Nicaragua - Timeline
- 1855
- William Walker, a soldier of fortune from Tennessee who had previously invaded Mexico, sailed to Nicaragua and, taking advantage of internal conflicts, set up a puppet government and became the chief of the Nicaraguan army. He had himself elected president, made the English language the official language and repealed anti-slavery laws. Growing opposition finally forced him to leave Nicaragua in 1857. [1]
- 1893
- After a period of relative prosperity and stability the country was opened to foreign investment. By the early 1900s, United States firms controlled most of the production of coffee, bananas, gold, and lumber.
- 1909
- US Marines landed on the coast after the President, angry at the Americans for building the Panama canal, gave concessions to the Germans and Japanese to build an alternative canal. The government was overthrown.
- 1912
- After a change of government that the US did not approve of, the marines were sent in once more. The US had a continuous military presence until 1933.
- 1928
- The US forces took over the country's military functions, and strengthened the Nicaraguan National Guard. Augusto César Sandino staged a military campaign against the US and the government. He was a fervent nationalist and wanted to end the social equalities.
- 1933
- Somoza García was made chief director of the National Guard and the US marines left after domestic pressure due to the increasing casualties.
- 1934
- On February 21, 1934, while leaving the presidential palace after a dinner with the president, Sandino and two of his generals were arrested by National Guard officers acting under Somoza García's instructions. They were then taken to the airfield, executed, and buried in unmarked graves.
- 1937
- On January 1, 1937, after being elected president by the remarkable margin of 107,201 votes to 108, Somoza García resumed control of the National Guard, combining the roles of president and chief director of the military. Thus, Somoza García established a military dictatorship, in the shadows of democratic laws, that would last more than four decades. Somoza García built an immense fortune for himself and his family during the 1940s through substantial investments in agricultural exports, especially in coffee and cattle.
- 1944
- Opposition to Somoza had grown among political parties, labor, business groups, and the United States government. Despite setbacks he was clever enough to stay in power, and the US, pleased with his anti-communist stance, gave him its support again.
- 1957
- After the assassination of Somoza, his son Luis Somoza Debayle took over. Some freedoms were restored.
- 1963-1967
- Trusted friends of the Somoza family held the presidency from 1963 until 1967.
- 1967
- In February 1967, when Luis Somoza was too ill to run for president, his brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle was elected president amidst a repressive campaign against the opposition.
- 1972
- On December 23, 1972, a powerful earthquake left approximately 10,000 dead and some 50,000 families homeless, and destroyed 80 percent of Managua's commercial buildings. Immediately after the earthquake, the National Guard joined the widespread looting of most of the remaining business establishments in the capital. The president's ability to take advantage of the people's suffering proved enormous. By some estimates, his personal wealth soared to US$400 million in 1974 due to misappropriation of reconstruction funds.
- 1974
- After increasing political repression and further censorship of the media and the press, Anastasio Somoza Debayle was reelected president in September 1974.
- 1974
- The Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional – FSLN) had been formally organized in Nicaragua in 1961. On December 27, 1974, a group of FSLN guerrillas seized the home of a former government official and took as hostages a handful of leading Nicaraguan officials, many of whom were Somoza relatives. With the mediation of Archbishop Obando y Bravo, the government and the guerrillas reached an agreement on December 30 that humiliated and further debilitated the Somoza regime. The guerrillas received US$1 million ransom, had a government declaration read over the radio and printed in La Prensa, and succeeded in getting fourteen Sandinista prisoners released from jail and flown to Cuba along with the kidnappers.
- 1975
- The Somoza government responded to the increased opposition with further censorship, intimidation, torture, and murder. The rampant violation of human rights brought national and international condemnation of the Somoza regime and added supporters to the Sandinista cause. Daniel José Ortega Saavedra and his brother Humberto Ortega Saavedra became leaders in the FSLN.
- 1978
- The dictatorship's repression of civil liberties and the lack of representative institutions slowly led to the consolidation of the opposition and armed resistance. The Somoza regime continually threatened the press, mostly the newspaper La Prensa and the critical editorials of its publisher, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal. In 1978 Chamorro was assassinated and the evidence suggested that Somoza and the National Guard were responsible.
- 1979
- Faced with growing unrest, Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned on July 17, 1979 and fled to Miami. Many National Guard members also fled. On July 19, the Sandinista army entered Managua. The insurrection left approximately 50,000 dead and 150,000 Nicaraguans in exile. Political control was shifted to a five-member junta, which ruled Nicaragua from 1980 to 1985. Among the junta members was Violeta Chamorro, the widow of the late journalist, Joaquín Chamorro. It pledged to work for political pluralism, a mixed economic system, and a nonaligned foreign policy.
- 1980
- The Sandinista government implemented social programs, which receive international recognition for their gains in literacy, health care, education, childcare, unions, and land reform. Just as they struggle for increased self-sufficiency, the Reagan-Bush administration began funding the Contras, consisting of former National Guard members and war criminals, who blew up bridges, civilian power plants and schools, burned fields of crops and attacked hospitals. Their tactics included rape, kidnappings of peasants and civilians, ambushes and massacres against small rural communities, farms, co-operatives, schools and health clinics. Contra raids caused extensive damage to crop fields, grain silos, irrigation projects, farm houses and machinery. [2]
- 1980s
- In order to finance the Contras the CIA allowed them to smuggle cocaine to the US. The story was first revealed by journalist Gary Webb [3] in 1995 , and later confirmed by the CIA. [4]
- 1980s
- The US escalated the economical war against Nicaragua, resulting in tremendous hardships for the population, and in 1984 the CIA mined Nicaragua's harbours, a war crime according to international law.
Nicaragua responded by taking the US to the World Court, which accepted their case, ruled in their favor, condemned what they called the unlawful use of force, which is another word for international terrorism, by the United States, ordered the United States to terminate the crime and to pay massive reparations. The United States, of course, dismissed the court judgment with total contempt and announced that it would not accept the jurisdiction of the court henceforth.
Nicaragua then went to the UN Security Council which considered a resolution calling on all states to observe international law. The United States vetoed the resolution. It now stands as the only state on record which has both been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism and has vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law. [5]
- 1984
- Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinistas received 67% of the vote in presidential elections. According to the vast majority of independent observers, the 1984 elections were perhaps the freest and fairest in Nicaraguan history. [6]
- 1985
- FSLN's presidential candidate, Daniel Ortega takes office and declares a state of national emergency, suspending civil rights. The Iran-Contra Affair ("Irangate") begins in which arms were secretly sold to Iran. This U.S.-orchestrated operation secretly channels funds to the Contra soldiers, which is in direct violation with the Boland Amendment passed by Congress. [7]
- 1988
- Nicaragua is a disaster zone, ravaged by civil war and the onslaught of Hurricane Hugo. President Ortega agrees to the first round of peace talks with Contra leaders. A temporary truce is reached in March.
- 1990
- By 1990 the Nicaraguans, worn down by the economic deprivation and the terrorist attacks, had little choice but to vote for the US-backed candidate, Violeta Chamorro, and the united opposition parties (UNO) in the elections. [8]
The elections were, in terms of actual electoral procedure, the most free and fair elections anywhere in Central America ever – of course
they were not "free" in the sense that the US intervened so decisively, funding the UNO opposition and openly threatening to continue the military and economic war if the FSLN won. Daniel Ortega and the FSLN stepped aside and the transition was peaceful.
- 1996
- Arnoldo Lacayo Alemán, the Liberal Party's candidate, wins the presidential elections by 51 to 38 percent over FSLN opponent, Daniel Ortega. In 2002 Alemán was charged with fraud and embezzlement, and in 2003 was sent to prison for 20 years. Because of health problems, he is serving his "prison" term on his private ranch. The anticorruption watchdog, Transparency International, ranks Alemán among the most corrupt leaders of the past two decades.
- 1998
- Hurricane Mitch killed more than 9,000 people, left 2 million people homeless, and caused $10 billion in damages.
- 2001
- Enrique Bolaños Geyer,the Liberal Party's candidate, wins the presidential elections by 56 to 42 percent over FSLN opponent, Daniel Ortega. During the campaign, the United States warned of dire consequences if Ortega were to win, invited Bolaños to hand out donated US food and pressured a third candidate to leave the race.
- 2003
- Despite the promises of help with the reconstruction of what the US had destroyed, made by the US to Nicaragua, the economy has all but collapsed, with no money to pay for education [9] or health services [10].
It is now the second poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti [11]
Notes
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Country Study for Nicaragua
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