Thu, 05/03/2012 - 10:00 — tortilla
toni solo, May 3rd 2012
Nicaraguans join together to mourn a national hero
On the night of May 2nd Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and a crowd of well over 100,000 people gathered in Managua's Plaza de la Fe to pay tribute to Tomas Borge who died on April 30th. Tomas Borge was the last surviving member of the group that founded the Sandinista Front for National Liberation over fifty years before. Borge has always been and remains a symbol of the Nicaraguan Revolution in Latin America and beyond.
President Ortega made a point of stressing Borge's famous exhortation to the triumphant Sandinista revolutionary forces in 1979 to avoid taking revenge on their former persecutors in Somoza's National Guard. A sign of Nicaragua's continuing process of national reconciliation was the presence along side President Ortega of Cardinal Obando y Bravo. The Cardinal gave a brief homily in honour of Tomas Borge before representatives of governments and political movements from across Latin America and the Caribbean. Daniel Ortega recalled that Cardenal Obando y Bravo had greeted both Tomas Borge and himself in the Plaza de la Revolución when the Sandinista forces celebrated their triumph on July 20th 1979.
For people outside Central America, it may be hard to understand why the death of Comandante Tomás Borge Martinez should be regarded as an event of such tremendous national and international importance. That fact itself illustrates the deep and widespread ignorance that exist about events in the region and in Latin America generally. Comandante Borge's death has revived in the minds of people throughout Nicaragua and the region the meaning of the overthrow of the odious, murderous Somoza dictatorship, at the time, the US government's most faithful regional ally.
Comandante Borge died on Monday night, April 30th 2012. Events planned for the following day, May Day, were mostly cancelled. Instead, the day was devoted almost entirely to render homage to the last surviving founder member of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) formed by Carlos Fonseca, Tomas Borge and a handful of other young revolutionaries in 1961. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans of every social class waited patiently in line all day May Day in Managua's Plaza de la Revolución for the chance to file past Comandante Borge in final farewell.
Former bitter enemies of the FSLN during the US government managed war in the 1980s, from Jaime Morales a senior Contra leader to grass roots fighters in various ex-Contra political parties, hailed Borge's decisive influence in modern Nicaragua. Led by the ALBA countries, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela , governments from across Latin America sent their condolences. Revolutionary movements from Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Panamá and other countries also paid homage to Borge's enormous influence throughout the region.
On May 2nd, during an extremely emotional solemn session of Nicaragua's National Assembly, Borge's fellow deputies from all parties paid their respects. Former Vice-President Jaime Morales gave truly eloquent and heartfelt testimony to the friendship he built up with Borge from the days when they faced each other as rival negotiators during the peace talks prior to the historic 1990 elections. Borge himself often remarked that those elections marked the first time in history that any revolutionary government that had taken power by force of arms relinquished it peacefully.
In the National Assembly, musician and composer Carlos Mejía Godoy paid homage to Borge who was a poet and writer as well as a leading revolutionary and politician. Borge's book “La paciente impaciencia” won the prestigious Casa de las Américas prize. The presence of Mejia Godoy, who ran against the FSLN in the 2006 national elections, symbolizes Comandante Borge's unifying cross-party stature and influence.
But it is within the ranks of the FSLN itself that Borge's death has had the deepest impact. Sandinista leaders like Rosario Murillo Secretary of Communications and Citizen's Power and leading member of the National Assembly Alba Palacios could not conceal their personal grief during public statements on Comandante Borge's death. National Assembly President, Rene Nuñez, a fellow prisoner with Borge under the Somoza dictatorship, stated clearly Tomás Borge's historical importance for the Sandinista movement.
When Borge was captured and imprisoned in the 1970s, he was held in solitary confinement hooded and handcuffed for 9 months. Somoza's torturers worked in vain to break his spirit. Rene Nuñez relates how even in the worst conditions and during prolonged hunger strikes, Comandante Borge always inspired confidence and faith by his example among his fellow prisoners. After the revolutionary triumph in 1979 as head of the Ministry of the Interior he founded the National Police and reformed the prison system.
In everything he did his commitment, personal humility and honesty in admitting mistakes won sympathy and support even from his political enemies. Over the last two days, the mass surge of emotional affirmation of Tomas Borge's life vindicates his revolutionary political legacy and further consolidates the legitimacy of Nicaragua's Sandinista Revolution. As Borge himself said of Carlos Fonseca, for Nicaragua and for Latin America, Comandante Tomas Borge is one of “those who have died but who will live forever.”
http://tortillaconsal.com/tortilla/node/11137
toni solo, May 3rd 2012
Nicaraguans join together to mourn a national hero
On the night of May 2nd Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and a crowd of well over 100,000 people gathered in Managua's Plaza de la Fe to pay tribute to Tomas Borge who died on April 30th. Tomas Borge was the last surviving member of the group that founded the Sandinista Front for National Liberation over fifty years before. Borge has always been and remains a symbol of the Nicaraguan Revolution in Latin America and beyond.
President Ortega made a point of stressing Borge's famous exhortation to the triumphant Sandinista revolutionary forces in 1979 to avoid taking revenge on their former persecutors in Somoza's National Guard. A sign of Nicaragua's continuing process of national reconciliation was the presence along side President Ortega of Cardinal Obando y Bravo. The Cardinal gave a brief homily in honour of Tomas Borge before representatives of governments and political movements from across Latin America and the Caribbean. Daniel Ortega recalled that Cardenal Obando y Bravo had greeted both Tomas Borge and himself in the Plaza de la Revolución when the Sandinista forces celebrated their triumph on July 20th 1979.
For people outside Central America, it may be hard to understand why the death of Comandante Tomás Borge Martinez should be regarded as an event of such tremendous national and international importance. That fact itself illustrates the deep and widespread ignorance that exist about events in the region and in Latin America generally. Comandante Borge's death has revived in the minds of people throughout Nicaragua and the region the meaning of the overthrow of the odious, murderous Somoza dictatorship, at the time, the US government's most faithful regional ally.
Comandante Borge died on Monday night, April 30th 2012. Events planned for the following day, May Day, were mostly cancelled. Instead, the day was devoted almost entirely to render homage to the last surviving founder member of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) formed by Carlos Fonseca, Tomas Borge and a handful of other young revolutionaries in 1961. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans of every social class waited patiently in line all day May Day in Managua's Plaza de la Revolución for the chance to file past Comandante Borge in final farewell.
Former bitter enemies of the FSLN during the US government managed war in the 1980s, from Jaime Morales a senior Contra leader to grass roots fighters in various ex-Contra political parties, hailed Borge's decisive influence in modern Nicaragua. Led by the ALBA countries, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela , governments from across Latin America sent their condolences. Revolutionary movements from Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Panamá and other countries also paid homage to Borge's enormous influence throughout the region.
On May 2nd, during an extremely emotional solemn session of Nicaragua's National Assembly, Borge's fellow deputies from all parties paid their respects. Former Vice-President Jaime Morales gave truly eloquent and heartfelt testimony to the friendship he built up with Borge from the days when they faced each other as rival negotiators during the peace talks prior to the historic 1990 elections. Borge himself often remarked that those elections marked the first time in history that any revolutionary government that had taken power by force of arms relinquished it peacefully.
In the National Assembly, musician and composer Carlos Mejía Godoy paid homage to Borge who was a poet and writer as well as a leading revolutionary and politician. Borge's book “La paciente impaciencia” won the prestigious Casa de las Américas prize. The presence of Mejia Godoy, who ran against the FSLN in the 2006 national elections, symbolizes Comandante Borge's unifying cross-party stature and influence.
But it is within the ranks of the FSLN itself that Borge's death has had the deepest impact. Sandinista leaders like Rosario Murillo Secretary of Communications and Citizen's Power and leading member of the National Assembly Alba Palacios could not conceal their personal grief during public statements on Comandante Borge's death. National Assembly President, Rene Nuñez, a fellow prisoner with Borge under the Somoza dictatorship, stated clearly Tomás Borge's historical importance for the Sandinista movement.
When Borge was captured and imprisoned in the 1970s, he was held in solitary confinement hooded and handcuffed for 9 months. Somoza's torturers worked in vain to break his spirit. Rene Nuñez relates how even in the worst conditions and during prolonged hunger strikes, Comandante Borge always inspired confidence and faith by his example among his fellow prisoners. After the revolutionary triumph in 1979 as head of the Ministry of the Interior he founded the National Police and reformed the prison system.
In everything he did his commitment, personal humility and honesty in admitting mistakes won sympathy and support even from his political enemies. Over the last two days, the mass surge of emotional affirmation of Tomas Borge's life vindicates his revolutionary political legacy and further consolidates the legitimacy of Nicaragua's Sandinista Revolution. As Borge himself said of Carlos Fonseca, for Nicaragua and for Latin America, Comandante Tomas Borge is one of “those who have died but who will live forever.”
http://tortillaconsal.com/tortilla/node/11137
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