World Court Rules On Nicaragua/Colombia Sea-Border Row

A long-anticipated International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that was supposed to settle a decades-old maritime boundary dispute between Nicaragua and Colombia has instead riled relations further still for the two countries.

Nicaragua Again Dreaming Of A “Grand Canal”

With no viable opposition to convince him otherwise, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is pushing full steam ahead with plans to build an ocean-to-ocean canal that would be longer, deeper and significantly more expensive than its busy Panamanian counterpart.

Obama Administration Threatens Nicaragua’s Ortega With Soft “Sanctions”

The administration of US President Barrack Obama has sent Nicaragua a volley of economic warning shots in recent months, withholding several million dollars of aid money and threatening even bigger “sanctions” should the government of President Daniel Ortega fail to improve its tarnished democratic credentials.

Nicaragua’s Tomás Borge, Famed FSLN-Cofounder, Dead At 81

FSLN Cofounder Tomas Borge (Wikipedia)

Nicaragua bid farewell this month to one of Latin America’s consummate 20th century revolutionaries: Tomás Borge Martinez. Poet, statesman and the last surviving founder of the left-wing Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), a guerilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua’s Somoza family dictatorship in 1979, Borge was laid to rest May 2 in Managua’s Plaza de la Revolución.

With Congressional ‘Super Majority,’ Nicaragua’s Ortega Set To Govern At Will

Daniel Ortega consolidates power in Nicaragua (Renata Avila/Flickr)

Lingering allegations off election tampering have poked new holes into President Daniel Ortega’s already threadbare democratic credentials. They are not, however, likely to stop him next month from donning Nicaragua’s presidential sash for the third time. Indeed, for all of the legitimacy questions, Ortega appears to be more in control than ever.

Ortega Trounces Opposition In Nicaraguan Presidential Election

Ortega plans to stick around (Flickr/tvbrasil)

Just as the polls predicted, President Daniel Ortega easily won Nicaragua’s Nov. 6 election, rolling past a fractured opposition to earn a controversial third term in office. But while the contest may have been short on suspense, it still delivered plenty of drama. In the days after the election, skirmishes between Sandinista and opposition followers resulted in a handful of deaths. Adding to the tensions are charges that the election, which the opposition so far refuses to concede, was wrought with fraud.

Nicaragua’s Ortega Heavily Favored To Win Third Term

(Credit - jorgemejia/flickr)

With just a week to go before the Aug. 20 start date of Nicaragua’s official pre-election campaign period, the country’s divided opposition is stumbling to the starting blocks, drained of momentum even before the final push toward the Nov. 6 contest begins.

Nicaragua Takes Stock Of Its Juvenile Crime Laws In Wake Of Student Stabbing Death

Youth playing in Diramba, Nicaragua (Flickr/Ratterrell)

The recent stabbing death of a university student in Managua has ignited a fierce nationwide debate over Nicaragua’s juvenile crime laws. Critics say underage criminals hide behind the Código de la Niñez y Adolescencia to get away – literally in some cases – with murder. Rights groups, on the other hand, say the 13-year-old Código is sound. Rather than overhaul it, they say, authorities ought to do a better job of putting the code’s precepts into practice.

Nicaragua Sees Gradual Rise In HIV Numbers

(Credit - A Look Askance/Flickr)

Nicaragua continues to fare better than its Central American neighbors when it comes to HIV/AIDS. But that doesn’t mean there is no cause for concern. The illness has already killed nearly 900 people since it was first detected in Nicaragua in 1987 and, though government interest in the problem has certainly grown in recent years, so too has the number of reported infections.

Nicaragua’s Ortega Narrows In On Other Term

(Credit - Mercurialn/Flickr)

Having finally succeeded at forcing himself into Nicaragua’s November election, President Daniel Ortega is now turning his attention to would-be voters, showering them with things like free beer and worker bonuses in an effort to pad his already positive poll numbers and seal the deal on a constitutionally-questionable third term in office.