Quotes by Daniel Ortega

“What we asked for were weapons so that we could defend ourselves -- thats what we asked of the Soviet Union, of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, of the Algerians, of the Vietnamese; and thats what we received so that we could arm the Nicaraguan people and defend ourselves in that war imposed on us by Ronald Reagans Administration over a number of years.”

“We grew up in a situation where we didnt know what freedom or justice were, and therefore we didnt know what democracy was.”

“My idol was Sandino, and also Christ. I was brought up a Christian, but I regarded Christ as a rebel, a revolutionary.”

“One has to bear in mind that during my childhood and adolescence, I suffered the repression of the Somoza dictatorship in every way: economically, socially, as well as at the hands of the police -- because if we went out on the street to play baseball, for example, the police would come and beat us up and put us in prison.”

“Of course, the kind of support that Cuba could give us was very limited when it came to building up our army, since they didnt manufacture armaments in the quantities that we required. So we turned to Algeria and the Soviet Union for support.”

“The people of Nicaragua were suffering oppression. This made us develop an awareness which eventually led us to commit ourselves to the struggle against the domination of the capitalists of our country in collusion with the U.S. government, i.e. imperialism.”

“During the meeting with President Carter, we proposed the development of a new kind of relationship with the United States.”

“We had explored the possibility of the French sending us Mirage, and the French were willing; and when this became known, the Americans reacted by announcing publicly that they would not allow those armaments to enter Nicaragua and that they would bomb the Nicaraguan ports.”

“Without the United States, there simply would not have been an armed uprising in our country.”

“The fact is that the United States is behind what has happened in Nicaragua, and what they did was to promote a confrontation between Nicaraguans.”

The people of Nicaragua were suffering oppression. This made us develop an awareness which eventually led us to commit ourselves to the struggle against the domination of the capitalists of our country in collusion with the U.S. government, i.e. imperialism.