Word: nicaraguan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...there playing ball with the guys - I mean, he can't be that bad, no matter what the government says about him,' " Callahan says with a laugh. To help his Mr. Baseball image, Callahan keeps several boxes of new baseballs (printed with U.S. and Nicaraguan flags) in his embassy vehicle so he can toss out a few to kids playing pickup games in roadside fields...
...Baseball has even helped Callahan score some points with government officials who call him a "yanqui imperialista" in public. At a recent private event, Sandinista hard-liner Comandante Bayardo Arce, who's also president of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, reportedly practiced some baseball diplomacy of his own with Callahan. "He puts his arm around me and says, in front of all the Sandinistas, 'This is my amigo from baseball - we share the love for the great sport of baseball,' " the ambassador said. However, he added, baseball is the only thing he and the former revolutionary can talk about...
...After posing for the picture, Victor shrugs the clunky SAM-7 off his shoulder with the help of a Nicaraguan soldier, before scampering off to check out some other anti-aircraft artillery on display at the Sandinista government's recently inaugurated "Happy Children Amusement Park." At a nearby military tent, dozens of other children and adults merrily grab at a generous selection of unloaded assault weapons of different makes and calibers, and casually take aim at passersby who move hurriedly toward other park rides. Some of the teenagers knowledgeably slide and lock the bolt handles on their assault rifles with...
...park, critics claim the Ortega government is starting to provided circuses without the bread. Children have a right to play and have fun, but they also have a right to sustainable development that includes health, education and protection, says María Jesús Gomez, head of the Nicaraguan Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations Working with Children and Adolescents (CODENI). Gomez says the Happy Children theme park is not a sustainable strategy to deal with problems facing children in the hemisphere's second-poorest country after Haiti...
...government has to be clear about its public policies and how it's using its resources," Gomez said, noting that the government has already had to cut budget funding for education and health. While the price tag on the Happy Children Amusement Park remains classified government information, the Nicaraguan media has estimated that the ice rink alone costs upwards of $2 million - roughly the same amount the government spent this year on it equally opaque program for street children...