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Nicaragua

Ortega: ‘People are winning democracy’

Continued from page 1

It is a war in which the Nicaraguan peo-
ple were in confrontation; it is an economic,
military and political war.

... The United States government told the
Nicaraguan people, if you vote for the
FSLN you are going to have war, if you
vote for the FSLN you’re not going to have
peace, you’re going to have an embargo.
However, if you vote for the other option
you won’t have the embargo or war.

So there were no elections carried out in
equal conditions. There were elections in
which the Nicaraguan people had to vote
with a barrel pointed to their heads, with a
barrel of the gun of United States military
aggression.

But we decided to accept this challenge
and go to the elections to (achieve) peace
and to win stability and to win democracy
that the Nicaraguan people had won on
July 19, 1979.

.. Obviously the Sandinista Front as a
political option fought with all of its
strength and all its organization capacity to
win these elections.

But the overall objective the Sandinista
Front was not just to win the elections as a
party but rather to accomplish that opening
of political space for all of the people of
Nicaragua. So that the great victory that the
Sandinista Front, the revolution and the
Nicaraguan people have is that by these
elections we are winning democracy for
Nicaragua.

..-The Sandinista Front is emerging out
of these elections as the strongest, largest
and the most organized party with 43 per
cent of the vote, now that the final count is
in. ...In spite of the threats, of the pressure,
the economic attrition and everything that
the Nicaraguans have suffered, we find that

43 percent of the population had an
extremely high level of consciousness to still

vote for the Sandinista Front.

But 30 per cent of the population decided
for the other option. This is not because
they wanted to see an end to the revolution,
but because they thought that that was the
option for peace with the United States. So
30 per cent out of desperation, anguish,
faced with threats, were not able to vote
freely.

Also the selection confirms what I had
said (concerning) the fact that in the
National Assembly, the Sandinista Front
has won 39 representatives which means
that our constitution cannot be reformed
without the Front. ,

Now we have left (those) who maybe did
vote for the various parties represented in
UNO (United Nicaraguan Opposition) but
those 30 per cent were not voting for UNO,
they were voting because they thought that
that was the means to find peace and stabil-
ity.

I feel satisfied with the overall results of
these elections even though the outcome
was adverse for the Sandinista Front. I am
happy with the result for the Nicaraguan
people.

Now I hope that the U.S. government
will respect Nicaragua and will demobilize
the contras and will not try to dismantle the
people’s power that has been established for
Nicaragua, that the revolution has given the
Nicaraguan people.

By this I am referring to the greatest
conquests and accomplishments of the
revolution which are included in our great
document, the constitution. This has to do
with all the social and economic reforms
that have come out — agrarian reform, the
nationalization of the mines, the nationali-
zation of trade and the banking industry,
and all of the civil liberties that have been
given to the people under the revolution:
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly.

This has to do with the existence of the
Sandinista people’s army, with the ministry
of the interior that guarantees defence of the
nation and the security of’ all its citizens.
And which in fact enabled us to carry out a

8 e Pacific Tebune. March 12, 1990

free and clean electoral process.

This is the first time in Nicaragua’s his-
tory that we have had a Ministry of the
Interior, a police force and an army that are
there for building democracy and to defend
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
our nation, and not to kill or repress our
population. They are there to defend the
gains of the revolution which are embodied
in the constitution.

The right to education, the right to artis-
tic development without any restrictions,
the right to health care, the right to organize
labour — to have trade unions, all of these
are the tremendous conquests of the revolu-
tion and they must be respected. So we can
reaffirm democracy, so we can further
enrich all these processes that have been
brought about by the revolution.

This is what we have to preserve now
when we start to govern from below —
because now we are going to be governing
from below in order to preserve this basis of
democracy that we have built.

And we must also do this counting on the
support of the international community —
the governments who have favoured demo-
cracy and peace in Nicaragua, but also with
all of the peoples of the world, with the
peoples who have given us their solidarity
and who have been closely linked with the
struggle for freedom and democracy in
Nicaragua.

...Now more than ever before we Nica-
raguan people are united. We, the members
of the Sandinista Front, are united and we
are happy that we will count on the solidar-
ity of our brothers and sisters throughout
the world so that we can be sure that these
conquests of the revolution will be irreversi-
ble.

...Now more than ever before interna-
tional solidarity must multiply itself so that
the Nicaraguan people can defend all of
these conquests, so that the forces that
would like to put an end to the Nicaraguan
revolution will not be able to do so, so that
to the contrary we will strengthen and
further the accomplishments we have made
throughout these years of revolution.

I understand that in some places it has
been difficult and still remains difficult to
assimilate what this electoral process was.
But we must assume it as a challenge for
these people who have struggled so long,
who have given up lives, who have made so
many sacrifices for these people of Nicara-
gua.

...We must understand this just like
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross on Good Fri-
day, and then remember that later there was

RIBUNE PHOTOS — DAN KEETON

a resurrection. I feel that the Sandinista
Front and those 43 per cent of the popula-
tion that voted for us to strengthen demo-
cracy have had terrible sacrifices in their
quest for democracy and stability. That was
their cross and now they are headed
towards resurrection. The people are
headed to a resurrection and they are full of
life, hope and love.

On the 26th of February in the early
hours of the morning when I gave my mes-
sage to the Nicaraguan people on radio and
television, it was another anniversary of the
death of my brother, Camilo.

Camilo died on Feb. 26, 1978 fighting
against the Somoza dictatorship in. . .Ma-
saya. And it seemed a bit ironic that there
on the anniversary of Camilo’s death I was
standing recognizing and accepting an
adverse electoral outcome for the Sandi-
nista Front.

But the truth is, that adverse election out-
come for the Front was much like Camilo’s
sacrifice, because we had to go through his
death in 1978 in order to reach the triumph
in 1979 — just as.we lost so many Nicara-
guan lives.

So by the same token on Feb. 25 the
FSLN put itself to the test in a desire to win
that peace and stability that the Nicaraguan
people need so much, so that they would
not suffer any more. And so that they could
enjoy the right to life for all Nicaraguans.

.. 1am convinced that the vote of Feb. 25
and that day on the 26th, when I was
remembering the anniversary of Camilo’s
death, ...was just one more test, one more
proof of the fact that it was an FSLN vic-
tory. So brothers and sisters of international
solidarity, peoples of the world who are
with us with your hearts and your conscien-
ces, we continue to go forward with the
Sandinista Front. This has been one more
battle but it is not adverse — it is a victory
for all of us. And I want you to know that
we are continuing to go forward and make
progress with the Sandinista Front.

...We will continue to work here and we
know that you will continue to work
from whatever trench the struggle places
you in, to preserve the gains of the revolu-
tion. We will continue to work so that the
gains of the revolution will be irreversible
and so that the contras demobilize before
April 25.

We will work so that nobody comes here
with vengeance but instead there will be

TOP: Nicaraguan president Daniel
Ortega; BOTTOM: Young Sandinista
supporters.

reconciliation. We will work with the Nica-
raguan people and we know that we will
have the support of peoples around the
world.

We will also defend your participation
here — your participation to help us bring
about peace, justice, freedom and demo-
cracy. And to come to Nicaragua to be with
us at the grassroots level if you wish to. We
will defend the ability to dream, to hope and
to aspire to a better future.

... hank you, brothers and sisters and I
know that we will still be able to work
together in governing from below. And I
say that we will be defending these gains
from below and we know that you will do it
alongside us. These gains are sovereignty,
independence, the right to life for the Nica-
raguan people, defending international law.
Now is the time when we as men and
women are put to the test and so is the
solidarity movement. We must show that
we have greater consciences and commit-
ment and we must do so for humanity. |

So we will continue to work together. I.
would just like to sign off by telling you a
phrase that you are very familiar with in the
struggle “Hasta la victoria siempre — To
victory always.”