Nicaragua

H

Transportation and Communications

Less than 13 percent of Nicaragua's roads are paved. The paved roadways include part of the Pan-American Highway, which runs the length of the country from Honduras to Costa Rica. The road system, like much of the nation's infrastructure, deteriorated during the conflicts and economic difficulties of the 1980s and 1990s, but reconstruction of the road system began in the late 1990s. The only international airport is in Managua. Three domestic airlines provide service within the country. Major ports are Corinto and Puerto Sandino on the Pacific and Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas on the Caribbean.

In 2005 Nicaragua had 43 telephone mainlines, 284 radio receivers, and 72 television sets for every 1,000 inhabitants. Most Nicaraguans rely primarily on radio or television for news. More than 100 radio stations broadcast, many of them from Managua, and several TV networks and cable TV stations operate in the country. In Managua the major daily newspapers are Nuevo Diario, La Prensa, and La Tribuna. Internet service was established in the mid-1990s.

I

Tourism

Nicaragua had only a small tourist industry before the civil war halted most tourism. In the 1980s a number of foreigners who supported the revolution came to see the effects of the Sandinista victory. Since the fighting ended, the government has sought to develop tourism. In 2005 Nicaragua received 712,444 foreign visitors and took in $207 million from tourism.

Major tourist sites in Nicaragua include the Volcán Masaya National Park and the islands in Lake Nicaragua, including Las Isletas, a cluster of small, tropical islands off Granada. Ecotourism, a kind of tourism that seeks to conserve the environment, draws tourists to tropical forests where they can see monkeys, armadillos, birds, and other wildlife. Pristine beaches along the Pacific coast also attract visitors. In Managua, an important attraction is the Footprints of Acahualinca, the marks of humans and animals fleeing a volcanic eruption about 4000 bc that were preserved in the volcanic ash.

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V

Government

Since independence, Nicaragua has had a republican form of government, with an elected president, a congress, and a supreme court. However, the executive branch has usually been dominant. Constitutional rights could be suspended, congress and courts usually carried out presidential orders, and the military often played a decisive role. Intervention by the United States also distorted the political system, as the United States used its power and at times troops to keep favored rulers in power, prevent rebellions, and maintain order. From 1936 until 1979 the nation was dominated by the Somoza family, which ruled as a dictatorship. With the support of the U.S.-trained military, known as the National Guard, the Somozas rigged elections, violated human rights, and looted the economy. They were overthrown in 1979 by the revolutionary Sandinista regime, which led the government until 1990. Although the Sandinistas allowed opposition parties, they also restricted rights and manipulated the political process. With the election of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro as president in 1990, Nicaragua began an era of increasingly democratic political practices.

Nicaragua's current constitution was adopted in 1987 and amended in 1995 and 2000. Its provisions include guarantees of individual freedoms, rights to education and housing, and equality for women. Voter registration and elections are conducted by the Supreme Electoral Council, which was an independent branch of the government until an amendment in 2000 gave control over the appointments of council members to the ruling party and the largest opposition party. All Nicaraguan citizens over the age of 16 have the right to vote, and voting is by secret ballot.

A

Executive

Nicaragua's president and vice president are elected by popular vote for a term of five years. Immediate reelection of the president or any close relative is prohibited. The president appoints and removes cabinet ministers and the heads of autonomous agencies such as the Central Bank. Presidential powers were reduced by the 1995 constitutional reforms but are still extensive. They include the right to initiate and veto legislation, prepare the budget, suspend constitutional rights (an act that must win the legislature's approval within 72 hours), conduct foreign relations, nominate judges, and act as commander in chief of the armed forces.

B

Legislature

Nicaragua has a 90-member unicameral legislature known as the National Assembly. Deputies serve five years and are elected according to a complex formula, both by districts and on a national basis. The assembly's powers were greatly expanded by the 1995 constitutional reforms. The assembly enacts laws, approves the budget, elects Supreme Court judges, ratifies treaties, approves or rejects presidential declarations of a state of siege, and may override presidential vetoes with a simple majority.