Nicaragua 2014

Yearbook 2014

Nicaragua. On January 29, Congress approved a constitutional amendment that gives an incumbent president unlimited opportunities to be re-elected. The outcome was expected given the strong position of the ruling FSLN (Sandinist Front for National Liberation) in Congress, where the party held 63 out of 92 seats. Nicaragua population in 2020 is estimated at 6,624,565. The bill itself was considered designed on behalf of President Daniel Ortega. Other amendments to the constitution that were voted on were of the same nature, for example, that relative rather than the absolute majority of votes cast should decide presidential elections.

Economy

A few other legislative changes raised concerns among human rights organizations, such as the ability of military to hold the presidential post and civil office and that the commander-in-chief, who is appointed for a five-year term by the president, may be appointed for a second term. At the same time, however, opinion polls showed popular support for the measures, for the military as an institution and for Ortega as president.

On July 19, an armed attack was carried out on members of the FSLN government party in the northern part of the country where five people were killed and 19 injured. In the aftermath of the deed, police and military went hard in the provinces of Matagalpa and Jinotega in pursuit of the perpetrators, and both the opposition, the Catholic Church and human rights organizations accused the government of arbitrary arrests. The opposition party PLI (Independent Liberal Party) was in turn accused of being behind the attack. At the beginning of August, 14 people had been arrested and investigated for connections to PLI.

According to topb2bwebsites, the infected border conflict with neighboring Costa Rica on the San Juan River cast its shadow over Nicaragua’s foreign relations in 2014 as well. The case is being processed by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which also received new complaints from Costa Rica. President Daniel Ortega was not officially invited to Costa Rica’s new president Luis Guillermo Solí’s presidential installation in San José on May 8.

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

State of Isthmian Central America. Supported by a good pace of economic growth, the population, which at the 1995 census was 4,357,099 residents, has risen by over a quarter in the space of ten years. The main ethnic group is that of mestizos (69 %), followed by whites (17 %), blacks (9 %) and Amerindians (5 %). The urban settlement (58.2 %) prevails, albeit slightly, over the rural one.

Although national income has made good progress, the country remains one of the poorest in Latin America. In the period 1999-2005 it increased by 3.4 % per year (against a demographic increase of 2.7 %), with continued growth in the following years. The progress is attributable to the increase in production of plantation crops (coffee and sugar cane) and to the growth of the maquilas sector. The foreign debt remains very high (despite a cut of 80% in the context of initiatives taken by creditor countries); the same goes for inflation and the unemployment rate. Basically, the economy of the Nicaragua continues to depend heavily on aid from international organizations (in 2005 there were 16 active projects for a total of 466 million dollars). In particular, the World Bank has promoted a program to fight poverty of 160 million dollars, spread over the years 2003-2005 ; in September 2004, it granted aid of 15 million dollars for basic training and, in April 2005, support of 11 millions of dollars for child health protection in rural communities. The trade balance is always clearly in deficit: the export consists exclusively of agricultural-livestock products and gold, produced in limited quantities (just over 3000 kg in 2003), while the import of raw materials for industry and petroleum products. In 2005, a customs union between Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala entered into force.