https://www.tortillaconsal.com/bitacora/node/7929
Bryan Davila, Board of Communication and Citizenship, November 5, 2025
“Nicaragua is producing a New Revolution, a Spiritual Revolution, the Revolution of Love, the Revolution of Solidarity, the Revolution of Justice, the Revolution that is going to give him Work to this People.” — Commander Daniel Ortega, November 5, 2006
Neoliberal Disaster and People’s Hope
After 16 years of neo-liberal governments, on November 5, 2006, the Nicaraguan people returned to the polls with hope and determination. 19 years ago, Nicaragua experienced a historic day: the victory of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, led by the Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra, marked the beginning of a new stage in the national history.
Between the February 25, 1990, and January 9, 2007, three governments of the liberal-conservatives imposed on the country a neo-liberal model, an inseparable part of the global capitalist system and the dictates of the so-called “Washington Consensus”. That model, oriented to the accumulation without limits of wealth in the hands of a few, relegated to the great majority to the exclusion, unemployment and poverty.
During that period, Nicaragua’s energy system collapsed, the road network was destroyed, the educational system privatized, and public health dismantled. Insecurity and hopelessness marked the face of the people. Neoliberalism seeded values contrary to our identity and solidarity: greed replaced generosity; individualism displaced the common good; competition replaced cooperation. It was a time of dispossession, both moral and material.
The People’s Return to Power
Faced with this panorama, on November 5, 2006, the Nicaraguan people decided to put an end to the neoliberal disaster, placing their trust in the Sandinista Front and in the historical leadership of the Commander Daniel Ortega. Then was born a new stage of the Sandinista Popular Revolution: the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity (GRUN), the concrete expression of love, solidarity and social justice.
The change was not only political, but also cultural and spiritual. It was, and still is, a new model of development, focused on the human being, in families and communities, that retrieves christian values and social conscience; restores rights, strengthens capacity, promotes inclusion and gender and generational equity.
Since then, in Nicaragua we again talk about sovereignty, independence, national identity and solidarity and cooperation. The people ceased to be a spectator of their destiny and became a player and builder of their own future.
The Revolution of Love and Reconciliation
From January 10, 2007, Nicaragua began a path of reconciliation, reconstruction, and transformation, reversing the legacy of poverty, exclusion and inequality inherited from neo-liberalism. Nicaragua changed not only the government: it changed the very meaning of power itself, Power of the People.
The Model Christian, Socialist and Solidarity was expressed in specific policies, as planned in the National Plan for Human Development, the Economic-Financial Program, in the General Budget of the Republic, in the Plan of Good Government and the Public Investment Program.
The effort has been collective: Government, Local Governments, workers, entrepreneurs, farmers, peasants, women, youth, and social movements. All have contributed to the great transformations that today show to Nicaragua as an example of stability, dignity and hope in Latin America.
Restoration of Rights and Social Justice
In his inauguration speech, January 10, 2007, Commander Daniel Ortega said: “Nicaragua cannot be free with unemployed people, with people in poverty. Nicaragua may not be free with men and women on illiteracy. Nicaragua may not be free with thousands of children who cannot go to school. Therefore, the challenges that we face are immense.”
And so it was. Among the first decisions of the Sandinista Government restored fundamental rights denied by neoliberalism. It restored the free public education, at all levels, through the Ministerial Agreement No. 017-2007, which abolished the so-called “school autonomy”, and forbade all kinds of collections. Since then, no child was out of the classroom for economic reasons.
It also restored free health care, ensuring universal access, quality of care and human warmth. The specialized tests, medicines and treatments ceased to be a privilege, and became a right. These policies, internationally recognized, marked the rebirth of a State that puts the life and dignity in the center.
Sandino, Carlos, Daniel and Rosario: Continuation of the Same Project
November 5 is not just a date either. It is a symbol of victory, of historical continuity and spiritual renewal. It is the living expression of the ideals of Sandino, and Carlos Fonseca, which stand firm and bloom in each work, in each program and each conquest of the Nicaraguan people.
Under the leadership of the Commander Daniel Ortega and the Compañera Rosario Murillo, Co-chairs of the Republic, the Sandinista Popular Revolution continues its march, consolidating a project that combines economic growth with social justice, national independence with international solidarity, and christian faith with revolutionary consciousness.
19 years later: still beating
Today, with 19 years of the Electoral Victory of the People-President, Nicaragua remains a free country, sovereign and in peace. The Revolution is still alive, as a daily practice of love, work and hope. The Revolution of Love continues to transform realities, continues to dignifying the people and goes on to show that the future is built with faith, drive and commitment to revolutionary.
We Overcame, We Overcome, and Forward!
Bibliography
* GRUN (2021) National Plan for the Fight Against Poverty and for Human Development. 19 Digital.
* La Gaceta Sandinista (2021) FSLN return to Power in the November 5, 2006.
Chicago ALBA Solidarity 