This link has been bookmarked by 15 people . It was first bookmarked on 03 May 2008, by sc.
-
02 Feb 14
-
17 Jul 13
-
The Sandinistas, supported by large parts of the populace, clergy of the Catholic Church, and regional governments (including Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela), took power in July 1979. The Carter administration, refusing to act unilaterally, decided to work with the new government, while attaching a provision for aid forfeiture if it was found to be assisting insurgencies in neighboring countries.[48] A group of prominent citizens known as Los Doce, "the Twelve", denounced the Somoza regime and said that "there can be no dialogue with Somoza ... because he is the principal obstacle to all rational understanding ... through the long dark history of Somocismo, dialogues with the dictatorship have only served to strengthen it", Somoza fled the country and eventually ended up in Paraguay, where he was assassinated in September 1980, allegedly by members of the Argentinian Revolutionary Workers Party.[49]
To begin the task of establishing a new government, the Sandinistas created a Council (or junta) of National Reconstruction of five members: the Sandinistas Daniel Ortega, Moises Hassan, and novelist Sergio Ramírez Mercado (a member of Los Doce), businessman Alfonso Robelo Callejas, and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro). Sandinista supporters thus comprised three of the five members of the junta.
-
In the Nicaraguan general election, 1990, a coalition of anti-Sandinista parties (from the left and right of the political spectrum) led by Violeta Chamorro, the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, defeated the Sandinistas. The defeat shocked the Sandinistas, as numerous pre-election polls had indicated a sure Sandinista victory, and their pre-election rallies had attracted crowds of several hundred thousand people.[64] The unexpected result was subject to extensive analysis and comment. Commentators such as Noam Chomsky and Brian Willson attributed the outcome to the U.S./Contra threats to continue the war if the Sandinistas retained power, the general war-weariness of the Nicaraguan population, and the abysmal Nicaraguan economic situation.[65]
Exit polls of Nicaraguans reported Chamorro's victory over Ortega was achieved with a 55% majority.[66] Violeta Chamorro was the first female President of Nicaragua, and also the first woman to be popularly elected for this position in any nation of the Americas. Exit polling convinced Daniel Ortega that the election results were legitimate, and were instrumental in his decision to accept the vote of the people and step down rather than void the election. Ortega vowed that he would govern desde abajo (from below).[67] Given his party's widespread control of institutions and many Sandinista individuals in all government agencies, he would maintain control and govern even without being president.
-
Before the general elections on 5 November 2006, the National Assembly passed a bill further restricting abortion in Nicaragua 52-0 (9 abstaining, 29 absent). President Enrique Bolaños supported this measure, and signed the bill into law on 17 November 2006.[73] As a result, Nicaragua is one of five countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions, along with Chile, Malta, El Salvador,[74] and the Vatican City.
-
As in many other developing countries, a large segment of the economically poor in Nicaragua are women. In addition, a relatively high proportion of Nicaragua's homes have a woman as head of household: 39% of urban homes and 28% of rural homes. According to UN figures, 80% of the indigenous people (who make up 5% of the population) live on less than $1 per day.[105] According to the FAO, 27% of all Nicaraguans are suffering from undernourishment; the highest percentage in Central Americ
-
The majority of the Nicaraguan population are Mestizos (mixed Amerindian and European), roughly 69%. 17% of European origin, the majority of Spanish, German, Italian, English or French ancestry.
-
Roman Catholicism came to Nicaragua in the 16th century with the Spanish conquest and remained, until 1939, the established faith. Protestantism and other Christian denominations came to Nicaragua during the 19th century, but only gained large followings in the Caribbean Coast during the 20th century.
-
Popular religion revolves around the saints, who are perceived as intercessors (but not mediators) between human beings and God. Most localities, from the capital of Managua to small rural communities, honor patron saints, selected from the Roman Catholic calendar, with annual fiestas. In many communities, a rich lore has grown up around the celebrations of patron saints, such as Managua's Saint Dominic (Santo Domingo), honored in August with two colorful, often riotous, day-long processions through the city. The high point of Nicaragua's religious calendar for the masses is neither Christmas nor Easter, but La Purísima, a week of festivities in early December dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, during which elaborate altars to the Virgin Mary are constructed in homes and workplaces.[138]
-
-
07 Sep 12
-
Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship, and fiscal crisis—the most notable causes that led to the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
-
-
07 Feb 12
-
Nicaragua[6] is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.
-
The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua achieved its independence from Spain in 1821. Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, military intervention by the United States, dictatorship, and fiscal crisis—the most notable causes that lead to the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Prior to the revolution, Nicaragua was one of Central America's wealthiest and most developed countries.
-
-
11 Feb 11
-
Although the Somoza family ruled the country in the form of a dictatorship for forty years, Nicaragua was the first country to sign the UN Charter in 1945.[13] Prior to the revolution, Nicaragua was one of Central America's wealthiest and most developed countries. The revolutionary conflict, paired with Nicaragua's 1972 earthquake reversed the country's prior economic standing
-
Of the Spanish-speaking countries in Central America, Nicaragua is where the use of the voseo form of address is most widespread. The mixture of cultural traditions has generated substantial diversity in art, cuisine, literature, and music.
-
Nicaragua's biological diversity, warm tropical climate, and active volcanoes make it an increasingly popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists.[16][17] The country has also been dubbed La Tierra de Poetas: The Land of Poets, due to various literary contributions of renown Nicaraguan writers, including Rubén Darío, Ernesto Cardenal and Gioconda Belli.[18]
-
Area - Total 130,373 km2 (97th)
50,193 sq mi- Water (%) 7.14 Population - July 2009 estimate 5,891,199 (110th) - 2005 census 5,148,098 - Density 42/km2 (133rd)
114/sq miGDP (PPP) 2010 estimate - Total $17.033 billion[3] - Per capita $2,635[3] GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate - Total $6.246 billion[3] - Per capita $966[3] -
Nicaragua's potential as a destabilizing influence in the region
-
and Zelaya's attempts to regulate foreign access to Nicaraguan natural resources
-
November 18, 1909, U.S. warships were sent to the area after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) were executed by order of Zelaya.
-
U.S. justified the intervention by claiming to protect U.S. lives and property. Zelaya resigned later that year.
-
912 the President of Nicaragua, Adolfo Díaz, requested that the Secretary of War, General Luis Mena, resign for fear that he was leading an insurrection. Mena fled Managua with his brother, the Chief of Police of Managua, to start an insurrection. When the U.S. Legation asked President Díaz to ensure the safety of American citizens and property during the insurrection he replied that he could not and that...
“ In consequence my Government desires that the Government of the United States guarantee with its forces security for the property of American Citizens in Nicaragua and that it extend its protection to all the inhabitants of the Republic.[32] ” U.S. Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933,[33] except for a nine month period beginning in 1925. From 1910 to 1926, the conservative party ruled Nicaragua. The Chamorro family,
-
Sandino was the only Nicaraguan general to refuse to sign the el tratado del Espino Negro agreement and then headed up to the northern mountains of Las Segovias, where he fought the U.S. Marines for over five years.[36
-
Guardia Nacional (National Guard),[37] a combined military and police force trained and equipped by the Americans and designed to be loyal to U.S. interests
-
But a growing hostility between Sandino and Somoza led Somoza to order the assassination of Sandino.[37][39][40] Fearing future armed opposition from Sandino, Somoza invited him to a meeting in Managua, where Sandino was assassinated on February 21 of 1934 by soldiers of the National Guard. Hundreds of men, women, and children from Sandino's agricultural colony were executed later.[41]
-
The Reagan administration disputed these results, despite the fact that the government of the United States never had any observers in Nicaragua at the time.
-
In August 1996, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb published a series titled Dark Alliance, linking the origins of crack cocaine in California to the Contras.[68] Freedom of Information Act inquiries by the National Security Archive and other investigators unearthed a number of documents showing that White House officials, including Oliver North, knew about and supported using money raised via drug trafficking to fund the Contras. Sen. John Kerry's report in 1988 led to the same conclusions; major media outlets, the Justice Department, and Reagan denied the allegations.[69]
-
The lowlands are subject to flooding and damage from earthquakes.
-
. Many environmentalists are still concerned over the possibilities of serious floods or hurricanes.[89
-
agriculture constitutes 60% of its total exports which annually yield approximately US $300 million.[90] In addition, Nicaragua's Flor de Caña rum is renowned as among the best in Latin America, and its tobacco and beef are also well regarded.
-
-
Nicaragua also depends heavily on remittances from Nicaraguans living abroad, which totaled $655.5 million in 2006.
-
On the Pacific side, coffee and cotton
-
1992, more land was devoted to coffee than to any other crop, and it is the nation's leading export in terms of value.
-
northern part of the Central Highlands, in the area north and east of the town of Estelí.[91]
-
cotton became Nicaragua's second-largest export earner.
-
After disease wiped out most of the region's banana plants in the years before 1945,
-
Cassava is also the main ingredient in tapioca pudding.[91]
-
Pacific lowlands and the middle and southern parts of the Central Highlands are the principal cattle-grazing areas. An especially large number of cattle are found to the east of Lake Nicaragua.
-
shrimp became big business on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts
-
lumber industry, concentrated mainly in the eastern third of the country
-
Nicaragua's economy has also grown due to the emigration of retirees from parts of North America and Europe. The influx of incoming residents has generated the construction of residencies and commercial services throughout the country. Illustrated above are the residencies of Viejo Santo Domingo, which are some of the country's high-end residencies.
-
-
refinery in Managua
-
$17.37 billion USD
-
Agriculture represents 17% of GDP, the highest percentage in Central America
-
Close to one billion dollars are sent to the country by Nicaraguans living abroad.[
-
2.322 million of which 29% is occupied in agriculture,
-
52% in the service sector (est. 2008).
-
processing of agricultural products, and it supplied the domestic market with foods, beverages, edible oils, cigarettes, and textile goods. Also manufactured were light metal goods, construction materials, wood and paper products, and chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides.
-
By most economic measures, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas.[102][103][104] Nicaragua's nominal GDP stands at 6.554 for 2009 and increasing to 8.532 by 2014.[105] Nicaragua's GDP (PPP) 16.709 billion and the GDP per capita is $1,028 for Nicaragua.[106] By 2014 it is estimated that Haiti's GDP PPP would increase to 14.642 versus Nicaragua's 20.650.[107]
-
In this map, the use of the voseo form is illustrated, with countries such as Nicaragua, where it is predominant, represented in dark blue. Voseo is also predominant in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, where Rioplatense Spanish is spoken.
-
-
21 Sep 10
-
20 Apr 10
-
03 Sep 08
-
20 Jul 08
-
08 Jun 08
-
03 May 08
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.