Timeline Nicaragua
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The Nicoya are an indigenous people of Nicaragua.
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.E1)
1524
Hernandez de Cordoba founded Granada and Leon in
Nicaragua. Granada, also known as La Gran Sultana (The Grand Sultan),
is the oldest city in Central America.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1543-1773 The Palacio de los Capitanes in Antigua,
Guatemala, was the center for Spanish rule over Chiapas, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua during this period.
(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.32)
1610 Leon, Nicaragua, was buried
by the Mombotombo volcano.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F5)
1663 Abraham Blauvelt, Dutch
pirate, died about this time. In the early 1630's He explored the
coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. Afterwards, he went to England and
with a proposal for a settlement at site in Nicaragua, which is near
the town and river of Bluefields, Nicaragua.
(www.thepirateking.com/bios/blauvelt_abraham.htm)
1806 A ruling by the Spanish king
set a boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua projecting eastward along
the 15th parallel from the mouth of the Coco River. In 1999 Nicaragua
filed a border case against Honduras with the UN. It was resolved in
2007.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1821 Sep 15, A junta convened by
the captain-general in Guatemala declared independence for its
provinces Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua San Salvador and
Chiapas.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/97)(EWH, 1968, p.843)
1823 Jul 1, The United Provinces
of Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and San
Salvador) gained independence from Mexico. The union dissolved by 1840.
(PC, 1992, p.393)(ON, 12/99, p.5)
1823 The Momotomba volcano, 18
miles from Managua and on the northwest shore of Lake Nicaragua, went
dormant. In the 17th cent. it had destroyed the capital of Leon.
(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-15)
1824 May 8, William Walker,
president of Nicaragua, was born.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1835 Jan, Consiguina volcano in
Nicaragua erupted and threw ash as far away as Mexico and Jamaica.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F5)
1839-1840 The Liberals of the United Provinces of
Central America under leader Francisco Morazan were defeated in a civil
war led by Rafael Carrera. The confederation dissolved into its 4
component states: El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
(EWH, 1968, p.857)
1850-1854 About this time English adopted the form
filibuster, from Spanish filibustero. It was applied to certain
adventurers who committed unsanctioned activities in the West Indies
and Central America. [See William Walker Sep 12, 1860]
(www.wordsources.info/words-mod-filibuster.html)
1853 Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had
established a steamship route in Nicaragua to get from the Caribbean to
the Pacific coast, left Cornelius Garrison and Charles Morgan in charge
of his operations as he traveled to Europe. The 2 men soon took over
the company later helped William Walker take over the country.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W7)
1854 Jul 13, US forces shelled and
burned San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua.
(MC, 7/13/02)
1855 Jun 1, William Walker
(1824-1860), US adventurer, stormed into Granada, Nicaragua. On July
12, 1857, he declared himself president. Walker reestablished slavery
and planned an 18-mile canal from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific. (SSFC,
4/10/05, p.F4)(www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/walker.html)
1856 Apr 11, Battle of Rivas;
Costa Rica beat William Walker's invading Nicaraguans.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1856 Jul 12, William Walker, an
American, declared himself president of Nicaragua. His execution a few
years later in Honduras was rumored to have been staged.
(SFC, 7/7/96, BR
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier))
1856 Sep 14, At the Battle of San
Jacinto, Nicaragua defeated invaders. General José Dolores
Estrada led his men against the powerful forces of William Walker and
his filibusters, who sought to take over Nicaragua and all of Central
America.
(http://www.guideofnicaragua.com/0102/MatagalpaEN.html)
1857 May 1, William Walker,
conqueror of Nicaragua, surrendered to the US Navy. Cornelius
Vanderbilt helped finance a Costa Rican army, which defeated Walker’s
forces, and paid men under Walker’s command to defect. Walker later
sought protection on a British naval vessel, whose captain turned him
over to Hondurans, who executed him in 1860.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier))(WSJ, 8/30/08,
p.W7)
1860 Sep 12, William Walker
(b.1824), conqueror of Nicaragua, was convicted and executed by the
government of Honduras. The British had arrested him and turned him
over to the government. In 2008 Stephen Dando-Collins authored
“Tycoon’s War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to Overthrow
America's Most Famous Military Adventurer.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier))(SSFC, 4/10/05,
p.F4)
1876 Managua, Nicaragua,
experienced heavy flooding.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1885 Managua, Nicaragua, was
leveled by an earthquake.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1896 Mar 20, U.S. Marines landed
in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.
(AP, 3/20/97)
1900 Feb 5, The United States and
Great Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United
States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1902 Jan 4, The French offered to
sell their Nicaraguan Canal rights to the U.S.
(HN, 1/4/99)
1902 May, The Momotomba volcano
erupted.
(ON, 1/00, p.2)
1902 Managua, Nicaragua, was
damaged by the explosion of a military arsenal.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1905 Sep 13, U.S. warships headed
to Nicaragua on behalf of American William Albers, who was accused of
evading tobacco taxes.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1909 Nov 18, US invaded Nicaragua
and later overthrew Pres Zelaya.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1909 Nov 27, U.S. troops land in
Bluefields, Nicaragua, to protect American interests there.
(HN, 11/27/99)
1909 Dec 1, President Taft severed
official relations with Nicaragua’s Zelaya government, and declared
support for the revolutionaries.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1912 May 30, U.S. Marines were
sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.
(HN, 5/30/99)
1912 Aug 4, The 1st detachment of
American forces requested by President Diaz, arrived at Managua,
Nicaragua, from Corinto. It was a handful of seamen from the USS
ANNAPOLIS.
(http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/usmcnic3.html)
1912 Aug 14, The JUSTIN, carrying
a US battalion of 354 men and its equipment, arrived at Corinto,
Nicaragua, and anchored near the Annapolis. US forces remained until
1925.
(http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/usmcnic3.html)
1912 Sep 14, The United States
government notified Nicaragua that it would protect American lives and
property there and uphold the government against rebels.
(MC,
9/14/01)(http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/usmcnic3.html)
1912 Oct 4, Gen. Zeledon,
Nicaraguan opponent of US occupation, was executed.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1912 Managua, Nicaragua, was
destroyed by civil war.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1916 Feb 6, Ruben Dario (b.1867),
Nicaraguan poet, died. Dario, one of Nicaragua's best-known poets, is
considered the father of the Modernismo movement.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028777/Ruben-Dario)
1925 Dec 25, U.S. Admiral Latimer
disarmed Nicaraguan insurgents in support of the Diaz regime.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1926 May 2, US military
"intervened" in Nicaragua. [see May 3]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1926 May 3, U.S. marines landed
in Nicaragua and remained until 1933. [see May 2]
(HN, 5/3/98)
1926 Gen. Emiliano Chamorro
overthrew the government of Pres. Carlos Solorzano, who fled to San
Francisco, Ca.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1927 Jan 12, U.S. Secretary of
State Kellogg claimed that Mexican rebel Plutarco Calles was aiding the
communist plot in Nicaragua.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1927 Jun 14, President Porfirio
Diaz of Nicaragua signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing American
intervention in his country.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1927 Jul 16, Augusto Sandino began
a 5-year war against the US occupation of Nicaragua.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1928 Mar 16 The U.S. planned to
send 1,000 more Marines to Nicaragua.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1931
Apr 1, An Earthquake devastated Managua,
Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
(OTD)
1931 Managua, Nicaragua, was
torched by fire.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1934 Feb 21, Nicaraguan patriot
Augusto Cesar Sandino was assassinated by National Guard.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1934 Pablo Cuadro (d.2002), poet,
authored “Nicaragua Poems.”
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.B5)
1934 US troops entered Nicaragua
to fight nationalist rebel leader Augusto Cesar Sandino.
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.B5)
1936 Jun 2, Gen Anastasio Somoza
took over as dictator of Nicaragua.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1936 Dec 8, Anastasio Somoza was
elected president of Nicaragua. The Somoza family led Nicaragua until
1979.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A1)(MC, 12/8/01)
1945 Jul 6, Nicaragua became the
first nation to formally accept the United Nations Charter.
(AP, 7/6/05)
1949 Feb 21, Nicaragua and Costa
Rica signed a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1955 Nov 3, Argentine ex-president
Peron arrived in Nicaragua.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1956 Sep 21, Anastasio Somoza,
Nicaraguan dictator, was assassinated by Roliberto Lopez. [see Sep 22]
(MC, 9/21/01)
1956 Sep 22, Pres. Somoza of
Nicaragua was shot. [see Sep 21]
(EWH, 1968, p.1216)
1957 Nicaragua’s Concepcion
volcano erupted.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1960 Nov 14, President Dwight
Eisenhower ordered U.S. naval units into the Caribbean after Guatemala
and Nicaragua charged Castro with starting uprisings.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1960 The Central American Common
Market was set up by a treaty between El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and later Costa Rica. It fell apart by the end of the decade.
(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.41)(www.bartleby.com/65/ce/CentrACM.html)
1960s-1970s The pesticide DBCP (dibromochloropropane)
was regularly sprayed to combat insects that preyed on bananas.
(SFC, 3/15/01, p.A12)
1961 Apr 14, Cuban-American
invasion army departed Nicaragua.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1967 May 1, Anastasio Somoza
Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1968 Oct 23, In Nicaragua the
Cerro Negro volcano began erupting again and continued to Dec 10. It
had first appeared in 1850.
(DD-EVTT,
Illustr.#9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Negro)
1969 The US based Pennwalt Corp.
established a chlorine plant near Lake Managua. The plant shut down in
1991 and left 60 tons of mercury in the lake.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1971 Apr 25, US canal rights in
Nicaragua and rights to Nicaragua’s Corn Islands expired.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Islands)
1971 Managua, Nicaragua, was
struck by a polio epidemic.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F4)
1972 Dec 23, A 6.25 earthquake
struck Managua, Nicaragua, and over 12,000 were killed. Pres.
Somoza was later believed to have pocketed millions of dollars in
foreign aid. The diversion of funds undermined his government and
helped pave the way for the 1979 revolution.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 11/8/98,
p.A26)(http://tinyurl.com/58jfg)
1972 Roberto Clemente (b.1934), US
baseball player, died in a plane crash while enroute to help earthquake
victims in Nicaragua.
(WSJ, 4/2/01, p.A20)
1978 Jan 10, In Nicaragua Pedro
Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal (b.1924), journalist and editor of La Prensa,
was shot dead. His murder sparked the Sandinista-led uprising that
later toppled Somoza. His wife, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, later
became head of the country and in 1996 published her autobiography:
"Dreams of the Heart." The murder also inspired Susan Meiselas,
photographer, to go to Nicaragua from NY. She spent ten years
photographing events in the area, later published as "Nicaragua." The
Sandinista Party was founded by Carlos Fonseca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Joaqu%C3%ADn_Chamorro_Cardenal)(WSJ,
9/11/96, p.A20)(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)
1978 Mar 9, National Guard Chief
General Raynoldo Perez Vega was assassinated in Nicaragua.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1978 Aug 22, In Managua,
Nicaragua, a group of the Third Way faction, led by Eden Pastora Gomez
(also known as Commander Zero--Comandante Cero), took over the National
Palace and held almost 2,000 government officials and members of
Congress hostage for two days. Sandinista guerrillas seized hostages at
the Nicaraguan Congress building and after a 2-day siege obtained a
hefty ransom, exile to Panama and the liberation of some 70 jailed
comrades.
(www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/americas/nicaragua/Nicaragua-national-history.htm)(WSJ,
1/8/97, p.A12)
1978 Sandinistas captured Leon,
Nicaragua, and Pres. Somoza began a massive aerial bombardments.
Suspected Sandinista sympathizers were tortured and killed.
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.F5)
1979 Jun 20, ABC News
correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by
a member of President Anastasio Somoza's national guard.
(AP, 6/20/99)
1979 Jul 17, Nicaraguan President
Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned and fled to Miami in exile.
(AP, 7/17/97)(HNQ, 6/29/99)
1979 Jul 19, The Nicaraguan
capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after
President Anastasio Somoza fled the country.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A1)(AP, 7/19/99)
1980 Sep 17, Former Nicaraguan
president Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay. Enrique
Gorriaran Merlo, Argentine super-guerilla, claimed responsibility.
Merlo was captured in Mexico in 10/95 and extradited to Argentina where
he had multiple charges against him.
(AP, 9/17/97)(WSJ, 4/25/96, p.A-1)
1980s The US purchased Chinese and
Polish AK-47s to supply the Contra guerillas in Nicaragua. Eden
Pastora, aka Commander Zero, and his comrade Adolfo Calero, denied
knowing in 1996 that their financial backer, Oscar Danilo Blandon, had
earned money by selling crack cocaine in California.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A9)(SFC, 11/27/96, p.A2)
1980s Sergio Palacios Cruz,
Charro, was an explosives expert for the US supported Contra rebels
fighting the leftist Sandinista regime.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A7)
1981 Sep, The CIA was informed
that a major Contra rebel group planned to sell drugs in the US to pay
its bills. At the same time the Reagan administration was approving a
covert CIA program to finance anti-Sandinista exile organization
attempts to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A14)
1981 Dec, In Nicaragua Contra
commander Enrique Bermudez (d.1991), a CIA agent, ordered Meneses and
Blandon to begin trafficking in support of the Contras. Oscar Danilo
Blandon had been recruited by Norwin Meneses to sell cocaine in
California in order to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras.
(SFC, 11/27/96, p.A2) (SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.3)
1982 In El Salvador 10 police
officers were involved in the killing of a Nicaraguan mechanic and a
Honduran farmer suspected of transporting arms to rebels in El
Salvador. They were charged with the murders in July 1995.
(SFC, 1/31/97, p.A14)
1983 Apr 6, Melida Anaya Montes
("Comandante Ana Maria"), Salvadoran FMLN guerrilla leader, was killed
in Nicaragua, where many Salvadoran guerrillas took refuge under its
leftist government. In 2007 her body was exhumed and buried in her
homeland.
(AP,
6/14/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_Mar%C3%ADa)
1983 Jun, James Carney (53) of St.
Louis, Jesuit priest-turned-guerrilla, traveled to Nicaragua, where he
joined leftist guerrillas. He was captured by soldiers in September as
he led a column of 100 rebels across the border into Honduras. He was
never heard from again. Suspected remains found in early 2003 proved
false.
(AP, 1/29/03)(http://tinyurl.com/3ad6ek)
1983 Jul 19, In Honduras Reyes
Mata, a Cuban-trained doctor and guerrilla leader, led a unit of 96
Nicaraguan-trained rebels and Rev. James F. Carney into the Olancho.
They were routed by the Honduran army. American CIA records, disclosed
in 1998, reported that Mata was tortured and executed by the Honduran
army.
(SFC, 11/5/98,
p.C4)(www.fas.org/sgp/congress/hr051198/valladares.html)
1984 Apr 10, The US Senate
condemned the January CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/docs/US-mining-nicaragua-harbors.html)
1984 May 10, The International
Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade
Nicaragua's ports. The U.S. had already said it would not recognize
World Court jurisdiction on this issue.
(AP, 5/10/04)
1984 May, Marta Healy, a
Nicaraguan exile, contacted George Morales, a champion power boat racer
and big-league drug trafficker under indictment in the US, to arrange a
meeting with contra rebels at her Miami home. Her aim was to broker a
deal to help the rebels financially. The rebels got an ok from the CIA
to accept airplanes and cash from the drug dealer while still receiving
CIA money under the table.
(SFC, 10/31/96,
p.A7)(www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/ch11p1.htm)
1984 Nov 4, Nicaragua held its 1st
free elections in 56 years; Sandinistas won by a margin of 63%. Daniel
Ortega won the presidency under the Sandinista Liberation Front. Sergio
Ramirez served as his vice-president until 1990.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-10)(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1984 Nov, The CIA told Congress in
1987 that it had concluded in Nov, 1984 that it could not resume aid to
the Costa Rican-based Contras because “everybody around Pastora was
involved in cocaine.”
(SFC, 10/31/96, p.A7)
1984 The Sandinistas confiscated
four farms that belonged to Juan Manuel Caldera. In 1996 Daniel Ortega
promised Caldera control of 7 key economic ministries in an electoral
pact for the presidency.
(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1984 The CIA ran the Contra war in
Nicaragua as a covert operation until this year when Congress cut off
funds. The Reagan administration transferred the operation to Lt. Col.
Oliver North, a member of the White House National Security staff.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A5)
1984 The CIA equipped a plane
belonging to Barry Seal, a drug smuggler and informant, with cameras.
Seal flew the plane to Nicaragua and photographed an official of the
Sandinista government and a leader of a Columbian drug cartel loading
cocaine on the aircraft.
(SFC, 11/9/96, p.A2)
1984 In Costa Rica there was an
assassination attempt on Eden Pastora Gomez, a Nicaraguan anticommunist
revolutionary, by Sandinistas. The government of Luis Alberto Monge
Alvarez failed to make a serious investigation.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A19)
1985 May 1, US president Reagan
ordered an embargo against Nicaragua.
(http://tinyurl.com/2qxpo3)
1985 Jun 12, The US House of
Representatives approved $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1985 Jan 18, President Reagan
declared that the U.S. would not take part in the World Court ruling on
Nicaraguan charges.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1985 Jun 27, The U.S. House of
Representatives voted to limit the use of combat troops in Nicaragua.
(HN, 6/27/98)
1985 Sen. John Kerry of Mass. went
to Nicaragua to meet with the Sandinista leadership. Kerry worked hard
against Pres. Reagan’s efforts to fund CIA aid for the contras.
(WSJ, 7/30/04, p.A11)
1985 A photographer captured the
execution of a peasant ordered by Contra Comandante Mack, who in 1996
accompanied Daniel Ortega on a campaign for the presidency.
(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1985 The 3,000 acre cotton ranch
of Enrique Bolanos was expropriated by the Sandinistas.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A12)
1985-1986 Celerino Castillo III, a US agent for the
DEA, reported Contra drug flights from Nicaragua to the US to US
Embassy officials. His testimony in 1996 followed reports that the CIA
was involved in smuggling drugs to southern California with the
proceeds going to support Contra forces at war with the Sandinista
government.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.A7)
1986 Mar 25, President Ronald
Reagan ordered emergency aid for the Honduran army. U.S. helicopters
took Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1986 Mar 28, The U.S. Senate
passed a $100 million aid package for the Nicaraguan contras.
(HN, 3/28/98)
1986 Jun 25, The US Congress
approved $100 million in aid to the Contras fighting in Nicaragua.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1986 Jun 27, World Court ruled
that US aid to Nicaraguan contras was illegal.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1986 Jul 11, President Ronald
Reagan placed the Contras, who were fighting the government of
Nicaragua, under CIA jurisdiction.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1986 Oct 5, American Eugene
Hasenfus was captured by Sandinista soldiers after the weapons plane he
was flying in was shot down over southern Nicaragua.
(AP, 10/5/97)
1986 Oct, A drug raid was made in
Los Angeles, Ca. The LA County Sheriff's Dept. had documented that
Nicaraguan drug trafficker Daniel Blandon was shipping hundreds of
kilos of cocaine in the Southern California area. In 1998 Gary Webb
published "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion."
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.3)
1986 Nov 15, A government tribunal
in Nicaragua convicted American Eugene Hasenfus of charges related to
his role in delivering arms to Contra rebels, and sentenced him to 30
years in prison. He was pardoned a month later.
(AP, 11/15/97)
1986 Dec 17, Eugene Hasenfus, the
American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the
Contras, was pardoned, then released.
(AP, 12/17/97)
1987 Mar 4, President Reagan
addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair. He took full
responsibility for the affair acknowledging his overtures to Iran had
"deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal. Michael Ledeen, Pentagon
employee, later authored "Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of
the Iran-Contra Affair."
(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)(SFC, 5/14/03, p.A19)
1987 Apr 28, Contra rebels in
Nicaragua killed Benjamin Ernest Linder, an American engineer working
on a hydroelectric project for the Sandinista government.
(AP, 4/28/97)
1987 Aug 6, President Reagan's new
Central America peace initiative ran into problems as the United States
and Nicaragua openly disagreed on procedures for a negotiated
settlement.
(AP, 8/6/97)
1987 Nov 13, Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega unveiled an 11-point proposal in Washington for a
cease-fire that called for the Contra rebels to lay down their weapons
and accept an amnesty.
(AP, 11/13/97)
1987 Nov 22, The government of
Nicaragua released 985 political prisoners in a show of compliance with
a Central American peace plan.
(AP, 11/22/97)
1987 The Sultan of Brunei, leader
of the independent sultanate on the northern coast of Borneo, sent $10
million to support the Nicaraguan contras.
(HNQ, 12/14/98)
1988 Jan 28, Nicaragua's leftist
government and Contra rebels began their first face-to-face peace
talks, meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica.
(AP, 1/28/98)
1988 Jan 29, Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega received a coolly polite reception from Pope John Paul II
at the Vatican.
(AP, 1/29/98)
1988 Feb 2, In a speech that three
major television networks declined to broadcast live, President Reagan
pressed his case for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1988 Feb 3, The U.S. House of
Representatives handed President Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his
request for at least $36.25 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 2/3/97)
1988 Mar 3, The U.S. House of
Representatives rejected a package of $30 million in non-lethal aid for
the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 3/3/98)
1988 Mar 30, US House Democratic
and Republican leaders said that they had agreed in principle on a
package of about $50 million to aid the Nicaraguan rebels.
(http://tinyurl.com/n6uak)
1988 Oct 22, Hurricane Joan hit
Nicaragua and killed 148 people. Hurricane Joan caused 216 deaths in
the Caribbean or Central America. The storm hit Colombia, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela.
(WP, 11/8/88, p.A21)
1989 Sep 2, In Nicaragua, a
14-party opposition coalition chose Violeta Barrios de Chamorro as its
presidential candidate. Chamorro went on to win the election the
following February.
(AP, 9/2/99)
1989 Nov 26, El Salvador broke
relations with Nicaragua after a weapons-loaded plane from that country
was downed in El Salvador.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1989 The central bank of Nicaragua
suffered losses worth 13.8% of GDP.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.74)
1990 Feb 25, Nicaraguans voted in
an election that led to an upset victory for opponents of the ruling
Sandinistas. Violeta Chamorro was elected president.
(WSJ, 3/12/96, p. A-16)(AP, 2/25/98)
1990 Feb 26, Daniel Ortega,
communist president of Nicaragua, suffered a shocking election defeat
at the hands of Violeta Chamorro.
(HN, 2/26/99)
1990 Mar 12, Vice President Quayle
met in Santiago, Chile, with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who
promised to peacefully relinquish power to Violeta Chamorro, the
U.S.-backed candidate who had won Nicaragua's presidential election.
(AP, 3/12/00)
1990 Mar 13, President Bush lifted
trade sanctions against Nicaragua in a show of support for
President-elect Violeta Chamorro.
(AP, 3/13/00)
1990 Apr 19, Nicaragua's
nine-year-old civil war appeared near an end as Contra guerrillas,
leftist Sandinistas and the incoming government agreed to a truce and a
deadline for the rebels to disarm.
(AP, 4/19/00)
1990 Apr 25, Violeta Barrios de
Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua for a six year term,
ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.
(AP, 4/25/97) (HN, 4/25/98)
1990 Arnoldo Aleman became mayor
of Managua.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A1,12)
1990-1996 Sergio Palacios Cruz, aka Charro, took up
arms again citing threats from the Sandinistas as well as unfilled
government promises. He led a group of about 300 men in the area around
Wanawas and is viewed by some as a protector and by others as a bandit
and robber.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A6,7)
1991 Nov, Norwin Meneses was
arrested in Managua with 1,500 pounds of cocaine, some of it packed in
cars headed for the US.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A1,10)
1991 Susan Meisalas, photographer,
made the film "Pictures From a Revolution," a documentation of her
return to Nicaragua to follow up on people she had photographed during
the Sandinista Revolution.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.E4)
1991 The 4,000-square-mile Miskito
Coast Protected Area was approved by the Nicaraguan government with the
assistance of Bernard Nietschmann (d.2000 at 58).
(SFC, 2/1/00, p.B3)
1991 The US based Pennwalt Corp.
shut down its chlorine plant near Lake Managua and left 60 tons of
mercury in the lake. Natural decomposition of the metal was to take at
least 50 years.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1991 In the US Elliott Abrams
pleaded guilty to 2 misdemeanor charges for keeping information from
Congress in the Iran-Contra affair (arms to Nicaragua).
(WSJ, 6/29/01, p. A1)
1992 Aug, In Nicaragua Norman
Meneses was sentenced to 25 years in prison for possession and
smuggling cocaine. He was released in Nov. 1997.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A10)
1992 Violeta Chamorro cancelled a
30-year forest concession with a Taiwanese company after a public
outcry.
(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1992 In Nicaragua a slow
earthquake was followed by a 7.2 earthquake.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A11)
1992 The Cerro Negro volcano
erupted. It is part of a chain of 20 volcanoes known as the Marrabios
or Maribios.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A12)
1993 May, A massive nighttime
explosion rocked Managua, Nicaragua, and revealed not only a massive
weapons cache but also the bunker of an int’l. kidnapping ring that
relied on false papers and passports provided by the Sandinistas. Tomas
Borge, one of the 9 commandants of the Sandinistas, was seen standing
in his pajamas amidst the weapons cache.
(WSJ, 7/30/04, p.A11)
1993 Sep 9-1993 14, Hurricane Gert
caused 76 deaths. It affected Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and
Nicaragua.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1994 Nov 8-1994 21, Hurricane
Gordon caused 1,137 deaths in the Caribbean and eight in the United
States. The storm hit Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti before striking Florida.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1995 The Pellas family found a way
to make money in sugar and rum under the rule of two diametrically
opposed regimes: the right-wing Somoza family and the Marxist
Sandinistas.
(WSJ, 12/1/95, p.A-10)
1995 Arnoldo Aleman resigned the
mayorship of Managua to run for the presidency with running mate
Enrique Bolanos for the right-wing Liberal Party.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A12)
1995 Ex-Sandinistas formed a rebel
group called the Andres Castro United Front (FUAC) in the northern
region of Siuna. They prevented local crime from marauding ex-Contra
rebels and demanded government compliance with promises of food, land
and jobs.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1995 The Cerro Negro volcano
erupted.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A12)
1996 Feb 7, During a Central
America tour, Pope John Paul the Second received a warm welcome in
Nicaragua, his first visit there since 1983.
(AP, 2/7/01)
1996 Mar, The government granted a
30-year, 153,000 acre concession to the Korean company, Kum-Kyung, for
a $20 mil. logging investment. The area overlaps the land of 364
families of Awas Tingni Indians. The Sumos Indians assembled a team of
lawyers and fought the concession to the Supreme Court. They then
brought a complaint before the Organization of American States for
violations to fundamental Indian rights.
(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Apr, Four swarms of
Africanized killer bees occurred across Nicaragua and two people died
from stings.
(SFC, 4/6/96, p.A-13)
1996 Apr, Gen. Joaquin Cuadro,
head of the army, told journalists that the rearmados [re-armed contra
rebels] would be neutralized.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A7)
1996 May 31, A US citizen, Cindy
Garsoni, was kidnapped in the town of Wiwili, 350 miles northeast of
Managua. Its believed that a gang is using her to pressure the
government to install a voting center in the town of Banco Grande
before upcoming elections.
(SFC, 6/1/96, p.A12)
1996 May, A Fishing Defense Plan
was created after pirates attacked 23 fishing boats in coastal waters.
(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.A26)
1996 Jun 2, Sergio Palacios Cruz
and another contra rebel were killed near the village of Zapote Dudu by
the Nicaraguan army.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C16)
1996 Jun 20, Mediators began
negotiations for the release of a group of about 30 election workers
recently kidnapped by 15 re-armed contras and taken to Honduras.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A14)(SFC, 6/22/96, p.A13)
1996 Jun 21, 33 workers were
released in Nicaragua after being held for 2 days in Honduras.
(SFC, 6/22/96, p.A13)
1996 Jul 7-28, Hurricane Cesar
caused 51 deaths in Caribbean and Central America. The storm hit Costa
Rica, Curacao, Aruba, San Andres and Nicaragua.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1996 Jul 15, In Nicaragua 6
soldiers were killed and one injured in an ambush in central Matagalpa
province.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A7)
1996 Jul, The Sandinista Front’s
Miami office was firebombed.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 11, There was a review of
the autobiography of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro: Dreams of the Heart.
(WSJ, 9/11/96, p.A20)
1996 Oct 20, Elections were
scheduled and former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega trailed by 5
points against Arnoldo Aleman, former mayor of Managua.
(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1996 Oct 22, In Nicaragua the
final vote showed Aleman led Ortega 51 to 37.7%.
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)(SFC, 11/9/96, p.A12)
1997 Jan 10, Arnoldo Aleman began
a 5-year term as president.
(SFC, 1/11/96, p.C1)
1997 The US Nicaraguan Adjustment
and Central American Relief Act was passed. It required civil war
emigrants of the 1980s to face interviews in 1998 on their eligibility
to stay in the US.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A14)
1998 cMar 1, Zoilamerica Narvaez
(30), the stepdaughter of Daniel Ortega, publicly accused Her step
father of sexual molestation since she was 11, during the decade that
he was president.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.A15)
1998 Mar 13, There was a riverboat
accident on Lake Nicaragua that left at least 9 people dead.
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.A6)
1998 Mar 20, It was reported that
Pres. Aleman planned to implement a program to register and control
int’l. nongovernmental aid agencies. This was viewed as an attempt to
prevent birth control programs opposed by the Catholic Church.
(SFC, 3/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Mar, Zoilamerica Ortega
Murillo (30), the stepdaughter of former Pres. Daniel Ortega, went
public with charges that Ortega had sexually abused her since she was
11 years old.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May, Officials in Nicaragua
entered a stolen 1975 Lear jet airplane and found high levels of
cocaine residue. The $3 million plane had been stolen Dec 16 from Fort
Lauderdale and taken to Nicaragua. It was used by Jose Francisco Guasch
to transport government officials to various destinations in Central
America at no charge. Guasch slipped out of the country.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun, A group of
ex-Sandinistas called the Revolutionary Armed Forces ambushed a
government army patrol in Matagalpa and killed 4 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1998 Jul, McDonalds returned to
Managua. It had left the country after the 1979 revolution.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 17, The foreign debt was
reported to be $6 billion.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Oct 22-1998 Nov 9, Hurricane
Mitch was one of the Caribbean's deadliest storms ever causing at least
at least 9,000 deaths in Central America. The storm hit Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Jamaica, and Costa
Rica. Later reports put the death toll in Honduras to 6,076. In
Nicaragua the deaths reached 4,000, in Guatemala it was157, and in El
Salvador it was 222. The storm parked over Honduras and rain poured for
6 days straight. Aid of $66 mil was ordered from the US, $8 mil
from the EU, $11.6 mil from Spain along with pledges from other
countries and private organizations.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A9)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)(AP,
9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1998 Oct 30-1998 Nov 1, Hurricane
Mitch caused a major mud slide in Nicaragua when the Casita Volcano
crater lake in Posoltega overflowed. The death toll was estimated in
the thousands. In Honduras Mayor Cesar Castellanos of Tegucigalpa and 3
others were killed in a helicopter crash while surveying the flood
damage where hundreds were estimated killed.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A1,17)(AP, 10/30/99)
1998 Dec 10, Nicaragua filed a
large damage suit against all major US tobacco companies. Guatemala and
Panama already had suits on file.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.D3)
1999 Mar 8, Pres. Clinton began a
4-day tour of Central America and the region's efforts to recover from
Hurricane Mitch. Clinton toured Posoltega, Nicaragua, by the Casita
Volcano where a wall of mud took 2,000 lives.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 19, Off the Nicaragua
coast a lobster boat with 72 people sank. 64 were rescued and 18 were
missing. All 18 were later recovered. A plane with 16 people was
presumed crashed in the Nicaragua jungle.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C2)(SFC, 7/23/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 6, The Cerro Negro
volcano spewed ash from 3 new openings and a maximum state of alert was
declared.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 3, Flooding in Central
America left 21 dead in Honduras, 10 dead in Nicaragua, and 11 dead in
El Salvador and thousands were forced to flee their homes.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A13)
1999 A World Bank report said
close to 100% of Miskito lobster divers in Nicaragua showed symptoms of
neurological damage due to inadequate decompression.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.A3)
1999 Nicaragua filed the border
case against Honduras, saying international law gave it the right to
"explore and exploit" natural resources, including possible oil
reserves and fish stocks within a zone 200 miles from its coast.
Honduras claimed that a ruling by the Spanish king in 1906 set a
boundary projecting eastward along the 15th parallel from the mouth of
the Coco River. The UN resolved the dispute in 2007.
(AP, 10/8/07)
2000 Mar 16, In Nicaragua Edmundo
Olivas, former leader of the Andres Castro United Front - a leftists,
ex-Sandinista, paramilitary group, was ambushed and killed near Boaco.
(SFC, 3/17/00, p.D2)
2000 Jul 6, A 5.9 earthquake was
centered in Laguna de Apoyo. At least 4 children died.
(SFC, 7/7/00, p.D6)(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 7, Another earthquake
struck and at least 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 5, Municipal elections
were held.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 6, Herte Lewites, a
Sandinista candidate, was declared the winner of the mayoral race in
Managua. The Liberal Constitutionalist Party expected to win at least
90 of the 154 mayoral races.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2001 Aug 18, It was reported that
a month-long drought ravaged Central America. Honduras lost 80% of its
basic grains, El Salvador lost 80% of grains in its eastern provinces,
Nicaragua lost 50% and Guatemala lost 80% of its beans in the eastern
provinces. Hundreds of thousands of peasants were affected.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 30, A 5th day of rain on
Caribbean coast force 25,000 people from their homes in Honduras. 4
people were reported killed. Heavy damage was also reported from
Nicaragua with 12 people missing.
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)(SFC, 11/1/01, p.C7)
2001 Nov 4, In presidential
elections former leader Daniel Ortega (54) faced Enrique Bolanos (73)
of the governing Constitutionalist Liberal Party. Enrique Bolanos won
the elections.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.D1)(SFC, 11/5/01, p.A13)
2001 Nov 5, Enrique Bolanos
defeated former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua's
presidential election.
(AP, 11/5/02)
2002 Jan 2, Pablo Cuadra (89),
editor and poet, died. He helped found the literary movement “The
Vanguard.” His work included “Nicaragua Poems” (1934).
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.B5)
2002 Sep 12, In Nicaragua
prosecutors have filed new corruption charges against Amelia Aleman,
sister of former President Arnoldo Aleman, accusing her of embezzling
funds from a state-owned construction company and ordering its work
force to handle her private home-improvement projects.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Dec 11, A Nicaraguan judge
ordered three U.S. companies to pay $490 million to 583 banana workers
allegedly affected by the use of the pesticide Nemagon.
(AP, 12/14/02)
2003 Jan 20, An Organization of
American States report accused Nicaragua of negligence for authorizing
a deal that allowed 3,000 Kalashnikov rifles meant for Panama to go to
a Colombian paramilitary militia.
(AP, 1/21/03)
2003 Mar 23, In Nicaragua the
party of President Enrique Bolanos abandoned him after months of
quarreling over the government's prosecution of his predecessor, a
fellow party member.
(AP, 3/24/03)
2003 Oct 15, In Nicaragua radical
students and teachers drove a truck through a gate and threw rocks and
gasoline bombs at police guarding the legislature as part of a protest
demanding more government spending for education.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Nov 28, The US suspended $49
million in aid payments to Nicaragua's judiciary, a day after the court
told America to stay out of its business. This followed escalating
tensions between Washington and Nicaragua after a Sandinista judge
released former president Arnoldo Aleman from prison 2 days earlier to
house arrest, citing health concerns.
(AP, 11/28/03)
2003 Dec 7, A Nicaraguan judge
sentenced former Pres. Aleman to 20 years for diverting some $100
million in government funds to his campaigns.
(WSJ, 12/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 17, The Bush
administration reached a free-trade deal with El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua for immediate duty-free access to half of all US
farm exports and 80% of consumer goods.
(WSJ, 12/18/03, p.A1)
2004 Feb 10, In Nicaragua Carlos
Guadamuz, the former director of the state-run radio program, was shot
and killed, days after he said he received death threats. In 1969, he
had dressed up as a woman and tried to hijack a plane to Cuba. He was
then jailed for many years under former President Anastasio Somoza
Dabayle.
(AP, 2/10/04)
2004 Mar 19, In Nicaragua police
officers kicked down the door and led convicted former Pres. Arnoldo
Aleman (58) from house arrest at his ranch to a special cell at a
federal prison. Aleman was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined
$10 million for illegally diverting some $100 million in government
funds to his party's election campaigns during his tenure in office,
which ended in January 2002.
(AP, 3/20/04)
2004 May 5, Nicaragua said its
army had destroyed 333 surface-to-air missiles at the urging of the US
and that the military planned to destroy another 333 SAM-7s in late
July. More than 2,000 Russian-made SAM-7s, shoulder-fired missiles
capable of taking down a plane, were left over from the 1980s Contra
war.
(AP, 5/6/04)
2004 May 28, US officials and 5
Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua) signed a free trade pact (CAFTA), to be later
approved by Congress. The Dominican Republic would be included later.
(SFC, 5/29/04, p.A4)
2004 Jul 3, In Nicaragua a week of
heavy rains caused floods and mudslides that claimed 25 lives.
(AP, 7/3/04)
2004 Nov 7, Nicaragua held
municipal elections. The leftist Sandinista Front sought to capitalize
on the recent fracturing of a rival party amid ongoing attempts to
remove the country's president from office. Dionisio Marenco (58) led
the mayoral elections in Managua.
(AP, 11/8/04)(AP, 11/9/04)
2004 Nov 12, Pres. Enrique Bolanos
told US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that Nicaragua would
completely eliminate a stockpile of hundreds of surface-to-air missiles
with no expectation of compensation from the US.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 25, Nicaragua's congress
voted to give itself the power to ratify and dismiss Cabinet ministers
and other officials in a deepening political crisis touched off by
anti-corruption efforts.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2005 Jan 14, Nicaragua’s feuding
leaders vowed to try to solve a political crisis, a day after Congress
passed a law restricting the powers of President Enrique Bolanos.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 28, In Nicaragua Eugenio
Hernandez, who served as mayor of El Ayote from 1990 to 2000, was
sentenced to 25 years in prison in the Nov 9 slaying of Maria Jose
Bravo (26), a reporter who was investigating an electoral dispute.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Mar 3, The seven Central
American nations (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama) agreed to create a rapid-response force to combat
drug trafficking, terrorism and other regional threats.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 21, The US State
Department said the US is suspending about $2 million in military
assistance to Nicaragua because President Enrique Bolanos has not
followed through on a promise to destroy surface-to-air-missiles.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Apr 26, In Nicaragua
President Enrique Bolanos' attempt to address protesters demanding his
resignation was met with a barrage of rocks, which missed him but
injured his son.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 May 30, Nicaragua President
Enrique Bolanos issued an emergency decree, allowing him to raise
electric prices as demanded by producers.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 Jun 30, In Honduras Central
American leaders agreed to create a regional special forces unit to
fight drug trafficking, gang violence and terrorism within their
borders. The 2-day regional meeting included the presidents of Costa
Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua,
and Panama.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jul 28, The Concepcion
Volcano on the island of Ometepe in southwestern Lake Nicaragua erupted
at least four times. Concepcion has registered 17 eruptions since 1883.
The last was in 1999.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2005 Aug 18, In Nicaragua Miskito
Indian leaders asked government and human rights investigators to probe
allegations that at least 150 of their people were killed under the
Sandinistas during the 1980s.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 30, Nicaragua's highest
court granted former President Arnoldo Aleman conditional release from
house arrest, overturning the ruling of a previous court.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Sep 6, Dominican Republic
legislators overwhelmingly approved a free-trade agreement with the US
and five Central American countries, rejecting arguments that the pact
would devastate the domestic sugar industry. The other five countries
are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Costa
Rica and Nicaragua had not yet ratified the pact.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 8, A UN agency said a
plague of rats caused by snake hunting is threatening thousands of
Miskito Indians with famine in a remote corner of Nicaragua's jungle,
while vampire bats are raising concerns about rabies. The rat
population has boomed in Miskito territories as people hunt more
snakes, the rats' natural predator, for food and for their skins.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, Latin American and US
officials stepped up pressure against legislative efforts to oust
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos, whose anti-corruption campaign
has driven lawmakers of his own party into alliance with rivals.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Oct 5, Hurricane Stan knocked
down trees, ripped roofs off homes and washed out bridges in
southeastern Mexico, but it was the storms it helped spawn that were
far more destructive, killing more than 65 people in Central America.
Officials in El Salvador said 49 people had been killed, mostly due to
two days of mudslides sparked by rains. 9 people died in Nicaragua,
including six migrants believed to be Ecuadorians killed in a boat
accident. Four deaths were reported in Honduras, three in Guatemala and
one in Costa Rica.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 6-2005 Oct 8, In
Guatemala rescue workers searched for victims of a mudslide near Lake
Atitlan, a volcano-ringed lake popular with tourists. Panabaj and
Tzanchaz were entombed by a mudflow half a mile wide. The death toll in
the region from flooding sparked by Hurricane Stan soon climbed to 617
with 42 dead in Mexico, 72 dead in El Salvador and 11 dead in Nicaragua.
(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A3)(AP, 10/9/05)(Econ, 10/15/05,
p.43)
2005 Oct 14, In Nicaragua
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega announced that he has broken a
political pact with opponents of President Enrique Bolanos, a move that
could end a political crisis that threatened the country's presidency.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 30, Hurricane Beta
pounded Nicaragua's east coast with heavy rains and powerful winds as
thousands sought protection in boarded-up homes or government shelters.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2006 Feb 13, A transit strike in
Managua, Nicaragua, entered a 2nd week, as workers demanded that the
government subsidize their fuel and gas prices.
(SFC, 2/14/06, p.A5)
2006 May 4, Nicaraguan Foreign
Minister Norman Caldera asked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to butt
out of his country's political affairs after Chavez signed a favorable
oil pact with dozens of leftist Nicaraguan mayors.
(AP, 5/5/06)
2006 May 5, In Nicaragua riot
police stormed a government building and evicted about 200 striking
doctors who invaded it hours earlier in an effort to force President
Enrique Bolanos to restart wage negotiations.
(AP, 5/5/06)
2006 Jul 2, In Nicaragua Herty
Lewites (b.1939), former mayor of Managua (2000-2004) and recent
presidential candidate, died of a heart attack. He broke with the
leftist Sandinista party to run against its leader Daniel Ortega.
(http://tinyurl.com/omz5w)(AP, 7/3/06)(Econ,
11/4/06, p.45)
2006 Sep 11, Nicaragua officials
said at least 35 people have died from drinking methanol-laced
sugarcane liquor in the past week and nearly 600 have fallen ill,
overwhelming hospitals in Nicaragua's worst health crisis in recent
history.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Jul 11, Central American
presidents agreed on a plan to ease border controls and install a
common customs system on the way to negotiating an eventual free-trade
agreement with the EU. The agreement signed by Panama, Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize would allow
residents to cross borders without passports or visas.
(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Oct 2, Nicaragua lobbied for
support for an $18 billion canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic,
saying a second international waterway is needed to handle the world's
booming shipping business.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Nicaragua defense
ministers from across the Americas agreed to create an international
land-mine removal center and many called for joint military missions
for disaster relief and peacekeeping worldwide.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 26, Nicaragua's Congress
voted to ban all abortions, including those that could save a mother's
life.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Nov 5, In Nicaragua
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega makes his fourth attempt to return to
the presidency.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Nicaragua Daniel
Ortega appeared headed back to the presidency 16 years after a
U.S.-backed rebellion helped oust the former Marxist revolutionary.
Partial results and the country's top electoral watchdog indicated he
had easily defeated four opponents.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 8, Former Marxist Daniel
Ortega, who battled a US-backed insurgency in the 1980s, returned to
Nicaragua's presidency calling for reconciliation, stability and a
renewed fight against poverty. Ortega won 38% of the vote, a 9 point
lead over Eduardo Montealegre.
(AP, 11/8/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.43)
2006 Nov 17, Nicaragua’s President
Enrique Bolanos signed a bill banning abortion in all cases, including
when a woman's life is endangered, despite opposition from doctors,
women's rights groups and diplomats.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 19, In northeastern
Nicaragua a giant tree fell on an evangelical church while Rev. Larry
Wayne Poll (64), an American pastor, was delivering his sermon, killing
11 people including the clergyman.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Nicaragua Doris
Jimenez (25) was murdered in San Juan. Her boyfriend Eric Volz (27), an
American real estate broker working in Managua, was convicted of her
murder despite evidence that placed him in Managua at the time her
death. In early 2007 Volz began a 30 year sentence as he waited for an
appeal.
(WSJ, 3/17/07, p.A14)
2007 Jan 10, In Nicaragua former
revolutionary Daniel Ortega took office in a ceremony attended by more
than a dozen world leaders.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 14, In Nicaragua Iran's
Pres. Ahmadinejad, touring Latin America in search of an alliance of
"revolutionary countries," said the US is trying to hide its failures
in Iraq by accusing his nation of funding insurgents there.
(AP, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan 22, Leftist Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega, who took power earlier this month, said that
he was slashing his salary and those of Cabinet members.
(AP, 1/22/07)
2007 Jan 24, Nicaraguan lawmakers
approved a bill backed by President Daniel Ortega to create "people's
councils" that some fear will resemble the defense committees that
operated under the Sandinista government of the 1980s.
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Feb 5, The US insisted that
Nicaragua destroy hundreds of Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles after
President Daniel Ortega said the weapons were needed for the country's
defense.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 17, Former Nicaraguan
President Arnoldo Aleman acknowledged for the first time that he spent
$1.8 million in government money on jewelry and meals, mostly while he
was abroad seeking aid following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in
1998.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Mar 16, The Inter-American
Development Bank announced it would forgive $4.4 billion in debt owed
by five of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The bank excused the foreign debts of Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Haiti and Guyana in an announcement ahead of its annual meeting.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 16, In Nicaragua former
president Arnoldo Aleman, convicted of money laundering and
embezzlement, was freed from the conditions of his parole and allowed
to travel around the country. Critics said was a ploy by President
Daniel Ortega to weaken the opposition.
(AP, 3/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nicaraguan police
announced the arrest of more than two dozen local members of Mexico's
powerful Sinaloa drug cartel but said they were still seeking the
group's leader.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to
Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his
most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 May 12, A pregnant Nicaraguan
teenager (17) shot Kenneth A. Kinzel (53), her American lover, and
enlisted her siblings to help dismember the body. She shot her live-in
boyfriend because he threatened to kill her.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 17, Nicaraguan said it
has re-established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea and
rejected criticism of the Asian country's nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 29, In Nicaragua US
embassy confirmed that an American woman, Lemon E. Groves (49), had
died of injuries suffered when she was attacked in her home in the
Nicaraguan city of Grenada last week.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 6, President Hugo Chavez
called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela,
Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia. The leftist Latin American bloc announced
the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Sep 4, Hurricane Felix roared
ashore as a fearsome Category 5 storm, the first time in recorded
history that two top-scale storms have made landfall in the same
season. The storm hit near the swampy Nicaragua-Honduras border, home
to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians dependent on canoes to make
their way to safety. Some 332 people left dead or missing.
(AP, 9/4/07)(Econ, 11/10/07, p.45)
2007 Sep 6, In Nicaragua the death
toll from Hurricane Felix rose to more than 40 as rescuers searched the
seas and civil defense workers reached isolated communities devastated
by the Category 5 storm. Scores of others remained missing.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 7, In Nicaragua rescuers
scooped bodies from the open sea as the death toll from Hurricane Felix
neared 100.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 25, Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega accused the US of imposing a worldwide dictatorship and
defended the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology
in a speech before the UN General Assembly meeting.
(AP, 9/25/07)
2007 Oct 8, The UN's highest court
in the Hague granted Honduras sovereignty over four Caribbean islands
in its decades-old dispute with Nicaragua, and carved up rich fishing
grounds and offshore exploration concessions for oil and gas. Nicaragua
filed the case in 1999, saying international law gave it the right to
"explore and exploit" natural resources, including possible oil
reserves and fish stocks within a zone 200 miles from its coast.
Honduras claimed that a ruling by the Spanish king in 1906 set a
boundary projecting eastward along the 15th parallel from the mouth of
the Coco River.
(AP, 10/8/07)
2007 Dec 5, Six judges on
Nicaragua's Supreme Court threw out a law meant to block neighborhood
councils that will report directly to President Daniel Ortega. But
other judges call the ruling itself illegal.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 17, A Nicaraguan appeals
court overturned the conviction of Eric Volz, a US man sentenced to 30
years in prison in the killing of his Nicaraguan girlfriend. Volz (28)
was freed on Dec 21 and quickly left Nicaragua.
(AP, 12/18/07)(AP, 12/22/07)
2008 Jan 26, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez and allies Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba, members of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), launched a regional
development bank intended to strengthen their alliance and promote
independence from US-backed lenders like the World Bank as Chavez
hosted a summit with ALBA leaders.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Mar 6, Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega announced that he is breaking off relations with Colombia
because of his country's opposition to the Colombian raid on a
guerrilla base in Ecuador.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 May 30, Tropical Storm Alma
weakened to a tropical depression after slamming into Nicaragua's coast
the day before, forcing tens of thousand of people to evacuate and
flooding low-lying areas before pushing into neighboring Honduras.
(AP, 5/30/08)
2008 Jul 17, Six prominent members
of Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC met this day with Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega according to Nicaragua’s La Prensa newspaper.
The members of the guerrilla organization arrived in Nicaragua in a
Cessna airplane from Venezuela. Both Ortega and Venezuela denied the
newspaper report.
(http://colombiareports.com/2008/07/23/ortega-met-with-farc-delegation-says-la-prensa/)
2008 Sep 24, In Nicaragua Russia's
ambassador to Managua said that his country will replace the Nicaraguan
army's aging weaponry.
(AP, 9/25/08)
2008 Nov 8, In Guatemala 15 bodies
were found after a bus burned on an unpaved road in a mountain valley
about 90 miles (140 kilometers) east of the capital, Guatemala City.
The bus had originated in Nicaragua and all the bodies had been shot
before being set on fire. On March 31, 2009, Investigators in Guatemala
announced that a drug gang was responsible for the grisly killings of
15 Nicaraguans and a Dutch man aboard the bus.
(AP, 11/10/08)(AP, 4/1/09)
2008 Nov 9, Nicaragua held
municipal elections. In the months before the elections Mr. Ortega’s
government maneuvered to disqualify two opposition parties from the
ballot.
(Econ, 11/15/08, p.45)
2008 Nov 10, In Nicaragua the
ruling Sandinista party claimed victory in nationwide municipal
elections, but rival parties said the early returns were misleading and
the US government expressed concern about the vote.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 18, Thousands of
supporters of Nicaragua's leftist ruling party armed with rocks tried
to block an opposition march on the capital to protest alleged vote
fraud, setting off clashes that injured at least five people.
(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Nov 22, Nicaragua's
opposition pressed on with a bid to cancel disputed elections despite a
presidential decree declaring that effort unconstitutional.
(AP, 11/23/08)
2008 Nov 25, The US said it will
freeze about $64 million in anti-poverty aid to Nicaragua amid
accusations that local elections were fraudulent.
(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Nov 29, Georgia said it is
cutting diplomatic relations with Nicaragua after the Central American
nation recognized the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
(AP, 11/29/08)
2008 Nicaragua’s population was
about 5.8 million with a third living in Managua.
(Econ, 11/15/08,
p.45)(www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html)
2009 Jan 16, Nicaragua’s Supreme
Court overturned former President Arnoldo Aleman's conviction and
20-year prison sentence for money laundering, ending a long-running
legal saga that has been colored by Nicaragua's political landscape.
Hours later Mr. Aleman’s Liberal Constitutional Party ended a
filibuster in the National Assembly and voted to let the Sandinistas
run the legislature’s affairs.
(AP, 1/16/09)(Econ, 2/21/09, p.40)
2009 Mar 14, Nicaragua’s President
Daniel Ortega accused the US of "taking bread" from the poor by holding
back aid. The US said this week it will continue delaying some $64
million in development aid because of an election dispute.
(AP, 3/14/09)
2009 Apr 16, Thailand’s former PM
Thaksin was reported to have received a Nicaraguan passport.
(WSJ, 4/16/09, p.A1)
2009 May 15, Nicaraguans awoke to
find that the Central Bank, moving in the night as stealthily as the
Tooth Fairy, had snuck a new legal tender into their economy while the
markets were sound asleep.
(www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900518,00.html?xid=rss-world-cnn)
2009 Jun 8, In Peru indigenous
leader Alberto Pizango sought refuge at Nicaragua's embassy in Lima.
Nicaragua granted Pizango political asylum but he remained at the
embassy, awaiting Peru's agreement to allow him safe passage out of the
country.
(AP, 6/10/09)
2009 Jun 29, Presidents from
around Latin America gathered in Nicaragua for meetings on how to
resolve the coup in Honduras, the fist in Central America in at least
16 years, while the European Union offered to help start talks between
the two sides. Security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to
scatter protesters, who hurled rocks and bottles as they retreated. At
least 38 protesters were detained. Zelaya said that Organization of
American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza had agreed to
accompany him back to Honduras.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 1, In Nicaragua Managua
Mayor Alexis Arguello (b.1952), a three-time world boxing champion, was
found dead at his home. The La Prensa newspaper reported he was found
with a gunshot wound to the chest in an apparent suicide.
(AP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 13, The UN’s highest
court set travel rules for the Nicaraguan river that borders Costa
Rica, affirming freedom for Costa Rican boats while upholding
Nicaragua's right to regulate traffic.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 24, Ousted Honduras
President Manuel Zelaya stood on the edge of his country and called on
his fellow Hondurans to resist the coup-installed government. He then
quickly retreated back to Nicaraguan territory, saying he wanted to
avoid bloodshed and give negotiations another try.
(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jul 27, Amnesty Int’l.
launched a campaign to repeal Nicaragua’s 2006 total ban on abortion.
(SFC, 7/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Aug 2, It was reported that
illegal blast fishing had become rampant in Nicaragua and was spreading
across Central America’s Pacific coast.
(SSFC, 8/2/09, p.A8)
2009 Aug 25, Nicaragua said it
will reroute the San Juan River on the border with Costa Rica. The
river has been at the center of a lengthy dispute between the two
Central American countries. The UN’s highest court last month set
travel rules for the San Juan River, affirming freedom for Costa Rican
boats to navigate the waterway while upholding Nicaragua's right to
regulate traffic. The judgment ended a four-year legal battle. Under an
1858 treaty, the entire river belongs to Nicaragua up to the Costa
Rican bank, but Costa Rican ships have freedom of navigation for
commerce.
(AP, 8/26/09)
2009 Nov 5, Tropical Storm Ida
grew to hurricane force just off Nicaragua's coast, forcing more than
2,000 people to flee their homes and knocking out power to some parts
of the impoverished region.
(AP, 11/5/09)
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