1986 Edition

Agriculture

fodder and silage crops, 10% of land in use is planted in field crops; main products — wool, meat, dairy products; food surplus country

main crops — cotton, coffee, sugarcane, rice, corn, beans, cattle

Aid

ODA and OOF economic aid commitments (1970-83), $406 million

economic commitments — US, including Ex-Im (FY70-82), $290 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF (1970-83), $540 million; Communist countries (1970-84), $760 million; military— US commitments (FY70-79), $20 million, Communist countries (1970-84) $515 million

Airfields

205 total, 197 usable; 26 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 51 with runways 1, 220-2,439 m

296 total, 261 usable; 8 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 11 with runways 1, 220-2,439 m

Branches

Royal New Zealand Air Force, Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army

executive and administrative responsibility formally reside in the President, Vice President, and Cabinet; in reality, the nine-member National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) shares power with and dominates the executive; National Assembly was elected in November 1984 and inaugurated in January 1985 with a mandate to draft a new constitution; the country's highest judicial authority is the Sandinistaappointed Supreme Court, composed of seven members

Sandinista People's Army, Sandinista Navy, Sandinista Air Force/Air Defense, Sandinista People's Militia

Budget

(1984/85) expenditures, $7.3 billion; receipts, $6.0 billion; deficit, $1.3 billion

1984 expenditures, $1.1 billion; revenues, $0.7 billion; converted at 50 cordobas=US$l, at highest official exchange rate

Capital

Managua

Civil air

about 40 major transport aircraft

12 major transport aircraft

Communists

CPNZ about 300, SUP about

the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN), Luis Sanchez Sancho, founded in 1944, has served as Nicaragua's Moscow-line Communist party; the Communist Party of Nicaragua (PCdeN), Eli Altamirano Perez, is an ultraleft breakaway faction from the PSN; and the Popular Action Movement — Marxist-Leninist (MAP-ML), Isidro Tellez; only the PSN was a member of the FPR alliance with the FSLN, but all three have supported the revolution; the PCdeN and MAP-ML have criticized the Sandinistas for moving too slowly toward consolidation of a Marxist-Leninist regime; each of the three Communist parties has two seats in the National Assembly

Elections

national elections were held on 4 November 1984 for president and vice president (elected for a six-year term), and a 96member National Assembly Political parties and leaders: the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) is the ruling party and dominates political life; the FSLN has 61 seats in the National Assembly; only the Liberal Party, because of its ties to the Somoza family, has been specifically banned; the government prohibited most political activities by opposition parties under the state of emergency in March 1982 and expanded the emergency decree in October 1985; the main opposition parties boycotted the elections on the grounds that the regime had not provided them with sufficient political guarantees; the democratic opposition parties include the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Luis Rivas Leiva; the Social Christian Party (PSC), Erick Ramirez; the Democratic Conservative Party of Nicaragua (PGDN), Mario Rappaccioli; the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), Alfredo Reyes Duque Estrada; the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), Virgilio Godoy; the Popular Social Christian Party (PPSC), Mauricio Diaz; and the Democratic Conservative Party (PCD), Eduardo Molina; the PSD, PSC, PGDN and PLC, as well as opposition business and union organizations form the Democratic Coordinating Board — Eduardo Rivas Gasteazoro, president; the PPSC and PLI were allied with the FSLN in the Patriotic Front of the Revolution (FPR) until early 1984 but fielded their own candidates in the elections; a proFSLN faction dominates the PCD; the PCD has 14 seats in the National Assembly, the PLI 9, and the PPSC 6; two additional relatively obscure parties, the Central American Unionist Party (PUCA) and the Revolutionary Party of the Workers (PRT), were founded in late 1984

Electric power

7,473,000 kW capacity (1985); 26.307 billion kWh produced (1985), 8,040 kWh per capita

400,000 kW capacity (1985); 1.14 billion kWh produced (1985), 350 kWh per capita Niger

Ethnic divisions

69% mestizo, 17% white, 9% black, 5% Indian

Exports

$5.5 billion (f.o.b., year ending June 1985); principal products — beef, wool, dairy

$320 million (f.o.b., 1985); cotton, coffee, chemical products, meat, sugar, seafood

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March Communications

calendar year Communications

Fishing

catch 138,000 metric tons (1983); exports— 130,000 metric tons valued at $300 million (1984)

GDP

$21.7 billion (year ending March 1985), $5,060 per capita; real average annual growth (1975-85), 1.1%

$2.9 billion (1985), $960 per capita; real GDP growth rate 1985, -7.1% (Note: conversion from national currency made at 50 cordobas=US$l, a highly overvalued official exchange rate)

Government leaders

Cdte. (Jose) Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra, President (since 10 January 1985); Sergio RAMIREZ Mercado, Vice President (since 10 January 1985)

Highways

93,137 km total (December 1980); 47,236 km paved, 45,901 km gravel or crushed stone

23,585 km total; 1,655 km paved, 2,170 km gravel or crushed stone, 5,425 km earth or graded earth, 14,335 km unimproved

Imports

$6. 0 billion (c. i. f . , year ending June 1985); principal products — petroleum, cars, trucks, machinery and electrical equipment, iron and steel, petroleum products

$850 million (f.o.b., 1985); food and nonfood agricultural products, chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, transportation equipment, machinery, construction materials, clothing, petroleum

Infant mortality rate

84/1,000(1983)

Inland waterways

1,609 km; of little importance to transportation

2,220 km, including 2 large lakes

Labor force

1,047,000 (1985); 46% service, 41% agriculture, 13% industry; 22% unemployment Nicaragua (continued)

Land boundaries

1,220 km Water

Language

Spanish (official); Englishand Indian-speaking minorities on Atlantic coast

Legal system

the Sandinista-appointed Government of National Reconstruction revoked the constitution of 1974 and issued a Fundamental Statute and a Program of the Government of National Reconstruction to guide its actions until a new constitution is drafted by the National Assembly, which was elected in November 1984

Life expectancy

men 56, women 60

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

200 nm Co<w</im?:910km People

Literacy

66%

Major industries

food processing, wood and paper products, textile production, machinery, transport equipment

food processing, chemicals, metal products, textiles and clothing, petroleum, beverages

Major trade partners

(trade year 1982/83) exports — 15% Japan, 16% Australia, 15% US, 9% UK; imports— 20% Japan, 19% Australia, 17% US, 9% UK, 5% FRG

exports — 41% EC, 13% US, 8% CACM, 24% Japan, 7% CEMA, 7% other; imports— 10% Mexico, 14% US, 9% CACM, 21% EC, 32% CEMA, 14% other (1984)

Member of

ADB, ANZUS, ASP AC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth of Nations, DAC, ESCAP, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ISO, ITU, OECD, SPF, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WSG Economy

CACM, CEMA (observer), FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB— Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS, ODECA, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPEB, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO Economy

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 31 March 1986, $500 million; about 5. 1% of central government budget North Pacific *'""' Ocean Sec regional map III Land 130,000 km2; about the size of Iowa; 50% forest; 7% arable; 7% prairie and pasture; 36% urban, waste, or other

estimated for fiscal year ending 31 December 1985, $1.4 billion; 50% of central government budget (includes both defense and security expenditures) 500 km Lake

Military manpower

males 15-49, 881,000; 633,000 fit for military service; about 30,000 reach military age (20) annually

males 15-49, 678,000; 419,000 fit for military service; 33,000 reach military age (18) annually

Monetary conversion rate

NZ$1.88=US$1 (5 February 1986)

multiple exchange policy; official rates vary from 1 0-50 cordobas= US$1 (January 1986); free market 1,200 cordobas=US$l (January 1986)

National holiday

Independence Day, 15 September; Anniversary of the Revolution, 19 July

Nationality

noun — Nicaraguan(s); adjective— Nicaraguan

Natural resources

natural gas, iron sand, coal, timber

gold, silver, copper, tungsten, arable land, timber, livestock, fish

Official name

Republic of Nicaragua

Organized labor

35% of Nicaragua's labor force is organized; of the seven confederations, five are Sandinista or Marxist oriented — the government-sponsored Sandinista Workers' Central (CST), 115,000 members, including state and municipal employees; the Association of Campesino Workers (ATC), 130,000 members; the General Confederation of Independent Workers (CGI-I), approximately 15,000 members; the Workers Front, about 100 members; and the Central for Labor Action and Unity (CAUS), about 3,000 members; the other two unions are the Nicaraguan Workers' Central (CTN), 25,000 members, and the Confederation of Labor Unification (CUS), 50,000 members Government

Other political or pressure groups

the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) is an umbrella group comprising 1 1 different chambers of associations, including such groups as the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Industry, and the Nicaraguan Development Institute (INDE)

Pipelines

natural gas, 1,000 km; refined products, 160 km; condensate, 150 km

crude oil, 56 km

Political subdivisions

one national district and 16 departments; in 1982 the Sandinistas established six regions and three special zones, which both the government and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) increasingly use for administrative purposes

Population

3,342,000 (July 1986), average annual growth rate 3.3%

Ports

3 major

1 major (Corinto), 7 minor

Railroads

4,716 km total (1980); all 1.067meter gauge; 274 km double track; 113 km electrified; over 99% government owned

344 km 1.067-meter gauge, government owned; majority of system not operating; 3 km 1.435-meter gauge line at Puerto Cabezas (does not connect with mainline)

Religion

95% Roman Catholic

Telecommunications

excellent international and domestic systems; 1.7 million telephones (55 per 100 popl.); 64 AM, no FM, 14 TV stations, and 129 repeaters; submarine cables extend to Australia and Fiji Islands; 1 ground satellite station Defense Forces

low-capacity radiorelay and wire system being expanded; connection into Central American microwave net; Atlantic Ocean satellite station; 60,000 telephones (2.2 per 100 popl.); 42 AM, 6 TV stations; Intersputnik communications satellite facility planned Defense Forces

Type

republic

Voting strength

(1981 election) Parliament — National Party, 47 seats; Labor Party, 43 seats; Social Credit, 2 seats