Nicaragua History

Nicaragua - national flag

After several adjustments in terms of colors and proportions, the flag was officially hoisted in 1971. It dates back to the flag of the Central American United States from 1823. This flag was taken over almost unchanged when the country broke away from the federation in 1838. The blue color stands for justice and fidelity, the white for purity and honesty. The state and war flag has the state coat of arms in the middle.

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Nicaragua - History

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the area was populated by Nicaraos Indians, who were fishermen and hunters. Columbus reached the east coast in 1502, but the conquest did not begin until Gil González Dávila in 1522 and Francisco Fernández de Córdoba (approximately 1475-1526) in 1524, who founded the cities of Granada, León and Segovia. The country came under the Spanish colonial administration in Guatemala.

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The Indians did until the 1700's. strong resistance to the Spaniards and was almost exterminated by war, disease, and forced labor. In 1667, the English Crown acquired the Mosquito Coast.

During colonial times, the country had no particular economic significance for Spain, but it provided a base for the preparation of expeditions to other regions. The struggle for independence began in León in 1811. The colony seceded from Spain in 1821 and joined in 1822 the Mexican Empire under Agustín de Iturbide. After the fall of Iturbides in 1823, Nicaragua became part of the United Provinces of Central America. In 1838, the country seceded from the federation and became independent.

The building of the nation-state was marked by protracted civil wars between the liberal and the conservative oligarchies, whose bastions were respectively. Leon and Granada. The conflict expressed differences in regional and economic interests, and the lack of consensus made Nicaragua extremely vulnerable to the United States, as of the mid-1800's. implemented a veritable intervention policy. In 1855, the United States supported the American adventurer William Walker's conquest of Nicaragua. He proclaimed himself president, but in 1857 had to return to the United States.

In 1893, President José Santos Zelaya launched a process of reform, including the modernization of agriculture. As part of this policy, the Native American common lands were expropriated, whereas the large coffee plantations were expanded. Zelaya got the Mosquito Coast back from England in 1898. A conservative revolt with military support from the United States forced Zelaya to resign in 1909, and it was the beginning of a long series of US interventions that effectively made Nicaragua a US protectorate.

The rebel leader, General Estrada, seized government power and brought the country into total dependence on American companies that controlled the agricultural sector, mining and banks. In 1925, the country was occupied by U.S. Marines under the pretext of internal unrest. The Civil War between the Liberals and the Conservatives flared up again in 1926, and the Americans occupied the country again. The occupying forces met strong resistance from the guerrilla army under the leadership of the liberal, nationalist Augusto César Sandino, who in 1933 forced the Americans away.

Anastasio Somoza García, head of the US-created military police, established himself as head of state in 1937 and established a family dictatorship that, backed by the United States, ruled Nicaragua until 1979. The Somo dictatorship suppressed the opposition and civil society while leaving the country's natural resources to American interests and to the Somoza family. During the Somoza period, Nicaragua played an important role in the United States' strategy against nationalist, popular movements in the region.

A popular uprising with the support of broad circles within the bourgeoisie and parts of the Catholic Church and under the leadership of the guerrilla movement In 1979, the Sandinista Liberation Front removed Anastasio Somoza Debayle from power. The Sandinistas subsequently gained power in the junta of the victors and embarked on a policy of reform for the benefit of the poor. Despite relatively moderate social and economic change, the government, led by Daniel Ortega, from the beginning developed a growing opposition to it, consisting of business organizations, the middle class, sections of the Catholic Church, and the people of the eastern part of the country. The US government under Ronald Reagan supported the anti- government guerrilla, the Contras, under the pretext that the Sandinistas supported the guerrillas in El Salvador. The Civil War exhausted the leadership and weakened the results of the reforms. In the 1990 presidential election, Ortega lost power to Violeta de Chamorrofrom the bourgeois coalition UNO, which gained a majority in the National Assembly. Chamorro implemented a market-oriented economic policy and a series of reforms to remove the Sandinistas from positions of power in the military, police, and other institutions. Her successor in 1997, Arnoldo Alemán, practiced an even more drastic neoliberal policy with privatizations that should attract foreign investment. Although the Sandinistas weakened due to divisions, they remained the largest opposition party rooted in the most disadvantaged social groups hard hit by the neoliberal economic model.

Economic crisis and social distress led in the 1990's to a sharp increase in child labor and a significant decline in schooling. According to UNESCO(1997) 23% of school-age children did not go to school. Politically, the two major political blocs, the ruling Liberal Party and the Sandinista front FSLN, entered into a controversial pact in 1999. meant poorer conditions for small parties and immunity for President Arnoldo Alemán (b. 1946) after his reign. Despite many allegations of corruption against Alemán, his vice president, Enrique Bolaños (b. 1928), was elected president in 2001. The opposition candidate, longtime Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, lost in the run-up. From 2000, the FSLN had power in 11 out of 16 provincial capitals and in the capital Managua. Bolaños broke after being elected president of the Liberal Party and formed his own party, the Alliance for the Republic, APRE. He filed charges of corruption against his predecessor, who was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Thus, the Bolaños had isolated themselves in domestic politics, but were supported by US economic support aimed at avoiding the return of the Sandinistas along with the Liberals. In 2005, the G8 countries decided to forgive Nicaragua's debt. In November 2006, Daniel Ortega as the FSLN's candidate won the presidential election. He promised to work for the improvement of the poor part of the population, but without radical economic change. Both Nicaragua and the United States subsequently expressed gratitude for continued cooperation. He promised to work for the improvement of the poor part of the population, but without radical economic change. Both Nicaragua and the United States subsequently expressed gratitude for continued cooperation. He promised to work for the improvement of the poor part of the population, but without radical economic change. Both Nicaragua and the United States subsequently expressed gratitude for continued cooperation.

Nicaragua's Constitutional Court in 2009 allowed Ortega to try to win another term; he won the election in 2011 with a landslide victory.