President Ortega Grants Himself Control Of Nicaragua’s Forestry Resources

Having just put the finishing touches on a power-enhancing overhaul of the Nicaraguan constitution, President Daniel Ortega is now looking to extend control over yet another area of the country’s government apparatus: forestry administration.

Ortega’s Overhaul Of The Nicaraguan Constitution Is A Done Deal

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega put the finishing touches this month on a thunderous political power play that could extend his already lengthy stay in office until 2021 – and beyond.

Kidney Disease Epidemic In Nicaragua’s ‘Land of Rum and Sugar’

In Chichigalpa, Nicaragua’s “tierra del ron y del azúcar” (land of rum and sugar), hundreds of men who developed a “mystery” illness while working in local sugarcane fields are seeking compensation from their former employer, a powerful conglomerate called Grupo Pellas.

Daniel Ortega Reworks Nicaragua’s Constitution To His Liking

At the behest of President Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s Sandinista-controlled legislature is preparing to approve a series of made-to-order constitutional reforms that together amount to an overhaul of the country’s entire political system.

Ortega Hands Nicaragua Canal Project to Untested Chinese Firm

Sticking to his grandiose promise of building an ocean-to-ocean canal through Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega has decided to place his faith – and a huge swath of national territory – in the hands of an untested Chinese firm whose mysterious owner, telecom tycoon Wang Jing, promises nothing less than to “change the world.”

Press Freedom Under Fire In Nicaragua

Rights groups are sounding the alarm over a pair of apparent press freedom violations, both involving news photographers who – on separate occasions last month, just days apart – were prevented from completing their respective assignments after being manhandled by Nicaraguan security personnel.

Mixed Marks For Nicaragua’s Public Education System

When Nicaragua’s public schools open their doors next month for the new academic year, 2,500 students and an equal number of teachers will show up for their first day of class on shiny new mountain bikes.

Ortega Muscles Through A Makeover Of Nicaragua’s Election Rules

(Photo credit: welshkaren/flickr)

Nicaragua’s Sandinista-controlled Asamblea Nacional (AN) has rubberstamped a series of electoral and municipal reforms that President Daniel Ortega and his allies say will “consolidate and strengthen direct democracy” and protect future elections from the types of fraud and tampering allegations that have plagued past contests.

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.

Ortega Presente! Nicaraguan President Begins Contitutionally-Questionable Third Term

Daniel Ortega (right) with allies Rafael Correa (center) and Hugo Chavez — (Presidencia de la Republica de Ecuador/Flickr)

If the thin turnout at last month’s inauguration ceremony is any indication, Nicaragua’s recently reelected president, Daniel Ortega, is running low these days on foreign friends. But at home, the one-time Marxist revolutionary remains popular – and arguably more powerful than at any previous point in his decades-old political career.