Viaje al Exterior

Nicaragua, 1980

July 18, 1980
•    Message sent from the airplane to the Cuban pioneers on the occasion of the celebration of Children’s Day.
 
Managua
 
•    Arrival at ‘Augusto Cesar Sandino’ international airport.
 
Masaya
 
•    Visit to the ‘Santiago’ volcano, at Masaya’s National Park.
•    Visit to the ruins of the old National Guard garrison.  Fidel exchanged with local citizens.
•    Visit to the Monimbo neighborhood housing project.  Fidel talked to local citizens.
•    Visit to the monument in honor of the internationalist pilot Carlos Ulloa Arauz, who died in the Playa Giron combat.  Fidel talked to Arauz’s son.
•    Visit to the house where the Commander of the Sandinista Revolution, Camilo Ortega Saavedra, lived and was assassinated.  Fidel talked to the current tenants.
•    Conversation held with Angela Escorcia, the owner of a furniture store.
•    Fidel exchanged views with some farmers down the highway from Managua to Masaya.
•    Fraternal encounter with Hortensia Bussi, Salvador Allende’s widow, by the roadside.
•    Exchange of views with the Cuban delegation.
 
Managua
 
•    Conversation held with social-democratic representatives and Sandinista leaders: Carlos Andres Perez, Pierre Schori, Maurice Bishop, Felipe Gonzalez, Peña Gomez, Consalvi, Carvajal, Sergio Ramirez, Humberto Ortega, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez and Piñeiro.
•    Conversation with the US Ambassador Lawrence Pezullo during a reception offered by the Government Junta to all delegations.
 
July 19
•    Speech delivered at a mass rally in the ‘July 19th’ square on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution.
 
July 20
•    Visit to the areas destroyed by the earthquake.
•    Visit to the Bunker, the fortification that Somoza ordered to build to install his command post there.
•    Visit to the Tiscapa hill, where Augusto Cesar Sandino was captured and assassinated.
•    Conversation held with the Cuban medical brigade at the end of a luncheon offered by the National Reconstruction Government Junta to all delegations.
•    Fidel attended the screening of a documentary film portraying real scenes shot during the liberation war, at the Tetel movie theatre.
•    Visit to the exhibition ‘First Anniversary of the Sandinista People’s Revolution, at the Ministry of the Interior
 
Leon
 
July 21
•    Conversation held with the Vice-minister of Agriculture at the ‘Arcos de Leon’ estate.
•    Conversation held at the Acosaco Fortress, in the outskirts of Leon.
•    Visit to the cathedral and park of the city of Leon.  Words addressed to the journalists on his way out from the church where Ruben Dario’s grave lies.
•    Conversation held with Magnus Berbis, at the house used to conceal weapons during the Sandinista Revolution.
•    Visit to Ruben Dario’s museum-house.
•    Conversation held with workers during a visit to the ‘Rancho Telica’ country-restaurant.
 
Esteli
 
•    Speech delivered at a popular rally in the city of Esteli.
•    Conversation held with the Cuban medical brigade.
•    Visit to the cigar factory ‘Nicaragua Cigars’.
 
Matagalpa
 
•    Visit to the house where Carlos Fonseca Amador was born and lived.
•    Speech delivered at a popular rally in the church’s park.
•    Dialogue with the priest of the church.
•    Visit to the house where the Cuban medical brigade stayed.
•    Visit to the Osososca lagoon in an old crater of a volcano. Fidel talked with local citizens.
 
Bluefields
 
July 22
 
•    Visit to the city of Bluefields.
•    Visit to a shrimp and fish processing factory.
•    Visit to the village hospital where a group of Cuban doctors worked.
 
Peñas Blancas  
 
July 23
•    Visit to the South Front.
•    Visit to the place where the Front’s command post was installed -at a store’s basement.
•     Conversation held with Costa Rican border guards and other officials of the Costa Rican delegation at the boundary strip between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
•    Conversation held with Brigade Commander Eden Pastora.
•    Visit to an improvised combatants’ cemetery.
•    Conversation held with Brigade Commander Eden Pastora across the ‘Trailer Park’ motel.
 
San Juan del Sur
 
•    Conversation held with a fisherman during a visit to the ‘San Juan del Sur’ port.
•    Visit to Production Compound No. 3 of INRA’s ‘San Alejandro’ State Agricultural Production Unit.
•    Conversation held with the workers of Production Compound No. 3 of INRA’s ‘San Alejandro’ State Agricultural Production Unit.
 
Rivas
 
•    Visit to the city of Rivas. Mass welcome at the ‘Carlos Fonseca Amador’ square.
•    Visit to the ‘Gaspar Garcia Laviana’ hospital.
•    Visit to the house where Cuban doctors lived.
 
Granada
 
•    Tour around the Granada islets on board of the ‘Rio Rama’ yacht, across the Nicaragua Lake.
•    Fidel attended a performance  of the ‘Irene Lopez’ Ballet
•    Improvised speech delivered at a park in Granada from the roof of a car.
 
Masaya
 
July 24
•    Conversation held with a group of trade union leaders at the auditorium of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua.
•    Conversation held with representatives of the Catholic clergy.
 
July 25
•    Interview offered to Nicaraguan journalists on board of the plane on his way back to Havana.