The brutal slavery perpetrated by Europe was once again denounced by the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, who on several occasions has upheld the resistance of the native peoples, who have permanently fought against domination and colonization.
The complaint filed by the Latin American leader was framed in the commemoration of the Great National Literacy Crusade, an educational epic recognized by UNESCO as the largest popular mobilization and participation of the 20th century, taken to the most remote areas of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua by the Sandinista Popular Revolution in 1980.
Ortega, referring to the English speech of different indigenous peoples, elaborated on the attacks to which they were subjected: «Just as they were slaves to all Europeans, those who were slaves to the English had to learn the language with a whip.»
In addition, the iconic Sandinista leader urged the world not to allow the repetition of any type of slavery practice against humanity.
Slavery: A brutality of those who call themselves the «fathers of civilization»
“They treated them like merchandise, like an object. They sold them! That cannot be forgotten, how the Europeans went to buy slaves in Africa, how they arrived at the markets where the families were, already captive by the slave traders, the families there, chained, and the merchants came to choose the merchandise”. Ortega stressed.
In this context, he continued his address, rebuking the slaveholders: «And there, the mother with the child, with the children, all slaves. And that European who was very cultured and very civilized, going to buy lives, and examine them, to see if they weren’t sick, if they didn’t have fractures; that is, a complete brutality, practiced by those who call themselves «the great fathers of civilization»»
The Nicaraguan head of state questioned the morality of the Europeans, stating: « “Fathers of civilization” buying human beings, and then putting them on ships where slaves transited from one continent to another, going from Africa to Europe, and from Europe to United States because there they needed a slave hand, and from the United States to the coasts of Africa to Europe, and from Europe to the Caribbean, where the islands were dominated by the British, by the French, by the Dutch.
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Likewise, Ortega, who has a long history of defending the self-determination of the peoples, expressed about the places to which the captives were transferred: “Yes, there the slaves, to work for whom? To the rich, to the rich Europeans who had appropriated those lands as well. And those people did not dream of reading, there they had no right to read, they had no right to learn, because if they were given knowledge then it was already giving them power. Millions of slaves were sacrificed by the so-called “civilizers” ».
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President Daniel Ortega emphasized the importance of education to denounce violations of humanity such as slavery. “Knowledge gives power to human beings: Power to communicate, power to learn about History, Science, Biology; to be able to know about humanity, civilizations, religions; to be able to know about slavery, to condemn it and denounce it where situations of slavery still occur”, he explained.
