Brief History

      Two of the country’s major cities; Granada and Leon became opposing seats of political power. The tensions grew and in 1855, the liberals invited William Walker, a U.S. citizen, to help take over power from the conservatives. Walker and his followers took control of Granada and he proclaimed himself president but Central American forces with British assistance quickly deposed of him. Shortly after, the liberals seized power again but this time under the control of General Santos Zelaya who proclaimed a dictatorship. This did not last long either as the U.S. helped depose Zelaya but political instability continued and the U.S. became a U.S. protectorate over Nicaragua.  

     Not all were happy with the imposing from the U.S. and their was an outcry, which resulted in fraudulent elections and ended with the U.S.-trained National Guard, General Somoza becoming president.  For the next forty years, Somoza and his family held power but could not withstand the opposition from the Sandanista National Liberation Front. This group eventually seized power in July 1979, and the country suffered from unemployment, poverty, and poor health.

      The U.S. reacted to prevent the revolution spreading to other neighboring countries and in 1981, US President Reagan declared suspension of aid to Nicaragua. In the next election the Sandanistas captured the majority of the vote but the US refused to acknowledge this government and placed a trade embargo that would harm the country for the next five years.

        With the backing of the US the National Opposition Union beat out the Sandanista’s in the next election and Violeta Chamorro became the next president. During Chamorro’s time in power, the country lost further international aid and the nation’s income fell and became the second-lowest in the region. The economy began to rebound in 1995, as a stabilization program helped to reduce inflation and aid came in from other countries. Despite all of this half of the country’s population remained unemployment and underemployed. The next president to take over was a man from the Liberal Alliance named Arnolodo Aleman.

Links for additional information on the history of Nicaragua:

* CIA Factbook: Nicaragua

* Nicaragua History and Background Information

Current Situation

  In the later 1990's, Nicaragua began a modest recovery that was fueled by help from foreign aid and debt forgiveness.The International Monetary Fund granted eighty percent of the country's debt to be erased but the country was still suffering economically. Reforms were made to help the country over come politcal corruption and to help improve economic conditions. A power shift from the president to the National Assembly, prohibiting obligatory military service, and preventing close memebers of the president or family members to serve as cabinet members.

During the elections of 2001, Enrique Bolanos was inaugurated and he called for a “New Era”. However; when Bolanos left the group he was a member of: the Partido Liberal Construcionalista, and a political struggle broke out between him, and his former party. He was charged with committing electoral crimes during his campaign and then National Assembly then passed reforms which further limited the power’s of the president. Daniel Ortega who had previously lost the election to Bolanos, became the next president in the 2006 elections. This new president assured the people that he would maintain the free-market economic reforms of his predecessors.

Additional Links for Current Events in Nicaragua:

* Ortega Dominates Nicaragua Campaign 

* Daniel Ortega's two faces of economic change 

Ortega