NICARAGUA: Total Ban on Abortion Violates Human Rights, Says UN

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) described the criminalisation of abortion under any circumstances in Nicaragua as a violation of human rights.

NICARAGUA: Literacy Campaign Changing Women’s Lives

Lorena Castillo was 10 years old when she was told that her lot in life was to become a good homemaker and a devoted wife and mother. But she would learn none of that at school, her father said when she asked to be allowed to go with her brothers to the school in her rural Nicaraguan village.

NICARAGUA: Universal Primary Education Still Far Off

Damaris Aguilar had to pull her daughter out of school this year. "My oldest child is already in fifth grade; now we're waiting for the situation to improve so that she can go on learning," says the 34-year-old Nicaraguan mother of two.

NICARAGUA: Caribbean Women Face Double Discrimination

The first criminal prosecution for racial discrimination in Nicaragua, in response to a complaint brought by a woman lawmaker in the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), has focused attention on the segregationist treatment of indigenous and Afro-Caribbean women in the Caribbean coastal regions.

NICARAGUA: Cleaning Up ‘World’s Biggest Toilet’

After dumping its untreated wastewater into lake Managua for more than 80 years, the capital of Nicaragua has started to clean up the huge source of water in this country, where 80 percent of fresh water sources are polluted.

NICARAGUA-RUSSIA: Ortega Embraces Kremlin

The government of Nicaragua is seeking Russia’s support in a strategy that some analysts view as risky for the future diplomatic relations of this Central American nation.

NICARAGUA: Post-Election Chaos

Nicaragua’s electoral authorities will allow a recount of the votes in the capital cast in the Nov. 9 municipal elections to go ahead, in response to the right-wing opposition’s allegations of fraud.

NICARAGUA: Name and Identity for Thousands of Indigenous Children

Some 250,000 indigenous children and adolescents who had no legal identity in Nicaragua are in the process of being registered - an essential step towards achieving recognition of their basic human rights.

NICARAGUA: US Fourth Fleet Treads Fine Line

The newly reactivated U.S. Fourth Fleet began its operations in Latin American waters with a humanitarian mission that made its first stop in Nicaragua, before heading on to six other countries of the Caribbean and Central and South America.

NICARAGUA: Asylum for Refugees – At Last

Salvadoran refugee Matías Carazo has lived in legal limbo in Nicaragua for more than 26 years. In 1982 he fled from the military in his country who accused him of being a sympathiser of the leftwing guerrillas, and only now is he able to seek protection under a law granting him official refugee status.

LATIN AMERICA: NGOs Under Fire

Civil society groups are facing smear campaigns and threats in Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, according to human rights activists and information gathered by IPS.

POLITICS-NICARAGUA: Hard Times for Ortega

Economic problems and persistent poverty, along with his unconditional support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and expressions of sympathy towards Colombia’s guerrillas, have plunged Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s approval ratings to a new low, analysts say.

NICARAGUA: Asylum for Survivors of Attack on FARC Camp

The Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega granted asylum to two young Colombian women who survived a Mar. 1 bombing raid by the armed forces of their country on a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuador.

LATIN AMERICA: Food Summit Declares Regional Emergency

The presidential summit on "Food for Life", held in Nicaragua, has ended with 16 Latin American countries agreeing to produce more food and sell it at low prices through strategic alliances, amid criticisms of free markets and capitalism.

NICARAGUA: A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall

Having been hit by three hurricanes and 25 tropical storms in less than 10 years, Nicaragua is looking ahead to the next rainy season, due to begin in May, with wariness and trepidation.

NICARAGUA: Houses Without Water or Water Without Houses?

Authorities in Nicaragua are facing the dilemma of generating thousands of jobs through the development of the construction and real estate industry in the capital or putting a priority on future water supplies for the city’s 1.2 million people.

NICARAGUA: Fighting Over Society’s Scraps

Thousands of people who eke out a living by selling recyclable trash scavenged from the municipal dump in the Nicaraguan capital are staging a protest over control of the city’s waste, blocking access to the dump by the garbage trucks.

ENVIRONMENT-NICARAGUA: Indigenous Groups Sound Forest Fire Alarm

Indigenous community leaders have sent a letter to the Nicaraguan authorities requesting protection against the risk of a potentially huge forest fire that would endanger about 60,000 families.

DISARMAMENT-NICARAGUA: Landmine-Free by 2009?

Military sources in Nicaragua and Organisation of American States (OAS) officials warned that dozens of minefields remain live and dangerous in this country - a legacy of the 1981-1990 civil war.

DEVELOPMENT-NICARAGUA: Despite Efforts, MDGs Still Distant Goals

Despite the social plans implemented by the government of Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua has made little progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), say independent analysts.

NICARAGUA: Aid for Former Combatants Finally Comes Through

Nearly 17 years after the end of Nicaragua’s civil war, the details of the demobilisation accords are finally beginning to be implemented under the government of leftist President Daniel Ortega, amidst scepticism and hope on the part of former combatants.