TOMAS Borge died on the evening of this past April 30. He was 82 years of age and was the sole remaining survivor among the founders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

The sad news was communicated by Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Consejo de Comunicación Ciudadanía (Citizens’ Communication Council), who stated, "Tomás has concluded his revolutionary life in the service of the people, surrounded by family members at the moment of departing for immortality… At this time it is painful to paraphrase the words, but Tomás is among the dead who never die."

At an early age, Borge joined the struggle for Nicaragua’s independence and freedom, as opposed to it being governed for the benefit of and in the service of imperial interests, as were almost all the countries in the region at that time. Together with Carlos Fonseca Amador he founded the FSLN, an organization based on the ideas of the movement led by the Nicaraguan leader Augusto César Sandino.

His unyielding position resulted in his imprisonment in harsh conditions by the Somoza regime in 1975 and he was held in harsh conditions, in spite of demands for his liberation from different social sectors, particularly students. "If Tomás dies"… was the slogan written on the walls of León and other Nicaraguan cities from 1977-8 and faded versions can still be seen today. When the revolutionary forces took the National Congress on August 22, 1978 by, he regained his freedom and continued the struggle.

When the FSLN defeated the Somoza regime on July 19, 1979, Tomás became part of the new government and promoted important social changes in the country as a Comandante. During this stage he was minister of the Interior. But, as a man of great sensibility, in addition to the many tasks he undertook, he also wrote prose and poetry.

Some of his works achieved international recognition, including La paciente impaciente (Casa de las Américas Prize, 1989), La ceremonia esperada (Spain, 1990), and Un grano de maíz, born of his talks with the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, published in a number of countries.

Eleven years later, in the second Daniel Ortega mandate and through 2006, Borge was vice coordinator of the FSLN Executive Commission and occupied a seat in the Nicaraguan Parliament.

"What has he left us?" one of his compatriots asked and, among many other things, noted, "His perseverance in the struggle for a better and just society. An unwavering conviction in fighting against social injustice… his ideological firmness, because he never renounced Marxism as the philosophy for interpreting current society. His absolute confidence in human beings’ ability to transform the current world… His constant practice of solidarity…" And he recalls, "If Tomás dies… we can say that he is among the dead who never die," the legendary phrase of Colonel Nicolás Valle Salinas, spoken in prison in 1976 when he was shown the Novedades newspaper photo of the corpse of Carlos Fonseca Amador; a phrase taken up by Carlos Mejía Godoy in the anthem dedicated to the founder of the Sandinista National Liberation Front."