Nicaragua (1983: Doomsday)
From Alternative History
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| Capital: | Managua | ||
| Largest city: | Managua | ||
| Language: | Spanish(official) | ||
| Type of government: | Socialist Republic, Single-party communist state | ||
| President: | José Daniel Ortega Saavedra | ||
| Area: | 130,373(claimed) km² | ||
| Population: | 5,891,000 inh. | ||
| Currency: | Córdoba | ||
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is a socialist one-party republic. It was the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km2, however, the fight with the anti-Sandinistan rebels has made it's actual control over national territory smaller. Nicaragua's capital city is Managua, with approximately one-fourth of Nicaraguans living there.
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[edit] History
[edit] Pre-Doomsday
Before Doomsday, Nicaragua had just experienced a successful overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship in 1979. The Revolution brought down the heavy burden Somocista regime had imposed upon Nicaraguan economy and that had seriously deform the country. Later, it dealt with the Contra insurgency, funded by the United States, which would continue to be a burden in the years to come.
[edit] 1983-1991
After Doomsday, President Ortega was struggling, as he was temporarily cut of from his main partner in the region, Cuba. The government believed that the Contras, now cut off from US aid, would quickly crumble. However, this was not the case. The People's Front of Nicaragua (FPN), a large group of Contras, entered Costa Rica. Ortega, seeing a chance to cut them off, dispatched military forces into Costa Rica, seizing Guanacaste Province and Puntarenas, the main Costa Rican Pacific port. By 1985, the Nicaraguan government controlled the Central Valley. After two years of firm control over the region, the Sandinistans found themselves unable to control the region any longer, and in 1987 a cease fire between the three sides was signed. The army withdrew from the Central Valley, but Nicaragua retained Guancaste Province and Puntarenas. The main problem for the Sandinistans was the FPN controlled Mosquito coast region, and plans were already drafted for it's recapturing.
The truce collapsed even sooner than expected as Contra forces stormed Sandinista positions in Guanacaste province on December 15, 1987, which came as a surprise for the Sandinistans. The three-way war resumed and things weren't looking good for general Cuadra. Cuadra, cut off from Nicaragua, began to recruit local Costa Ricans sympathetic to Marxism and the Sandinista cause. Over the course of several months, they regained control of the province and drove the bulk of the Contra rebels into the far end of the Nicoya Peninsula. The FPN started crumbling and by 1988, ceased to function as an organization. Now their were numerous Contra guerrilla organizations fighting amongst themselves, and the Sandinistans and Costa Ricans in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Ortega was pleased by this victory and ordered Cuadra to officialy hand over the territories conquered to the FSPN. However, Cuadra installed a three-person junta to consolidate his power. At first, it seemed that the two Sandinista governments could work together. But they disputed control of Guanacaste Province, which Ortega wanted to annex to Nicaragua. By 1991 the two sides were fighting, even while Cuadra's faction was once again losing control of the Central Valley. The conflict remains a major problem even today,as the Limones government,the Cuadra loyalists and the Sandinistans still haven't signed an official end to hostilities and control over the Central Valley has shifted back and forth over the years.
[edit] Economy
Nicaragua is primarily an agricultural country; agriculture constitutes 60% of its total exports. In addition, Nicaragua's Flor de Caña rum is renowned as among the best in Latin America, and its tobacco and beef are also well regarded. Nicaragua's agrarian economy has historically been based on the export of cash crops such as bananas, coffee, sugar, beef and tobaco. Light industry (maquila), tourism, banking, mining, fisheries and general commerce are expanding.
Tourism in Nicaragua is currently the second largest industry in the nation, over the last 7 years tourism has grown about 70% nationwide with rates of 10%-16% annually. The main problem, however, are the continouing involvement in the Costa Rican civil war, which has greatly hindered growth. Attractions in Nicaragua for tourists are the beaches, scenic routes, the architecture of cities such as León and Granada.
[edit] Demographics
The majority of the Nicaraguan population, (86% or approximately 4.8 million people), is either Mestizo or White. 69% are Mestizos(mixed Amerindian and White) and 17% are White with the majority being of Spanish, German, Italian or French ancestry. Mestizos and Whites mainly reside in the western region of the country.
About 9% of Nicaragua's population is black, or Afro-Nicaragüense and mainly reside on the country's sparsely populated Caribbean or Atlantic coast. The black population is mostly composed of black English-speaking Creoles who are the descendents of escaped or shipwrecked slaves; many carry the name of Scottish settlers who brought slaves with them, such as Campbell, Gordon, Downs and Hodgeson. Although many Creoles supported Somoza because of his close association with the US, they rallied to the Sandinista cause in July 1979 only to reject the revolution soon afterwards in response to a new phase of 'mestizoisation' and imposition of central rule from Managua. Nicaragua has the largest African diaspora population in Central America. The remaining 5% of Nicaraguans are Amerindians, the unmixed descendants of the country's indigenous inhabitants. Nicaragua's pre-Columbian population consisted of many indigenous groups.
[edit] International relations
Nicaragua chooses to remain out of the League of Nations until it resolves it's territorial disputes with rival factions and the Limonese government. Ever since reestablishing relations with Cuba in 1989 and Socialist Siberia in 1997, it has received aid and military advisors to stabilize the government's standing and to drive out the Contras out of south-east Nicaragua.
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