Nicaraguan History 101

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The history of Nicaragua is one of civil wars, political violence and revolutionary unrest. When I told people I was going to Nicaragua, their first question was always, "why?", and the second was, "isn't there a war going on there?" Well, at least I wasn't the only person who knew very little about Nicaragua, even though our own government has been very involved with this small country in the past. During my time in Nicaragua, I decided to learn a little about the country's history. With the help of guide books, biographies, history books, and Wikipedia, this is some of what I learned.

Since Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach Nicaragua in 1502, and later explored the Mosquito Coast on Nicaragua's east side, the country has been invaded by those greedy to grab for whatever riches it has to offer. The first was a Spanish conquistador who came to Nicaragua in 1520 to explore the western valleys and take all of the gold he could find. He was attacked by the indigenous people led by Chief Nicarao, and other tribal chiefs, and was forced to flee to Panama. In 1524, another Spanish conquistador founded the first settlements: Granada on Lake Nicaragua was first and and then Leon. Unfortunately, for this guy, he was later beheaded by other conquistadors who wanted the power over these settlements. Within a short time, half of the population of the indigenous people in the western valleys had died from diseases brought by the Spaniards. The remaining Indian population was destroyed in a series of battles, and in 1529, the land was parceled out to the conquistadores. What remained of the indigenous people of the region were enslaved and put to work in the mines or as slaves for the new rich Spanish land owners.

In 1570, Leon was the capital city of Nicaragua, but in 1610, the Momotombo volcano erupted and Leon was destroyed. It was later rebuilt northwest of what is now known as the Ruins of Old Leon. Both Leon and Granada are two beautiful old colonial cities that should make it on everyone's "must see" list when visiting Nicaragua. Granada, founded in 1524, is the oldest colonial city in the Americas.

Nicaragua became an independent republic in 1838. The history of Nicaragua's politics have been largely based on the rivalry between the liberal elite of Leon and the conservative elite of Granada. This rivalry has caused many years of political violence, struggle, and civil war. In 1855, the Liberals invited William Walker, a United States adventurer, to join them in their struggle against the Conservatives. He conducted a fake election and set himself up as president of Nicaragua. Walker declared English the official Language and set out to create a "slave holding empire". He was president for only a year before being defeated by the Nicaraguan national army in a battle at La Virgen. He was sent back to the United States but after writing an account of his Central American campaign, published in 1860 as, 'War in Nicaragua,' he set out on a new campaign to Honduras. He was captured in Honduras and turned over to the Honduran authorities who executed him by firing squad in September of 1860.

In the 1800's many Europeans immigrated to Nicaragua from Germany, Spain, Belgium, France and Italy. They started businesses with the money they brought from Europe, establishing coffee and sugar cane plantations and opening banks and hotels.

In 1909, U.S. warships were sent to Nicaragua to support conservative-led forces, after 500 revolutionaries, including 2 Americans, were executed by the then liberal President Zelaya. The U.S. had it's motives. Before the Panama Canal was built, a site in Nicaragua had been proposed and the U.S. had political differences with President Zelaya over the proposed Nicaraguan Canal. The U.S. justified it's intervention by claiming to protect U.S. lives and property and President Zelaya resigned from office later that year. In 1912, President Adolfo Diaz asked the United States Secretary of War for assistance in protecting "American Citizens in Nicaragua and that it extend it's protection to all inhabitants of the Republic." U.S. Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933. The conservative party ruled for almost 2 decades and a treaty was signed giving the U.S. control over the proposed canal.

General Augusto Sandino led a guerrilla war against the Conservative government and the U.S. Marines. The U.S. left the country when a new Liberal Government was established but they left behind the "American trained" National Guard led by Anastasio Somoza who was loyal to the U.S.. Sandino drew up an agreement with the new government but a year later he was invited by Somoza to a meeting in Managua where he was assassinated by Somoza's National Guard. In 1937, Somoza deposed Liberal President Sacasa using the National Guard to take control of the country, making himself president, in a "fixed" election. The military dictatorship of Somoza and his sons would rule the country of Nicaragua from 1936 until 1979.

In 1961, a young student and a couple of his followers, using the historical figure of Sandino, founded the "Sandinista National Liberation Front" (FSLN: Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional) to fight against the corrupt government of Somoza. In December of 1972, Managua suffered a major earthquake in the middle of the night, that destroyed most of the city, killed approximately 5000 people, injured 20,000 people, and left more than 250,000 homeless. The government appealed for aid and over 25 countries, including the United Stated, poured millions of dollars worth of relief funds into Nicaragua. Most of this aid relief money never made it to the earthquake victims and the government was accused of the corrupt mishandling of these funds. The Managua city center was never rebuilt and it is now made up of small businesses, parks and outdoor markets. After the earthquake, support for the Sandinistas in their struggle against Somoza, grew out of the dissatisfaction with the openly corrupt government and it's refusal to rebuild Managua. The Sandinistas took power in July of 1979 and Somoza fled the country and ended up in Paraguay where he was assassinated in September of 1980. The Sandinistas inherited a country in debt and in ruins. They created a "Council of National Reconstruction" to help with establishing a new government. Included on this "council of 5 members" was Daniel Ortega. Ortega went on to become President of Nicaragua and served from 1985 to 1990 and was again re-elected in November of 2006 and is the current president. I think I should also mention that in 1998 Ortega's stepdaughter released a lengthy report alleging that she had been sexually abused by Ortega for 9 years, starting when she was 11 years old. The case could not be heard in the Nicaraguan courts, because the 5-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse and rape had passed, and because as a member of parliament, Ortega was immune from prosecution.

When President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he condemned the FSLN for joining with Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionary movements in Latin America. Daniel Ortega had been exiled to Cuba in 1974 after spending 6 years in prison for robbing a bank. He received several months of guerrilla training while in Cuba and was friendly with Fidel Castro.

Reagan authorized the CIA to finance, arm, and train rebels as anti-Sandinista guerrillas. These anti-Communist "counter revolutionaries" (contrarrevolucionarios), came to be known as "contras" for short. Reagan also imposed a full trade embargo. When Congress prohibited the federal funding of the Contras in 1983 the Reagan administration continued to fund the Contras by covertly selling arms to Iran and giving the proceeds to the Contras. This came to be known as the "Iran-Contra Affair". When this affair came to light, Lt. Col. Oliver North took much of the blame, with President Reagan admitting only that he knew about the "guns for hostages" deal but nothing about the money for the Contras. There were also allegations that Oliver North had been in contact with Panamanian general Manuel Noriega and that drug trafficking monies from this connection had been used to further fund the Contras. Both Reagan and the Justice Department denied these allegations.

In 1990, Violeta de Chamorro, one of the original members of the "Council of 5", and widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, (martyred editor of the national newspaper "La Prensa", who was assassinated in 1978 by the Somoza regime), was elected president, both shocking and defeating the Sandinistas. At the time, Chamorro was the leader of several coalitions (both from the left and the right) of anti-Sandinista parties. Chamorro was the first woman to be elected president of a Latin American country. Chamorro did not disband the "Sandinista People's Army", but only changed the name to the "Nicaraguan Army". She is credited with stabilizing the country by disarming groups in the northern and central regions.

In 1996, Ortega (FSLN) once again ran for president, but was defeated by Arnoldo Aleman, of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). In the next election in 2001, Ortega was once again defeated by the Constitutional Liberal Party, and Enrique Bolanos was elected. Bolanos later brought charges against ex-president Aleman, for corruption, money laundering, and theft, and Aleman was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This angered Liberal party members who were loyal to Aleman and along with the congress and Sadinista parliament members, they stripped the presidential powers from Bolanos and his ministers and threatened to impeach him. The Central American presidents, the European Union, and the U.S., all opposed any movement to remove Bolanos and a "coup" was averted.

In November of 2006 both Bolanos and Ortega signed a bill that passed into law, making abortion illegal in Nicaragua. Nicaragua joined El Salvador and Chile as the only 3 countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exception.

Nicaragua is about as big as the state of New York or the country of Greece. About 20% of it's territory is designated as "protected areas", such as national parks, and nature and biological reserves. Lake Nicaragua is the largest freshwater lake in Central America and the world's only freshwater sharks make their home there.
Managua is the capital of Nicaragua and it is also the largest city, with over 1.5 million inhabitants. Nicaragua's Flor de Cana rum is known to be one of the best in Latin America and it's tobacco and beef are also well received. The export of bananas, coffee and sugar, join tobacco and beef as it's leading "cash crops". Tourism is the nation's second largest industry. Income from tourism has risen 300% in the last 10 years. Despite the positive growth, Nicaragua remains the least visited country in the region. According to the 'World Bank', Nicaragua ranked as the 62nd best economy for starting a business making it the second best in Central America, after Panama.

I hope you've enjoyed and gotten something out of this little history and facts lesson on Nicaragua.



The Journey / Travel With Me

A. Zudro a.k.a. Gloria

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