La Curva is an unremarkable small Nicaraguan town, a few kilometres south of Masaya. I’ve known it for twenty years, and to me its only outstanding feature is a pair of huge ‘guanacaste’ trees, bedecked with epiphytic plants, that stand on the south side of the main road (or stood, I’ve been told that one…
The ‘Agrosolar’ project, funded by the British embassy, has begun to pump water to irrigate crops right at the start of Nicaragua’s dry season. El Timal is in the almost forgotten area between Nicaragua’s two large lakes, only about 20km from the international airport but with practically no transport connections to the nearest town. Into…
In January 1983, police in Los Angeles arrested frogmen bringing 400 pounds of cocaine ashore from a Colombian freighter. But they missed their main target, the drug importer Norwin Meneses, who may have been tipped off by officials. In August 1986, a US Customs informant, Joseph Kelso, told his handlers that Drug Enforcement Administration officials…
What happened to the thousands who came to Nicaragua from North America and Europe in the 1980s, inspired by the Sandinista revolution? A very few stayed, of course, and a number went back to their home countries and began serious solidarity work. Others, soon branded Sandalistas, enjoyed their exotic experience but swiftly moved on to…
The untimely death of Felicita Zeledón, a member of the National Assembly, recalls the tragedy that hit the rural area of Posoltega on the morning of 30 October 1998. Zeledón, then mayor of the small town on the Leon-Chinandega highway, became the central figure in dealing with the biggest humanitarian crisis in Nicaragua since the…
Today, September 15, marks 193 years since the end of Spanish colonial rule in Central America. Traditionally celebrated as Independence Day across the five countries that share it, Central America’s autonomy has in reality been in question for much of the time since 1821. To begin with, the five countries remained attached to distant Mexico,…
The government is blaming it on the warming of the Pacific Ocean known as El Niño, while scientists are disputing how much warming has actually occurred. But whatever the cause the drought that has hit Central America and extends south into Colombia is very real. The rainy season should have begun in May, but three…
The Oropéndola is one of Nicaragua’s many attractive bird species, not only because of its large size and conspicuous colouring but also because of its habits. I can hear one as I write this – it’s sonorous, chuckling call – almost like a turkey gobbling – is quite distinctive. When doing their displays, the males…
A short time after the revolution brought the Sandinistas to power in 1979, Reagan’s US government illegally began to fund the armed resistance in the north of the country, who soon became known as the ‘contras’. The struggle against the well-armed contra and the simultaneous economic blockade severely tested the new government. Although it won…