To the Nicaraguans, to the Central Americans, to the Indo-Hispanic Race:

The man who doesn't ask his country for even a handful of earth for his grave deserves to be heard, and not only to be heard, but also to be believed.

I am a Nicaraguan and I am proud because in my veins flows above all the blood of the Indian race, which by some atavism encompasses the mystery of being patriotic, loyal, and sincere.

The bond of nationality give me the right to assume responsibility for my acts, without being concerned that pessimists and cowards may brand me with a name that, in their own condition as eunuchs, would be more appropriately applied to them.

I am a mechanic, but my idealism is based upon a broad horizon of internationalism, which represents the right to be free and to establish justice, even though to achieve this it may be necessary to establish it upon a foundation of blood. The oligarchs, or rather, the swamp geese, will say the I am a plebeian, but it doesn't matter. My greatest honor is that I come from the lap of the oppressed, the soul and spirit of our race, those who have lived ignored and forgotten, at the mercy of the shameless hired assassins who have committed the crime of high treason, forgetful of the pain and misery of the Liberal cause that they pitilessly persecuted, as if we did not belong to the same nation.

Sixteen years ago Adolfo Díaz and Emiliano Chamorro ceased to be Nicaraguans. Ambition killed their right to their nationality because they ripped from its staff our country's flag, the symbol that envelops all Nicaraguans. Today that flag flies limply and in shame because of the ingratitude and indifference of its sons, who do not made a superhuman effort to free it at once from the claws of the enormous eagle with its curved beak bloody with the blood of Nicaraguans. Meanwhile in the Campo de Marte military base that flag that murders weak nations now waves, the enemy of our race and of our language.

Who bound our Fatherland to this pillar of infamy? Díaz and Chamorro. And those mercenaries still demand the right to rule over us as oligarchs, supported by the invader's Springfields.

No. A thousand time no.

For myself and for my companions in arms who have not betrayed the Liberal revolution, who have not faltered and who have not sold our weapons to satisfy our own ambition, the revolution continues, and today more than ever before it is powerful because only those who have displayed the valor and self-denial that every Liberal should possess remain involved in it.

If, sadly, Moncada failed in his duties as a soldier and patriot, it was not because most of the Liberal army leaders were illiterates and because of this he could impose his boundless ambition like some emperor.

In the Liberal ranks there are men of conscience who understand the duties that a soldier's rectitude imposes upon him, such as the nation's honor, it being understood that the Army is the foundation upon which the nation rests, for which reason it cannot personalize its acts without violating its basic responsibilities. I judge Moncada before history and before the Fatherland as a deserter from our ranks, with the added aggravation of having gone over to the enemy.

Nobody gave him the authority to abandon the ranks of the revolution to make secret agreements with enemy, and this is especially true of the invaders of the Fatherland. His high position obliged him to die like a man before accepting his country's humiliation, the humiliation of his party, and of his coreligionists.

An unpardonable crime demanding revenge!

Pessimists will say that we are very small to undertake a task of this magnitude, but I am convinced that, however insignificant we may be, our pride and patriotism are very great. For that very reason, before the Fatherland and before history, I swear that my sword will defend the national honor and redeem the oppressed.

I accept the challenge of the dastardly invader and the nation's traitors. Our breasts will be ramparts against which their hordes will shatter themselves, because I am firmly convinced that when they have killed the last of my soldiers, more than a battalion of their own men will have died in my wild mountains. I will not be like Mary Magdalene, who implored her enemies' pardon on her knees, because I believe that no one is this land has the right to be a human demigod.

I hope to convince my compatriots, the Central Americans, and the Indo-Hispanic race that in the mountains of the Andean Cordillera there exists a group of patriots who will know how to die like men, in open battle, in defense of their national honor.

Come, morphine addicts, come and kill us in our own land. I await you before my patriotic soldiers, feet firmly set, not worried about how many of you there may be. But keep in mind that when this happens the Capitol Building in Washington will shake with the destruction of your greatness, and our blood will redden the white doom of your famous White House, the cavern where you concoct your crimes.

I wish to assure the governments of Central America, especially that of Honduras, that my attitude should not cause them concern. They should not think that, because my forces possess more than enough strength to invade their territory, I would do so with the intention of overthrowing them. No. I am not a mercenary, but rather a patriot who does not allow outrageous assaults upon our sovereignty.

Since nature has granted our country enviable riches and has placed us at the crossroads of the world, and since it is that same natural advantage that has made our land coveted to the point that our enemies would even enslave us, I would like to sever the ties to which the sinister Chamorro movement has bound us.

Our your country, this dark beauty of the tropics, should ear on her head the Phrygian cap of liberty bearing the magnificent slogan symbolized by our red and black flag. She should not be a victim violated by the Yankee adventurers who were invited here by the four horrid individuals who still claim to have been born in this land.

The world would be an unbalanced place if it allowed the United States of America to rule alone over our canal, because this would mean placing us at the mercy of the Colossus of the North, forcing us into a dependent and tributary role to persons of bad faith who would be our masters without justifying such pretensions in any way.

Civilization requires that a Nicaraguan canal be built, but that it be done with capital from the whole world, and not exclusively from the United States. At least half of the cost of the construction should be financed with capital from Latin America, and the other half from other countries of the world that may want to hold stock in this enterprise, but the share of the United States should be limited to the three million dollars that they paid tot he traitors Chamorro, Díaz, and Cuadra Pasos. And Nicaragua, my Fatherland, will then receive the taxes that by right and be law belong to it, and we will then have income enough to crisscross our whole territory with railroads and to educate our people in a true environment of effective democracy. Thus we will be respected and not looked upon with the bloody scorn we suffer today.

Fellow citizens:

Having expressed my ardent desire to defend my country, I welcome you to my ranks without regard to your political tendencies, with the one condition that you come with good intentions to defend our nation's honor. Because keep in mind that you can fool all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

San Albino Mine, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, Central America, July 1, 1927.

Patria y Libertad

AUGUSTO CÉSAR SANDINO