it has Terrorist Bases Referring to recent statements by the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Costa Rica and the Israeli Consul. In these statements, these Israeli officials affirm that there is now a terrorist base in Nicaragua which is being used as a platform for terrorism in the region. In this regard, Nicaragua rejects such statements, which aim to divert attention from the genocide being carried out by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian territories, its flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, as well as its systematic crimes against humanity and war crimes that are the result of a policy of State terrorism.
Nicaraguan Government Statement in UN debate on the US blockade of Cuba
13. In addition to massively and flagrantly violating the basic human rights of the Cuban people, the United States demonstrates total contempt, violating the right to life, health, food, education, including the right to development and the right to self-determination. We are clearly facing an international crime against the Cuban people.
14. In Cuba, in the spirit of Fidel, his people are resisting today more than ever and bravely overcoming the most brutal blockade of all time. Few countries in the world would, as Cuba has done, be able to face such a ruthless, asymmetric and prolonged aggression, to destabilize and cause pain and suffering in the daily life of the Cuban people.
15. Year after year, the international community has declared unjustifiable what the United States tries to justify in order to subdue a People that will never surrender, a People with the combative will and absolute firmness, who have defended with dignity their sovereignty, their Revolution, their Socialism, an example of solidarity and nobility of our Latin America and Caribbean and the world.
Nicaraguan Government Statement in International meeting on Palestine
5. We are not here to talk about a solution for refugees; we are here to talk about them returning to their nation. Therefore, we should talk about return, and not about a solution, since deporting and killing them is considered a solution, and therefore the term return should be used instead of solution. Our purpose should be to ensure the return of refugees to their nation, and not to look for other terms to hide the true objective.
6. In the face of the crimes against humanity that the whole world has witnessed and continues to witness, silence must be interpreted as a form of complicity. But not only is silence complicity, Nicaragua denounces and condemns the governments that continue to finance this genocide, those enabling countries that every day decide to deliver more and more weapons so that the Palestinian People continue to be killed.
13. To remain silent and look the other way in the face of these massacres is in itself a crime. What are we waiting for? Are the thousands of victims of children, women and men and almost one and a half million displaced people not enough to defend justice and put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people? Does it take more pain for us to wake up? It is time to express our unequivocal support for a Palestinian state. To continue in silence would be a disgrace before God and humanity.
Events
November 11: Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly zoom meeting, 2:30 PM ET. Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com in advance to request Zoom access.
November 15-17: National Network on Cuba Annual Meeting
November 17 webinar: Building solidarity with the Nicaraguan Revolution: the Friends of ATC network: 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. Today, Nicaragua is over 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. Speakers: Ari Gutman, Michelle Munjanattu.
January 28-31: Havana, Cuba: VI International Conference For World Balance This conference cultivates partnerships and formulates actionable strategies to propel us towards a more equitable and just global community. Organized by the Office of the Martí Program and co-sponsored by UNESCO and Soka Gakkai International.
February 8, London: Latin America Conference This will be the 19th annual Latin America Adelante! Conference
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
Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition: nicasolidarity.com
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