LINKS

More than half a million Nicaraguans celebrated the 31st anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution on Monday, with an impressive and jubilant rally at a square in Managua.

The ceremony exceeded all expectations and, despite the rain threats, supporters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) from the capital and other Nicaraguan regions attended en masse the Plaza La Fe, in Managua, from early in the morning, reported Prensa Latina.

The climax of the ceremony was an almost three-hour speech by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdés, Abkhazian President Serguei Bagapash, and South Ossetia’s President Eduard Kokiti also spoke to the jubilant crowd.

In his message for the 31st anniversary, Ramiro Valdés congratulated the Nicaraguan people, on behalf of the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro and Cuban President Raúl Castro. In addition, Valdés paid tribute to the memory of FSLN founder Carlos Fonseca and spoke about Cuba’s active solidarity with Nicaragua in all fields.

In his three-hour speech, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega spoke about the results achieved during the second phase of the Sandinista government, which began in January 2007; the millions of titles deeds granted in this period; and the restitution of community property over their ancestral lands to the native population of Nicaragua’s Caribbean regions.

Ortega also spoke about the efforts carried out to increase power generation which, with the support of Cuban and Venezuela, allowed eliminating blackouts and described Nicaragua’s incorporation to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as a strategic victory.

During the great popular celebration, Ortega called on the Nicaraguan people to decide, in the 2011 elections, whether they want the FSLN to continue ruling.