Republic of Nicaragua Repblica de Nicaragua

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Republic of Nicaragua(República de Nicaragua)

• Presentation by
• Dan Olver

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Nicaragua
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Nicaragua
Location Central America, bordering the Caribbea
n Sea and Pacific Ocean Between Costa Rica and
Honduras 13 00 N, 85 00 W Area Total 129,494
sq km land 120,254 sq km water 9,240 sq km
Slightly smaller than the state of New
York Largest country in Central America larges
t freshwater body in Central America, Lago de
Nicaragu (Lake Nicaragua).
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Background

• CAPITAL CITY 
• Managua
• INDEPENDENCE DAY 
• 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
• GOVERNMENT TYPE 
• Republic
• HEAD OF STATE
• President Enrique BOLANOS Geyer
• LAND USE
• arable land 15.94 permanent crops 1.94
  other 82.12 (2001)
  
• Irrigated land880 sq km (1998 est.)
• NATURAL HAZARDS
• destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides
  extremely susceptible to hurricanes

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Climate

• Nicaraguas climate varies with altitude and
  season. The summer, or dry season, from
  mid-November to mid-May, is hot and dry, with
  cooler nights. Winter, better described as the
  rainy season, from mid-May to mid-November, is
  hot and humid, with short, heavy tropical showers
  that may occur daily, often accompanied by
  violent electrical storms.
• Streams flood in the rainy season and dry up the
  rest of the year. The average daily high
  temperature in Managua ranges from 79F to 93F.
  Nights are usually temperate. Temperatures in the
  mountains can dip as low as 61F, while the east
  coast high may be a humid 84F

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Population

• POPULATION 5,570,129
• Median Age 20.9
• Population Growth 1.89
• Birth Rate 24.51 (per 1000)
• Infant Mortality Rate 28.11
• Life Expectancy at Birth 70.63
• Ethnic Groups Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and
  white) 69, white 17, black 9, Amerindian 5
  
• Religions Roman Catholic 72.9, Evangelical
  15.1, Moravian 1.5, Episcopal 0.1, other 1.9,
  none 8.5 (1995 census)
  
• Languages Spanish 97.5 (official), Miskito
  1.7, other 0.8 (1995 census)
  
• Literacy Rate Total Population 67.5

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People of Nicaragua

• Most Nicaraguans have both European and Indian
  ancestry, and the culture of the country reflects
  the Ibero-European and Indian heritage of its
  people.
• Only the Indians of the eastern half of the
  country remain ethnically distinct and retain
  tribal customs and languages.
  
• A large black minority, of Jamaican origin, is
  concentrated on the Caribbean coast. In the
  mid-1980s, the central government divided the
  eastern half of the country--the former
  department of Zelaya--into two autonomous regions
  and granted the people of the region limited
  self-rule.
• The 1995 constitutional reform guaranteed the
  integrity of the regions several unique cultures
  and gave the inhabitants a say in the use of the
  areas natural resources. Roman
• Catholicism is the major religion, but
  Evangelical Protestant groups have grown
  recently, and there are strong Anglican and
  Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast.
• Most Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and
  the adjacent interior highlands. The population
  is 54 urban.

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Economy

• Nicaragua is one of the hemisphere's poorest
  countries, faces low per capita income, massive
  unemployment and underemployment, and huge
  external debt.
• Distribution of income is one of the most unequal
  on the globe. While the country has made progress
  toward macroeconomic stability over the past few
  years, GDP annual growth of 1.5 - 2.5 has been
  far too low to meet the country's needs.
• Nicaragua will continue to be dependent on
  international aid and debt relief under the
  Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
  initiative. Nicaragua has undertaken significant
  economic reforms that are expected to help the
  country qualify for more than 4 billion in debt
  relief under HIPC in early 2004.

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Economy of Nicaragua
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Economy Overview

• Gross Domestic Product 16,090,000,000
• GDP (per capita) 2,900.00
• CURRENCY Gold Cordoba
• Population below Poverty Line 50 (2001 est.)
• Inflation Rate 9.60
• Labor Force 2,010,000
• Labor Force (by occupation) services 43
  agriculture 42 industry 15
  
• Unemployment Rate 6.90, Underemployment Rate
  46.5
  
• Budget 1,134,000,000
• Industries food processing, chemicals, machinery
  and metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum
  refining and distribution, beverages, footwear,
  wood
• Agriculture Products Coffee, bananas, sugarcane,
  cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans
  beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products

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Volcanoes

• Western Nicaragua is lined with active volcanoes,
  and their frequent eruptions have produced soil
  that is among the most fertile in Central
  America. The country is also subject to very
  severe earthquakes

• Momotombo Volcano

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History Pre-Colonial

• Two basic culture groups existed in pre-colonial
  Nicaragua. The native peoples were linguistically
  and culturally similar to the Aztec and the Maya.
  Staple foods of both populations were corn,
  beans, chili peppers, and avocados, still the
  most common foods in Nicaragua today and
  chocolate was drank at ceremonies.
• Most of Nicaragua's Caribbean lowlands area was
  inhabited by tribes that migrated north from what
  is now Colombia.
  
• When the Spanish arrived in the early 1500s, they
  found three principal tribes, each with a
  different culture and language the Niquirano,
  the Chorotegano, and the Chontal. Each occupied
  much of Nicaragua's territory, with independent
  chieftains (cacicazgos) who ruled according to
  each group's laws and customs.

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Colonial History

• Nicaragua's Caribbean coast was first seen by
  Spanish explorers in 1508.
  
• Chief Nicoya and Chief Nicaragua or Nicarao,
  after whom the country was named received the
  Spanish with a warm welcome.
  
• Many converted to Catholicism.
• Francisco Hernández de Córdoba was appointed to
  lead the Nicaraguan conquest. In 1524 he quickly
  overcame the resistance of the native peoples and
  named the land Nicaragua.

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The Somoza Years

• Somoza García controlled political power,
  directly as president or indirectly through
  carefully chosen puppet presidents, from 1936
  until his assassination in 1956.
• Somoza García ruled Nicaragua with a strong arm,
  deriving his power from three main sources the
  ownership or control of large portions of the
  Nicaraguan economy, the military support of the
  National Guard, and his acceptance and support
  from the United States. His excellent command of
  the English language and understanding of United
  States culture, combined with a charming
  personality and considerable political talent and
  resourcefulness, helped Somoza García win many
  powerful allies in the United States.
• Through large investments in land, manufacturing,
  transport, and real estate, he enriched himself
  and his close friends.
  
• Succeeded by his sons Luis Somoza Debayle and
  Anastasio Somoza Debayle

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The 1972 Managua Earthquake

• On December 23, 1972, a powerful earthquake shook
  Nicaragua, destroying most of the capital city.
  
• The earthquake left approximately 10,000 dead and
  some 50,000 families homeless, and destroyed 80
  percent of Managua's commercial buildings.
  
• The National Guard joined the widespread looting
  of most of the remaining business establishments
  in Managua.
  
• The government's illegal appropriation and
  mismanagement of international relief aid by the
  Somoza family and members of the National Guard,
  shocked the international community.

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The Sandinistas

• Most Nicaraguans saw the Sandinista victory as an
  opportunity to create a system free of the
  political, social, and economic inequalities of
  the hated Somoza regime.
• Daniel Ortega began his six-year presidential
  term on January 10, 1985. After the United States
  Congress turned down continued funding of the
  Contras in April 1985, the Reagan administration
  ordered a total embargo on United States trade
  with Nicaragua

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The UNO Victory

• As a result of the Esquipulas II peace accords,
  the FSLN government reinstated political
  freedoms. The Sandinistas felt confident of their
  success at the polls despite deteriorating
  socioeconomic conditions in the country.
• The UNO and the Sandinistas began their political
  campaigns in the summer of 1989. Although sharp
  divisions within the UNO remained the
  anti-Sandinista coalition nominated Violeta
  Barrios de Chamorro
• The FSLN nominated Daniel Ortega for the
  presidency and Sergio Ramírez Mercado as his
  running mate.
  
• The political campaign was conducted under the
  close international supervision of the OAS, the
  UN, and a delegation headed by former United
  States President Jimmy Carter.
• In the February 25, 1990, elections, Violeta
  Barrios de Chamorro carried 55 percent of the
  popular vote against Daniel Ortega's 41 percent.

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Daniel Ortega

• Fifteen years after being voted out of power, and
  with two unsuccessful runs for the presidency
  since, Daniel Ortega is back
  
• Head of the Marxist Sandinista National
  Liberation Front (FSLN) is back with a chance of
  returning to power.
  
• Credibility has taken a beating since his
  grown-up stepdaughter accused him in 1998 of
  abusing and raping her for years.
  
• Also signed a self-serving pact in 1999 with
  political rival and former President Arnoldo
  Aleman, now serving a 20-year sentence for
  embezzlement.

Friend of Hugo
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Telecommunications

• The Major Phone company is Enitel.
• Telephones - main lines in use 214,500 (2004)
• Telephones - mobile cellular 738,600 (2004)
• Telephone system general assessment inadequate
  system being upgraded by foreign investment
  domestic low-capacity microwave radio relay and
  wire system being expanded connected to Central
  American Microwave System international country
  code - 505
• satellite earth stations - 1 Intersputnik
  (Atlantic Ocean region) and 1 Intelsat (Atlantic
  Ocean)
  
• Radio broadcast stations AM 63, FM 32,
  shortwave 1 (1998)
  
• Television broadcast stations 3 (plus seven
  low-power repeaters) (1997)
  
• Internet country code .ni
• Internet hosts 12,628 (2005)
• Internet users 125,000 (2005)

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WiMAX in Puerto Cabezas

• My Proposal is to provide WiMAX Wireless
  Communications for Puerto Cabezas.
  
• Also referred to as Puerto or simply Port.
• Never called Bilwi (a second name for the
  town).
  
• Located on the Northeast Caribbean Coast of
  Nicaragua.
  
• Other rural areas of Nicaragua can employ the
  same usage model as well.

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Puerto Cabezas
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Why Puerto Cabezas?

• Very Remote and Rural even though on the
  Caribbean.
  
• Has phone lines and power (power regularly goes
  out) and lies in fairly flat coastal lowlands
  which keeps the LOS challenges lower.
  
• A fairly good familiarity with the location since
  my Wife has been there 5 times and have
  contacts.
  
• They need it!!!

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Getting to Puerto Cabezas

• How to get there from Managua.
• Two to three day overland bus trip
• Flying via La Costena Airlines.

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WiMAX in Puerto Cabezas

• Minimal or no infrastructure.
• There are minimal phone lines but does have an
  internet café.
  
• Minimal basic services, lots of garbage and
  polluted water ways.
  
• No good roads mostly dirt and cobble stone
  streets.
  
• Power goes out regularly.
• Take advantage of Solar power where possible
• WiMAX can bypass getting additional
  infrastructure.
  
• Puerto Cabezas local control and usage of
  Wireless resource.

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How Peoples Names Appear

• Spanish surnames for men and unmarried women
  usually consist of two parts the patrilineal
  name followed by the matrilineal.
  
• For Daniel José Ortega Saavedra, Ortega is his
  father's name and Saavedra is his mother's maiden
  name.
  
• In Non-formal use, the matrilineal name is often
  dropped. When a woman marries, she generally
  drops her matrilineal name and replaces it with
  her husband's patrilineal name preceded by a
  "de".
• Cristina Chamorro Barrios married Antonio Lacayo
  Oyanguren, she became Cristina Chamorro de
  Lacayo. In informal use, a married woman's
  patrilineal name is dropped (Cristina Lacayo is
  the informal usage.)
• Sometimes the matrilineal is retained when there
  may be confusion about which individual is being
  discussed.
  
• A minority of individuals, William Ramírez for
  example, use only the patrilineal name in formal
  as well as informal use.
  
• The patrilineal for men and unmarried women and
  the husband's patrilineal for married women is
  used for indexing and bibliographic purposes.