Word: managua
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Last week the Managua regime unveiled a desperate strategy to tame Nicaragua's hyperinflated economy. The government replaced the existing currency, the cordoba, which was officially valued at 20,000 to the U.S. dollar, with a new cordoba pegged at ten to the dollar. The monetary shuffle, coupled with drastic price increases, left many of the country's 3.3 million citizens baffled and worried about their purchasing power. A gallon of gas that used to cost the equivalent of 16 cents, for example, now costs $1.50. Explaining the decision to change the currency last week, Economist Mario Arana declared, "Things...
Instead of galvanizing the economy, however, the shock treatment appeared to be paralyzing it. By week's end there were strong indications that the currency would be discredited before the new notes lost their crispness. At an open-air market in Masaya, about 15 miles from Managua, women hawking rice and beans complained that the official price guidelines amounted to selling at a loss. One woman, who said her morning's sales totaled 50 cents, demanded, "Am I supposed to feed my family with this...
...month, the government imposed a nationwide energy emergency. Thousands of workers were laid off amid production slowdowns at large factories. Government ministries now close at midday, and TV broadcasts are limited to four hours at night. Daily power cuts of several hours are parceled out to each region. In Managua whole neighborhoods are plunged without warning into darkness, giving the capital an eerie resemblance to the Rumanian capital of Bucharest, where government-enforced blackouts have been imposed for years...
...effects of the power cuts. Last year the Soviet Union signaled its displeasure with Sandinista waste and inefficiency by reducing oil deliveries. By Christmas, motorists were camping overnight in mile-long queues for the chance to buy 5 gal. of gasoline. Angry customers overpowered the attendants at some Managua service stations and helped themselves to the fuel...
...young men taken into custody, surged through the streets chanting "Join us." The mob swelled to about 1,000, stoned a police station and torched several government-owned vehicles. To quell the disturbances, Interior Minister Tomas Borge personally led a force of paramilitary units from the capital of Managua. Authorities detained 16 antigovernment activists...