Continued social polarization or cohesion? A particular look at Masaya
2020 Marzo Nicaragua
What is social polarization? According to the well-known social psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró, who analyzed the conflicts in the Central American...
What’s behind the upcoming municipal model?
2017 Diciembre Nicaragua
Among the various predictions about this year’s municipal elections, one predicted an intensification of the model of already hierarchical relations...
After 30 years of the Autonomy Statute, another autonomy is possible
2017 Diciembre Nicaragua
We four researchers met to evaluate these first 30 years of the application of Autonomy Statute for the Caribbean Coast regions, authorized in 1987....
“The State is mainly responsable for the country’s water problems”
2017 Mayo Nicaragua
Reflecting on the quality, distribution and uses of water in Nicaragua has been a pivotal part of my professional career. Back when I was a student...
Municipal autonomy isn’t a concession, but a right the government has undermined
2016 Junio Nicaragua
Local government autonomy isn’t a gracious concession by central governments. It’s a right all peoples have to govern themselves. Municipal autonomy...
What territories will the canal divide and what populations will be displaced?
2015 Julio Nicaragua
The canal route will directly affect ten of the country’s municipalities: Bluefields, Nueva Guinea, San Miguelito, San Carlos, Rivas, Tola, El Castillo,...
“Illegal” migration of Central Americans and Chinandegans
2014 Enero Centroamérica
Nicaraguans are the Latin Americans with the 12th greatest presence in the United States. They total 395,000, according to the latest Pew Hispanic Center...
Just how communal are rural communities?
2013 Agosto Nicaragua
We in the Center for Political Studies and Analysis (CEAP) have commonly done research from the municipal perspective, but one day we ques-tioned the...
In six years the gold will all be gone
2013 Abril Nicaragua
I’m both the son and the grandson of miners, and the child of a mining tragedy. My grandfather, who was born in the indigenous Monimbó neighborhood...
The political grammar in the municipalities will change in 2013
2012 Septiembre Nicaragua
The framework of laws related to the life of the municipalities has been undergoing some changesin recent years, but none as daring as the ones this...
Has municipal autonomy been damaged? And what have we women gained?
2012 Abril Nicaragua
I wasn’t a municipality advocate when we began the “Onda Local” (Local Wave) radio program some 12 years ago. But over the years I realized that...
When the Youngest Emigrate
2010 Octubre Nicaragua
Nicaraguan emigration also has the face of adolescents and children: 24% of our total emigrants are under 18, according to the country’s 2005 Living...
Municipal Autonomy Is More Threatened than Ever
2010 Agosto Nicaragua
My point of departure—and my arrival point—consist of two key ideas. The first is that municipal autonomy in Nicaragua is facing the greatest risk ever...
Who Gets a Key to the Doors on the Forest?
2007 Diciembre Nicaragua
On the boat trip from San Carlos to Boca de Sábalos along the Río San Juan I get an intensive course on the area’s metaphors: the Tarzans—or boatmen...
The Words of Women from “Nicaragua’s Navel”
2006 Julio Nicaragua
Bocana de Paiwas is the navel of Nicaragua and, although the Bible doesn’t say so, it’s also the earthly paradise,” explain the women from this corner...
The 2004 Municipal Elections: Final Forecasts
2004 Octubre Nicaragua
Less than a month away from the November 7 municipal elections, there appears to be little enthusiasm among potential voters. The positions of the different...
The Northwest, North and Center North: Electoral Analysis and Forecasts
2004 Septiembre Centroamérica
The elections to decide who will run Nicaragua’s 152 municipalities will be held on November 7. And while the politically important Managua municipal...
Municipal Decentralization Meets the Forests
2004 Junio Nicaragua
Decentralization took a very important step forward in Nicaragua last year with the passage of a law guaranteeing central government budget transfers...
Sébaco’s Sweatshop: Dreams, Realities and Frustrations
2004 Abril Nicaragua
The only thing that makes maquilas different than the sweatshops producing for their home market in any country is that maquilas are offshore....
“We Live Alongside Drugs in Bluefields”
2003 Agosto Nicaragua
The municipality of Bluefields covers 5,000 square kilometers and has over 50,000 inhabitants. Six different ethnic groups coexist there, which enriches...
The Bankruptcy of Municipal Governments and the Swindle of Municipal Autonomy
2003 Julio Nicaragua
The municipal elections are still 16 months away, and already the pre-electoral winds are whipping through the country’s main political forces, sometimes...
Municipal Governments and Natural Resources: Swimming Upstream?
2003 Marzo Nicaragua
San Francisco Libre’s municipal government is tired of trying to stop the logging that’s impoverishing the municipality’s forests. The people who gather...
Local Government and Micro-business: A Possible Marriage?
2002 Septiembre Nicaragua
Although decentralization and the potential of micro businesses appear to be two essential pivots of local and national development, they have surprisingly...
Siuna: A Hundred Years of Abandonment
2001 Junio Nicaragua
Siuna is rife with neglect and terror. Development program promoters have indefinitely called off their field visits and merchants bite their nails as...
The Women of Malpaisillo: "Our Lives Have Changed"
2001 Mayo Nicaragua
Malpaisillo, a municipality in the department of Leon, is a lively center with a population of approximately 3,200. Set down in the middle of 888 square...
Jinotepe and Diriamba: Two Case Studies of a Defeat
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Jinotepe: The PLC’s big plumThe surprising victory of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) in the municipality of Jinotepe stunned people...
Juigalpa: A Vote to Punish the PLC
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
This year’s municipal elections have turned Juigalpa into a Sandinista island in the middle of a hostile Liberal sea. During the campaign in the department...
The Mayor of San Salvador Dares to Be Supported by the People
2000 Septiembre El Salvador
San Salvador’s municipal government is among 25 in the world recognized for the most efficient urban development. It has been awarded prizes by the United...
Masaya Trembles: The Lessons of a Disaster
2000 Agosto Nicaragua
At midday on July 6, an earthquake whose epicenter was located in the volcanic lake known as Apoyo, just 6 km from the city of Masaya, registered 5.9...
Ciudad Darío: Home of a Poet And Thousands of “Linieros”
1999 Octubre Nicaragua
During the six days of Mitch's heaviest rain, when most other municipal mayors were out directing rescue missions and setting up shelters, Mario Quijano,...
Ocotal: Urban Planning for People
1999 Septiembre Nicaragua
It's not easy to find a municipality in Nicaragua with a central park that is taken care of as well as the one in Ocotal. Flowers and greenery flourish...
Terrabona Wants Land With Titles and Fences
1999 Agosto Nicaragua
The municipality of Terrabona is a mere 70 kilometers East-Northeast of Managua but, in the words of its inhabitants, “Too much neglect and all this...
Posoltega: Unresolved Property Problems And Continuing Vulnerability
1999 Julio Nicaragua
Posoltega was the main focus of national and international attention after Hurricane Mitch's devastating passage through Central America; it is estimated...
Posoltega: Where the Land Burns
1999 Junio Nicaragua
On the road from Stockholm to Posoltega—passing through Washington, where the multilateral organizations design plans to "save" the countries of the...
Cayanlipe: Six Months of Solitude
1999 Abril Nicaragua
Five months after Mitch, activities directed at the country's reconstruction are not exactly advancing at the pace that the ongoing propaganda leads...
Puerto Morazán: Problems in an Ill-Fated Land
1999 Marzo Nicaragua
Puerto Morazán was originally known as the port that catapulted national production to northern Central America. In the municipality by the same name,...
A Necessary Turnaround: Betting on Cities and Towns
1999 Marzo Nicaragua
Hurricane Mitch dramatically laid bare the weaknesses in Nicaragua's development model. It also revealed, as natural disasters always do, the countryside's...
San Francisco Libre: Giving It One More Try
1999 Enero Nicaragua
Even though hurricane-swollen lake Managua—now again commonly referred to by its original name, Xolotlán—is still well over a kilometer inland of its...
Wiwilí With or Without Mitch: An X-Ray of Underdevelopment
1998 Diciembre Nicaragua
Wiwilí, in Northern Nicaragua, was not in the eye of the storm. It didn't experience the brutal punishment meted out on many other northern communities....
A Leftwing Mayor In the Continent's Most Violent Capital
1997 Julio El Salvador
Many eyes are on Hector Silva. Particularly those in El Salvador's capital city follow his every step, and with good reason. Hector Silva is San Salvador's...
Local Power: The Participation That Makes Miracles
1997 Mayo Nicaragua
Among Nicaragua's 145 municipalities, some local governments stand out because they've done a thousand and one things to benefit their people and because...
Municipalities: Where Democracy is Born
1997 Abril Nicaragua
Many models and paradigms have broken down in Latin America in recent years. At the same time, others are being built. Municipal autonomy, the strengthening...
León: Paralyzed Production, Paralyzed Imaginations
1993 Diciembre Nicaragua
For 40 years León lived for cotton. But cotton is no longer the solution. Its production is not profitable, it does not attract investment. It is...
Hope in Lechecuagos
1993 Octubre Nicaragua
Lechecuagos is a small and forgotten rural district located on the slopes of Nicaragua's Cerro Negro volcano, in the department of León. More than 7,000...
Community Media in Neoliberal Times
1993 Abril América Latina
Some have already broken the seventh seal. Without waiting for angels or trumpets, Fukuyama and the neoliberal prophets have declared the end of history....
Measuring Municipal Power in Nicaragua
1993 Abril Nicaragua
In December 1992, the Institute for Nicaraguan Studies (IEN) did a study of "Decentralization and Local Democracy," with support from the United Nations...
“We Erred to Win...”
1990 Octubre Nicaragua
Revolutions are going through an intense period of reflection, debate and review of their projects and goals: what did we do and what do we do now?...
Managua: The View From The Mayor’s Office
1989 Febrero Nicaragua
Managua is home to one third of the Nicaraguan people, and growing. It’s also one of the revolution’s most difficult problem children, chaotic and growing,...
There Is Nowhere Else Quite Like Managua
1989 Febrero Nicaragua
There are motifs for almost every city in the world, widely known features that capture something of the essence of the community—the Eiffel Tower and...
A Look At A Popular Nicaraguan Barrio
1981 Septiembre Nicaragua
Historical NotesCiudad Sandino is a popular barrio near the city of Managua. Although it is considered part of the capital, it is located on...