Above photo: Children eating at school.
Nicaragua plays an essential role in the development of Central America not only because of its geographical position in the center of the isthmus but also because of the success of its revolutionary model of socio-economic democratization. Nicaragua has demonstrated that public policies for development focused on the needs of the human person yield better results than a neoliberal focus on corporate profits. Nicaragua’s productive economy is highly competitive with the economies of its neighboring countries, while its public sector responds much better to the aspirations of the families of the vast majority of its population.
The unquestionable success of revolutionary socio-economic development
To understand this reality it is necessary to look at the macroeconomic figures of the region:
The obvious question given this data is how has it been possible for Nicaragua, being the geographically largest country in the region but with the smallest economy, to ensure its population’s access to electricity coverage at 99.7% nationally and access to drinking water at 95%, the best in the region. In addition, the government guarantees free health care for the entire population and free education from preschool to university, including technical education. At the regional level, among many other indicators, Nicaragua has the best roads, by far the largest number of hospitals in the public system, the best citizen security, the best agricultural and livestock health system and the best disaster prevention system.
The answer to the question, of course, is that all these extraordinary achievements are due to good government by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, led by Comandante Daniel Ortega and Compañera Rosario Murillo during almost 20 victorious years. The most important component of this Sandinista model of good government has been the fundamental concept of the People as President, which is expressed in the government’s constant attention to the needs and aspirations of the country’s people, of women and men of all ages, of all social classes and of all regions and ethnicities. Far beyond the reduction of poverty reflected in macroeconomic figures, it is a question of comprehensive socio-economic democratization that improves the life of the human person in every way.
The nominal figures for poverty in Central America indicate that Honduras and Guatemala have the highest percentages, above 45% in each country, while Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica have levels of about 14%. In Panama, the richest country in the region, it is reported that poverty affects about 20% of its population. A fundamental element for reducing poverty is full employment of the economically active population. With an unemployment rate of around 3% of its population, Nicaragua has the lowest unemployment level of the main countries in the region with the possible exception of Guatemala. El Salvador reflects 5%, Costa Rica almost 7% and Honduras and Panama more than 8%. In addition, low income families are the protagonists of government policies which, for example, guarantee low cost electricity for households with a monthly usage of less than 150kW and practically symbolic fares for the use of urban public transport.
The challenge of regional urbanization
One of the challenges common to all Central American governments has been how to assimilate the growing movement of their rural populations towards cities. It has been calculated that by 2030, Central America will be among the most urbanized regions of the world with 77% of its population located in cities. Pressure will be tremendous on infrastructure such as housing, public transport, schools and hospitals from this rapid process of population movement, which is due to the desire of rural families to improve their standard of living. And in this aspect of comprehensive planning to respond to the challenge of demographic movements Nicaragua has also been a model for the region.
The permanent investment of the government in innovative credit and technical assistance programs for agricultural producers has made possible a remarkable and progressive increase in the productive activity of rural families. In itself, this economic advance of the rural sector mitigates and decreases any accelerated movement of the rural population to the cities. And the better standard of living of the rural population due to a dynamic economic activity is also complemented by a better provision of health care and greater infrastructure for education and technical education. Now the University In The Coutnryside program reaches about 30,000 students in the country’s rural areas.
Distance Secondary Education is taught in 450 schools in rural areas with 50,000 students who also participate in Productive Vocation courses. A daily school snack providing 30% of the daily food needs for 1.2 million students is guaranteed throughout the school year through more than 11,000 School Meals Committees. At the beginning of the school year, the presidency guarantees a voucher to strengthen the economic capacity of families so as to ensure their children’s school attendance, which is of special importance in ensuring that rural families can realize their children’s aspirations for a better life.
To reduce the gap in the supply of decent housing and guarantee enough houses for the population, the government promotes the construction of 8,000 houses a year along with programs to help families repair and build their own houses that have helped about 150,000 families since 2007. In the public transport sector, the public transport bus fleet has been completely renewed, with thousands of buses imported from Russia and China. The constant improvements and permanent maintenance on the roads throughout the country ensure the ability to absorb future increases in vehicle transport. Similarly, the spectacular new urban highways in the capital Managua guarantee greater safety and more fluidity for the massive daily flow of vehicles essential to ensure the socio-economic development of the entire country
Nicaragua guarantees regional stability
All this enormous effort of the public sector led by Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario has ensured that Nicaragua acts as a strong influence for regional economic stability. In that regard, the country’s good government has been exemplary in its efforts to promote regional integration based on mutually beneficial economic development, respect for the sovereign interests of each country and cooperation on health, environmental and common security issues against organized crime and drug trafficking. In fact, as the Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa has commented, the Central American region “constitutes the fourth largest economy in Latin America, surpassed only by Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.” Nicaragua’s Trade Ministry reports that Nicaragua receives 28% of its imports from Central America, which is also the destination of 16% of our country’s exports.
Thus, Nicaragua plays a crucial role in Central American economic integration. Its central geographical position on the isthmus makes it an essential transit area for regional trade, transport and tourism. Thanks to the regional stability promoted with so much effort by our Sandinista government, resulting from the historic commitment of the FSLN to regional integration, the economic growth of the Gross Domestic Product in Central America of about 4% per year significantly exceeds the average of Latin America and the Caribbean which is only between 2% and 3% per year. For the moment, mainly due to US government interference in the region, the Central American Integration System has been paralyzed, but several important aspects of regional integration are still working.
Among the institutions in which Nicaragua actively participates in regional coordination are the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic, the Central American Commission on Environment and Development, the Central American Monetary Council, the Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic, the Conference of the Central American Armed Forces and the Commission of Police Chiefs and Directors of Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Colombia. There are constant exchanges on regional health issues and also on the development of education at the regional level. Nicaragua is recognized as a regional and international reference in education, as the then representative of UNESCO explained in 2023, “We say inside UNESCO, Nicaragua teaches us, Nicaragua teaches you abou many topics. People look to Nicaragua to offer guidance on education for other countries.”
The moral and spiritual strength of the revolutionary model
It is indisputable that only the Sandinista Popular Revolution could have made it possible for Nicaragua to achieve so many socio-economic victories in just 20 years after the catastrophe of 17 years of misrule by neoliberal administrations that served the US empire. Even the US dominated international financial institutions which continue to block new financing to the country recognize the outstanding honesty and efficiency of the government of Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario. What guarantees this integrity in public administration distinguishing Nicaragua from its neighboring countries has been the commitment of our Government of Reconciliation and National Unity to social cohesion, prioritizing people’s love of their nation and of their cultural identity.
Compared to the neighboring countries of the Central American region, Nicaragua has a more highly developed moral and spiritual strength which was expressed in the recent reform of the country’s political Constitution. The Constitution’s new preamble names the national heroes and forebears: the caciques Diriángen and Nicarao, the priest Tomás Ruíz Romero, General José Dolores Estrada, Andrés Castro and Emmanuel Mongalo, Rubén Darío, Benjamín Zeledón, Augusto C. Sandino and Blanca Stella Aráuz Pineda, Rigoberto López Pérez and Carlos Fonseca together with Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo and “all the generations of Heroes and Martyrs who forged and developed the liberation struggle for national independence.”
No other country in the region recognizes its heroic ancestors so passionately and with such commitment to their example. Although all Central American countries have outstanding cultural and political figures in their histories, in truth, none have such outstanding historical figures worldwide as Rubén Darío and General Augusto C. Sandino. Honduras rightly celebrates its cacique Lempira and General Francisco Morazán and Guatemala celebrates Tecún Umán. But only Nicaragua celebrates its national heroes with a love of country that comes from centuries of resistance and sacrifice, of overcoming all kinds of aggression and foreign imposition, which goes hand in hand with the commitment to ensure national reconciliation with all people of good faith. And only Nicaragua recognizes the contribution of all its generations of heroes and martyrs in defense of national sovereignty and independence, which is the cultural expression of the Sandinista revolutionary project to deepen true democratization of Nicaraguan society.
