Nicaraguan Miguel D’Escoto, President of the UN General Assembly, today paid tribute to the late Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, and to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

On the World Day of Social Justice, D’Escoto stated that one great hero with respect to social justice was Julius Nyerere who, he said, helped the whole of Africa to free itself from colonialism and establish a social and economic system in which human beings are at the center of any economic venture.

The Nicaraguan priest said that with respect to Fidel Castro, he is more than a hero, and is the closest thing we have to a saint in our anguished world, according to a report by the Prensa Latina agency.

During an event organized by the UN Social and Economic Council’s Commission for Social Development, D’Escoto emphasized that he is indebted to Fidel Castro, as is all of humanity, as a man who has devoted his life to tirelessly practicing and promoting solidarity with the oppressed peoples of the world.

D’Escoto, who was Nicaragua’s foreign minister during the first Sandinista administration, also referred to the emergence of new leaders such as Bolivian President Evo Morales.

In overcoming all manner of difficulties, Morales is guiding the indigenous peoples of Bolivia and the rest of the world towards the central role that rightly corresponds to them in our societies, he underlined.

D’Escoto maintained that it is impossible to achieve development, integration and social justice without peace, justice and respect for all human rights.

Translated by Granma International