Word: chamorros
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...Chamorro and the Military...
Meanwhile, the political upheaval scares off foreign investors. The government's failure to return all the properties unjustly confiscated by the Sandinistas and to diminish Sandinista influence on policy has also put off some aid donors, most notably the U.S. During the first two years of Chamorro's term, Washington gave nearly $1 billion in grants, loans and forgiven debt. But in July the Senate voted to cut off $94 million in aid, pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation of Nicaraguan army and < intelligence ties to international terrorists. The House will soon decide whether to follow suit...
...Chamorro can ill afford to let aid funds dry up. Gross domestic product is growing at an annual rate of less than 1%. Six of every 10 people are unemployed or so underemployed they have trouble buying basic necessities, and 70% of the population lives in poverty. Progress is stymied by battles over farmland, and small landowners, even recompas, complain that they cannot gain access to credit because the Sandinistas control bank disbursements...
Analysts connect the snarl of problems to a single thread: the lack of any patriotic spirit. Says Angel Saldomando of cries, a private think tank in Managua: "There is no political class with a national consciousness, no social base from which to resolve the problems." That leaves Chamorro, out of touch and over her head, fumbling to start a national dialogue. Late last week she seemed to be signaling new resolve as reports circulated that the ex- Sandinista army intelligence chief, now director of army information, was about to be dismissed...
Although the popular sentiment is to see Chamorro finish her six-year term, U.N.O. leaders may conspire to cut short her tenure. If her former allies mount a legislative challenge, Chamorro has little strength to fight back: she now commands the loyalty of only her Cabinet ministers. Yet neither Sandinista nor U.N.O. leaders are clamoring for the job. The truth is that no one wants, or knows how, to govern Nicaragua today...