Nicaragua

“ Nicaragua was a country of many natural advantages. Its people appeared to be of better caliber than those of Honduras. Its area—49,200 square miles—was the greatest in Central America. Its land was all suitable for cultivation. Its potential wealth—in mahogany and hardwoods, in gold and silver and other metals—is estimated by many authorities to exceed that of any of its neighbors. Yet the imports and exports of this largest republic were far below those of Salvador, the smallest. ”

“ Barker's brow, however, was still a little clouded.
"And the yellow paper," he began, with anxious friendliness, "and the red rag . . ."
"The yellow paper and the red rag," said Fuego, with indescribable grandeur, "are the colours of Nicaragua."
"But Nicaragua . . ." began Barker, with great hesitation, "Nicaragua is no longer a . . ."
"Nicaragua has been conquered like Athens. Nicaragua has been annexed like Jerusalem," cried the old man, with amazing fire. "The Yankee and the German and the brute powers of modernity have trampled it with the hoofs of oxen. But Nicaragua is not dead. ”

“ Introduction Nicaragua Background: The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. ”

“ Nicoya spoke the truth when he pronounced Nicaragua a wise man. There is great advantage in possessing an intellect unclouded by learning. He was both wise and honest enough to manifest amazement when messengers brought to him things amazing. "Tell those who sent you," said Nicaragua, "that I know not their king and therefore cannot do him homage; that I fear not their sharp swords, but love peace rather than war; gold has little value, they are welcome to what I have. ”

“ Nicaragua — "Mahomet's Paradise" — Buccaneering visitors — Philip II. and an Isthmian Canal — Nelson defeated by a girl — The apocryphal heroine of San Carlos.
Nature in lavishing her favours on Nicaragua, left little for man to add. It is a tropical country with a temperate climate, one half of its territory having a mean elevation of 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. In that favoured land the primeval curse is stayed; where nature forestalls every necessity, no need for man to toil or want. ”

“ At this time in Nicaragua there was the usual revolution. On the south the sister republic of Costa Rica was taking sides, on the north Honduras was landing arms and men. There was no law, no government. A dozen political parties, a dozen commanding generals, and not one strong man.
In the editorial rooms of the San Francisco Herald, Walker, searching the map for new worlds to conquer, rested his finger upon Nicaragua. ”

“ In Nicaragua the struggle has extra meaning, because that nation is so near our own borders. The recent revelations of a former high-level Sandinista major, Roger Miranda, show us that, even as they talk peace, the Communist Sandinista government of Nicaragua has established plans for a large 600,000-man army. Yet even as these plans are made, the Sandinista regime knows the tide is turning, and the cause of Nicaraguan freedom is riding at its crest. ”

“ The republic of Nicaragua, probably the most important section of Central America, is bounded on the south by Costa Rica, on the north-west by Honduras, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south-west by the Pacific. [XXVII-22] Nicaragua has a few insignificant isles or cays on her coasts of both oceans.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS.
The republic is politically divided into seven departments; namely, Granada, Leon, Rivas, Chinandega, Chontales, Matagalpa, and Nueva Segovia. Their capitals or head towns are respectively Granada, Leon, Rivas, Chinandega, Acoyapa, Matagalpa, and Ocotal. ”

“ If the eastern part of Nicaragua, on account of its almost impenetrable forests and damp climate, is less fit to be the dwelling-place of a highly cultivated people, the western portion, on the contrary, is much [Pg 4] more happily endowed in this respect and seems to be marked out by nature itself to become one of the centres of mankind’s civilization. By its smiling valleys, fertile plains, and thinner, but shadowy forests, by its splendid lakes, gently flowing rivers, and verdant mountains the country appears well able to tempt even the most exacting people to settle in it. ”

“ That the courage and sacrifice of different sectors comprising the nation have created, in the face of repression, the conditions for the liberation of Nicaragua, faithful to the historic tradition that has led them to rise up in arms when their freedom and democratic aspirations have been snatched away from them ”

“ On regional conflicts, the peoples of Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola, and Cambodia are entitled to free, independent, and democratically chosen governments. And I will make it unmistakably clear that we view the freedom and independence of Nicaragua-a country on our very own continent-as vital to our own national security. ”

“ By the treaty of 1860 between Great Britain and Nicaragua, the former Government expressly recognized the sovereignty of the latter over the strip, and a limited form of self-government was guaranteed to the Mosquito Indians, to be exercised according to their customs, for themselves and other dwellers within its limits. The so-called native government, which grew to be largely made up of aliens, for many years disputed the sovereignty of Nicaragua over the strip and claimed the right to maintain therein a practically independent municipal government. ”

“ Such favorable conditions have not failed to gather a population which is not only the most numerous comparatively, but also the most industrious in Central America. Northern Nicaragua is a continuation of Salvador in its features and inhabitants; but the central and southern parts are low and have more the character of the Guatemalan coast, the climate being hot, yet not unhealthful. ”

“ Pedrarias, who was then in command at Panama, stimulated by the accounts of the rich country that Gonzales had discovered, sent Hernando de Cordova in 1522 to subdue and settle the country of Nicaragua. Pascual de Andagoya tells the story of the rich land, "populous and fertile, yielding supplies of maize, and many fowls of the country, and certain small dogs which they also eat, and many deer and fish. This is a land of abundance of good fruits and of honey and wax, wherewith all the neighbouring countries are supplied. ”

“ Many will, however, smile at the objection I have to emigration to Nicaragua, when they perceive that it is founded only on the ease with which people can live in plenty there. There is one form of colonisation that will be successful, and that is the gradual moving down southward of the people of the United States. When the destiny of Mexico is fulfilled, with one stride the Anglo-American will bound to the Isthmus of Panama, and Central America will be filled with cattle estates, and with coffee, sugar, indigo, cotton, and cacao plantations. ”

“ Some day in the near future the American capitalist will retire, leaving Nicaragua in excellent shape for progress.
Since the Latin-American lives completely in the present, the Nicaraguan can not appreciate work that builds for future prosperity. He sees no visible result of the American coöperation. He knows only that his country has been at a standstill since the Americans came. He loudly damns the gringo. And all Latin America echoes his accusations against the scheming Colossus of the North. So, unfortunately, does many an American resident in Nicaragua. ”

“ Nicaragua forms an irregular equilateral triangle with its base stretching for 280 m. along the Caribbean Sea from Cape Gracias à Dios southwards to the San Juan delta, and its apex at the Coseguina volcano, on the Bay of Fonseca, which separates Nicaragua on the Pacific side from Salvador. The frontier which separates the republic from Honduras extends across the continent from east-north-east to west-south-west. ”

“ The condition of Nicaragua would, it is believed, have been much more prosperous than it has been but for the occupation of its only Atlantic port by a foreign power, and of the disturbing authority set up and sustained by the same power in a portion of its territory, by means of which its domestic sovereignty was impaired, its public lands were withheld from settlement, and it was deprived of all the maritime revenue which it would otherwise collect on imported merchandise at San Juan del Norte. ”

“ The blind, the lame, and the sick are the only beggars I ever saw in Nicaragua. The necessaries of life are easily procured. Very little clothing is required. Any one may plant maize or bananas; and there is plenty of work for all who are willing or obliged to labour; so the healthy and strong amongst the poorer classes lead an easy and pleasant life, but the sick and incapacitated amongst them are really badly off. There is a great indifference amongst the natives to the wants of their comrades struck down by sickness or accident, and hospitals and asylums are unknown. ”

“ Now, I must address recent disturbing events in a country close to our borders-the Communist dictatorship in Nicaragua. Nicaragua today is an imprisoned nation. It is a nation condemned to unrelenting cruelty by a clique of very cruel men-by a dictator in designer glasses and his comrades, drunk with power and all its brutal applications. ”

“ Nicaragua, under American supervision, has made progress, but it is a progress which, both to the permanent resident and the casual tourist, is altogether invisible.
Outwardly, since the coming of the bankers, the republic has marked time. No large industries have been introduced. No railways have been built. The greater part of the country is without means of communication or development. The cities are in worse repair than those of Honduras. ”

“ Nicaragua.—Of nearly the same area as Honduras, Nicaragua is chiefly distinguished by its lower level and the great lake which offers so inviting a route for an inter-oceanic canal. The same fertility and genial climate extend from the Hondureñan uplands into Chontales and Segovia, where Northerners can enjoy life; but it is hot and unwholesome near the sea, especially throughout the Mosquito Reservation, where the frequent river-floods and the miasmatic marshes breed an endemic fever very fatal to Europeans. ”

“ The consequence is that nearly all the foreign settlers in Nicaragua from amongst the European and North American labouring classes have fallen into the same lazy habits as the Nicaraguans, and whenever I have been inclined to blame the natives for their indolence, some recollection of a fellow-countryman who has succumbed to the same influences has arrested my harsher judgment. ”

“ The year 1872 was a happy one for Nicaragua. Not only was peace consolidated, but party animosity greatly decreased. Trade and agriculture yielded good results; the public administration was much improved; the treasury also felt easy, and public credit was restored. Congress assembled on the appointed day, and the president's message contained an encouraging report. He said that the rights of citizens had been respected, and an asylum allowed to the refugees of other states, including the jesuits. ”

“ Then he went forward north-westwardly six leagues into the next province, and found there a cluster of six towns, of two thousand inhabitants each, all the towns being less than two leagues apart. These people, jealous lest Nicaragua should secure to himself all the efficacies of the mysterious rite, came forward in multitudes to receive it, freely giving the Spaniards gold and food and slaves. ”

“ When, and how do the sun and moon change their brightness? Why is the night dark and the winter cold, since light and warmth are so much better? (Herrera, Decad. III, Lib. IV, cap. V.)
[17] The leading authorities on the antiquities of Nicaragua are E. G. Squier, Nicaragua, Its People, Scenery and Monuments, together with his numerous other works pertaining to Central America; and the reports of Dr. Earl Flint and Dr. J. F. Bransford, to the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Habel and Dr. Berendt also made numerous investigations, but their reports have not appeared in adequate detail. ”

“ Nicaragua at once sent a force to the frontier, and Minister Delgadillo started for Honduras to obtain permission from the government to pursue the invaders within her limits, which being granted, the Nicaraguans marched from Somotillo into Honduras, and acting in accord with another force from Salvador, the invaders abandoned Corpus, and repaired to Tegucigalpa, where Tinoco capitulated. ”

“ Alvarado committed many cruelties, and pacified the land at great cost to the inhabitants. He took away many people for the expedition he made to Peru, and made slaves as in Nicaragua, so that there has been a great diminution in the number of inhabitants in that land. It is a very fertile and healthy country. This government contains the city of Santiago, and the towns of San Salvador and San Miguel, which is on the confines of Nicaragua. The people of this land are like those of New Spain. In the year 1541, the Indians killed the Adelantado Don Pedro de Alvarado, on his way from Mexico. ”