“En Díos confiamos” “In God we trust” | |||||||
| Capital | Managua | ||||||
| Largest city | Managua | ||||||
| Other cities | La Cruz, Liberia, León, Granada, Matagalpa, Esteli, Masaya & Jinotega | ||||||
| Language official |
Spanish (official) | ||||||
| others | English
Miskito Sumu Garifuna Rama Miskito Coast Creole Nahuatl Nicaraguan Sign | ||||||
| Government | unitary presidential republic, single-party socialist state apparatus, | ||||||
| Co-Presidents | Daniel Ortega Rosario Murillo | ||||||
| Area | 130,373 (claimed) km² | ||||||
| Population | 5,891,000 | ||||||
| Independence | 1821 | ||||||
| Currency | Córdoba | ||||||
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is a socialist one-party republic. It was the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 sq km, however, the fighting against the anti-Sandinistan rebels has made its actual control over national territory smaller. Nicaragua's capital city is Managua, with approximately one-fourth of Nicaraguans living there.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
Before Doomsday, Nicaragua had just experienced a successful overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship in 1979. The Revolution brought down the heavy burden Somocista regime had imposed upon Nicaraguan economy and that had seriously deform the country. Later, it dealt with the Contra insurgency, funded by the United States, which would continue to be a burden in the years to come.
Doomsday[]
After Doomsday, President Ortega was struggling, as every other surviving world leader; with word that his ally Cuba was struck, the government surmised that the Contras, now cut off from US aid, would be in a similar position However, this was not the case. The People's Front of Nicaragua (FPN), a large group of Contras, had been planning in areas along the border with Costa Rica, as well as across it, from a clandestine base in Santa Rosa National Park just south of the border, comprised of US Special Forces and intelligence operatives training the Contras as well as landing strip with multiple planes continuing to land and depart. Ortega, seeing that his enemy was continuing to dispatched military forces along the border with Guanacaste Province and Alajuela. The main problem for the Sandinistans was the FPN controlled most of Mosquito coast region, and the borderlands to its north as well, and plans were underway on the end of the Contras to upend control of Managua, the capital city.
The situation in Nicaragua and the Costa Rican border in 1984.
The uneasy pease collapsed even sooner than expected as on January 29th, Contra forces would firebomb Managua's International Airport in the dead of night. The military, which had managed to conduct a clandestine supply run from an unlikely South American benefactor to the south, soon lost its largest airport, and only one in the west capable of sustaining large-scale cargo craft, not to mention it being a military base. Cornered as he was, Ortega had no choice but to strike.
Sandinista Troops in 1984, at the beginning of the Guanacaste War.
Sandinista positions stormed Contra along the border and jutting south into Guanacaste on February 1st, 1984, catching the Costa Ricans off guard, and starting a three-pronged war in the process. The Contras, cut off from Nicaragua, began to recruit local Guanacastecos sympathetic to fighting the Sandinistas. Likewise, the Sandinistas under Cuadra would recruit thousands of sympathetic rural Costa Ricans from the northern borderlands, especially those of Chorotega or dual Nicaraguan ancestry, often fed up with the ganaderos (ranch owners) who lorded over the local economy. Over the course of several months, they gained control of the province and drove the bulk of the Contra rebels into the far end of the Nicoya Peninsula. The FPN started crumbling and by 1988, ceased to function as an organization, splintering into the renegade militias of Nicoya which would end up carving out a swath of Guanacaste for themselves rather than Ortega's Sandinistas or Costa Rica. Now that the Contra organizations were divided and separated and the Costa Ricans, with their scattered Fuerza Publica and rag-tag militias, pushed back to Zarcero only kilometers outside of the Central Valley, Ortega was pleased by this state of affairs and ordered Cuadra to officially hand over the territories conquered to the FSPN. However, Cuadra installed a three-person junta to consolidate his power. At first, it seemed that the two Sandinista governments could work together. But they disputed control of Guanacaste Province, which Ortega wanted to annex to Nicaragua by law.
1992-2002[]
The situation remained unstable throughout the 90's. With much of the east governed by the Contras after a disastrous rout at Zarcero, Ortega, Cuadra and others were furious. In Costa Rica, President Óscar Arias sought out a political solution and began a new policy of intense diplomacy early in 1992. The great obstacle to his plan was the Nicoyan's ongoing war with Nicaragua. Ortega was stubborn and believed that a final victory against, as he called them, "traitorous rats", could be achieved. As long as the fighting continued in Guanacaste, Cuadra's army would never be able to pacify its gains, which was crucial in stabilizing Nicaragua. In October Arias orchestrated a peace summit in the town of Cañas, Guanacaste, near the border between Costa Rican and Nicaraguan zones of control. Arias asked only for a five-year truce in Guanacaste, so that the Costa Ricans could stabilize their government. Meanwhile, Nicaragua could continue to govern the province without fear of attack. Nicaraguans were as fatigued from the war as the Ticos, and Nicaragua, still failing to rebuff the Contras of the Miskito Coast, led to Ortega agreeing to a ceasefire. Being left outside of the ceasefire arrangement, Ortega quickly organized an attack on remaining Contra forces on the Miskito Coast, which proved to have mixed success as he was unable to completely rout out the rebel forces.
The ceasefire was used to full affect and he re-established relations with Cuba, which agreed to help Nicaragua in staking their claims in the region. Supplies and volunteers arrived in the region and Nicaragua was relatively peaceful and even the people of Guanacaste province started accepting the new status quo. After all, everybody had known that this was once Nicaragua, as the Costa Rican federal holiday every 25 of July gloated.
President Daniel Ortega in 1996.
In 1997, Ortega, frustrated by the unification of Costa Rica, started demanding the entirety of Guanacaste province. Nicaragua, still led by President Ortega, would not let it go. Furthermore, Nicaragua insisted that Arias hand over all Nico officers that had defected to Costa Rica since 1984. Since those officers formed a major part of his governing coalition and ran a large part of the military, Arias could not agree to these terms. The Cañas CeaseFire deadline ended in 1997. By then the talks with Costa Rica had completely broken down. Skirmishing broke out in the disputed areas. Nicaragua also sent an expedition into Nicoya helped by Cuban volunteers, a peninsula still believed to house a band of Contra rebels; it failed miserably. Hampered by this turn of developments, Ortega could do nothing more than to fight minor battles along the border and his grip on power in Nicaragua was slipping. Just as things seemed on the precipce of reignating a 20-year old conflict, help would arrive for the Nicaraguans from an unlikely source: a flotilla of Socialist Siberian ships alongside the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. The unlikely armada had a mission of its own -- to negotiate access to the SAC's-refurbished Panama Canal Zone for their respective nations.
Costa Rican and Nicaraguan officials traveled with the Siberians and Oz-Kiwis to Lima late in 2004. Alongside the Ratification of the Treaty Concerning Access to the Panama Canal Zone, the two agreed to hold a referendum in Guanacaste to determine its future. Both nations would be bound by the referendum's results. The vote was held in December 2004; to the dismay of Merino and most Costa Ricans, five of the nine cantons of Guanacaste voted to remain Nicaraguan. Almost two solid decades of Nicaraguan governance, and the overall bad news coming out of Costa Rica, had apparently eroded the people's nostalgic feelings about their former country. The Contras, left out of these treaties would entrench themselves along their front-lines, refusing to give up the four cantons under their control, two of which had voted for Nicaragua in the referendum.
Zelaya[]
As the Costa Rican conflict finally resolved itself, one final frozen conflict remained in Nicaragua -- the control of the Department of Zelaya and the Miskito Coast. With the Contras there long having fragmented into local militias, petty governors, English Creole activists and even reformed Sandinistas, the region functioned independently of Managua for decades. In an effort to live up to the democratic reforms, the Constitutional Assembly of 2008 established the Charter of Autonomy for the department of Zelaya, in a fashion much like that of Limon to the south in Costa Rica. comprising the entire eastern half of the country. However, the department was divided into two autonomous regions (communities): the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, so as not to consolidate control in full. Two new parties, the National Justice Party and the Nicaraguan Action Party, would form from Zelaya. The communities are governed by a Governor and a Regional Council.
Today[]
40 years later, Ortega remains the President of Nicaragua. The referendum of 2004 helped Ortega have a hold on power in Nicaragua and is still the president of the country. Nicaragua enjoys a permanent peace with Costa Rica and friendly relations with Guatemala and the Mexican breakaway of Chiapas Libre. Relations with Cuba and the USSR have remained friendly and the government is currently working on a deal with the South American Confederation on a free trade agreement. Liberia, once Costa Rica's second largest city, is now a city of the Republic of Nicaragua. Surprisingly, Nicaragua did not choose to press the Nicoya break-away state for the two cantons under its control which it earned in the referendum, instead opting to push a diplomatic claim in the 21st century.
Lake Nicaragua and the Ometepe Island volcano.
Economy[]
Nicaragua is primarily an agricultural country; agriculture constitutes 60% of its total exports. 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's agrarian economy has historically been based on the export of cash crops such as bananas, coffee, sugar, beef and tobacco. Light industry (maquila), tourism, banking, mining, fisheries and general commerce are expanding.
Managua's Downtown.
In order to shift away from it’s primarily agricultural-based economy, Nicaragua has transformed itself into a hub for industrial capacity in Central America. A stable, multi-party democracy, Nicaragua has ratified Free Trade Agreements with major markets. It's capital, Managua, is home to much of the nation's major corporations and banks, being the economic and political capital of Nicaragua. The nation's main trading partners are Cuba, Costa Rica, Grenada, Colombia, Guatemala, and Chiapas, though the nation seeks to find more trading partners outside of the LATAM area.
Tourism in Nicaragua is currently the second largest industry in the nation, over the last seven years tourism has grown about 70% nationwide with rates of 10%-16% annually. One of the industry’s main problems, however, are the continuing stigma owing to the Costa Rican war, which has greatly hindered growth. Additionally, many tourist attractions are not developed enough to handle large amounts of visitors. Major tourist draws to Nicaragua include it’s natural attractions, especially it’s beaches, and it’s historic cities, such as León and Granada. Internationally protected sites include the Historic Centres of León & Granada, the remnants of Managua’s Old Town, Ometepe Island and the Masaya Volcano.
Demographics[]
Nicaragua is an extremely diverse nation, that numbers at around 5.8 million people. This makes it a relatively small nation population-wise, though the area contains many different people groups such as the Mestizos, Indigenous peoples, Whites and Blacks. The majority of the nation lives in urban areas such as Managua, Léon, Granada and Jinotega. However, due to income inequality and the effects of Doomsday, a quarter to a third of these city-dwellers are living in slums or un-ideal conditions.
Mestizo Nicaraguans.
68% of the nation is inhabited by two major demographic groups; the Whites and the Mestizos, who make up the vast majority of most Latin American nations. Of the 68%, the Mestizo (those of mixed Indigenous and White ancestry) account for up to 53% of the nation’s populace, concentrated in the urbanized midwest and the rural areas of the northwest. Whites (unmixed White ancestry) accounts for up to 15% of the population, and live almost exclusively in urban areas. Of the white population, the vast majority of them hold Spanish ancestry due to Spanish colonial presence. English ancestry is also present, due to their historic presence on the Mosquito Coast. Other significant ancestry bases include the French, Portuguese, German and the Italians. Both combined populations are referred to as Nicaraguans (Spanish: Nicaragüense), often without the though of the non-white and non-mestizo populaces of Nicaragua.
Sumu People in Bilwi.
18% of the nation’s population is made up of various indigenous peoples (unmixed indigenous populations), belonging to three major groups; Uto-Aztec, Misumalpan and Oto-Manguean, alongside many smaller groups. The Uto-Aztecans in Nicaragua are the most numerous, at 8% of the national population. They are divided into the Pipil and Nahua, and although they are considered indigenous, it is likely they migrated to the area from what was Mexico and El Salvador. The Misumalpans make up 6% of the populace, and that population is almost evenly divided between it’s two constituents, the Miskito people, and the Sumu people. The Misumalpans live on the east coast, in an area known as the Mosquito Coast. Finally, the Oto-Mangueans that comprise 3% of the populace, made up of the Matagalpa, Chorotega and the Xiu-Subtiaba. They live primarily in the northwest. Smaller groups, such as the Rama people of the Chibchan group make up 1% of the populace.
14% of the populace is comprised of Blacks, who are known as Black Nicaraguans in the east, and African Nicaraguans or Afro-Nicaraguans (Spanish: Afro-Nicaragüense) in the west. The majority of Blacks were slaves brought over from assorted African nations, most notably Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Kongo and Cabinda. The slaves often escaped and mingled with the indigenous peoples resulting in the creation of the Zambo population. Black Nicaraguans of pure or mostly pure ancestry make up 7% of the overall population, and mostly live on the eastern coast. The Zambos (mixed black and indigenous ancestry) make up 4% of the national populace, are dispersed almost evenly throughout Nicaragua. The Garifuna, a group of mixed Black and indigenous Caribbean ancestry make up 3% of the nation’s population.
Teacher of Nicaraguan Sign.
In the Republic of Nicaragua, there is only 1 official language, which is Spanish, brought over from colonial times and has since remained. 97.8% of the nation’s population is able to speak Spanish to a degree, of which 73.3% speak it fluently, while 24.5% speak it at a comprehensible or conversational level. There are currently 8 officially recognized languages in Nicaragua; English, Miskito, Sumu, Rama, Garifuna, Miskito Coast Creole, Nahuatl and Nicaraguan Sign Language (Spanish: Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua). Of these languages, English, Miskito and surprisingly Nahuatl have the largest chance of becoming official, advocated for by their respective populations.
Religion wise, Nicaragua is not as diverse, being as many Latin American nations disapprove of non-Christian religions, though nonetheless non-Christians continue to exist in these nations. Christianity makes up 95% of the national population, which was introduced under Spanish colonials. Of the Christian population, an overwhelming 87% follow Catholicism, making it the nation’s largest religious branch. 6% of the nation is Protestant, mostly Black Nicaraguans, and another 2% follow other assorted branches such as Orthodoxy. The rest of the 5% is made up of Atheists, who are 3% of the national population, indigenous beliefs at 1.5% of the population, and Islam, at 0.5%.
Military[]
Currently, there is no conscription in Nicaragua and active personnel numbers around 30,000. As of 2023, this number has likely shrunk to 20,000, owing to similar deescalations in its neighbors. Its allies, Cuba and Siberia are its chief military suppliers and also lend military advisors. Thus, it uses mostly ex-Soviet and new, Siberian equipment.
International relations[]
Nicaragua is a member of the League of Nations. Ever since re-establishing relations with Cuba in 1989 and Socialist Siberia in 1997, it has received aid and military advisors to stabilize the government's standing and is one of the principal members of the Socialist bloc and its military organization, the CSTO.
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