ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Nicaragua. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Nicaragua. Nicaraguans can change their government democratically, although the rules governing the 2001 contest were stacked in favor of the two largest parties, a development that helped the Sandinistas pick up an additional eight congressional seats, despite the presidential loss. Violent crime is increasing in Managua and other major Nicaraguan cities, although the country remains relatively tranquil compared to some of its Central American neighbors. Like most Latin American countries, Nicaragua nominally recognizes the rights of its indigenous communities in its constitution and laws, but in practice those rights have not been respected.
