Managua, Nicaragua

Managua is the capital of the Republic of Nicaragua, its largest city. In the latter half of the twentieth century, it experienced a series of crippling natural disasters as well as the civil conflict that led to the 1979 overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship. As the capital of one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, and as a major center for trade and political life, Managua remains vital to Nicaragua's future economic progress and a battered symbol of its citizens' will to rebuild and develop.

Landscape

Like Nicaragua's other major cities, Managua is located in the western portion of the country, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Pacific coast, at an elevation of 50 meters (164 feet) on the Pacific lowlands. It developed along the southern end of Lake Managua (also known by its indigenous name, Lake Xolotlán) and continues to encroach on its shoreline, especially in the form of shantytowns. Such proximity to the city has taken a toll on the lake, with the dumping of chemicals and wastewater making it unsafe for swimming and drinking.

Nearly all of Managua's city center was destroyed in the earthquake of 1972. It lay in ruins for decades following the earthquake as the country struggled with corruption, poverty, and internal conflicts, and has never been fully rebuilt. More recent urban renewal projects have given it scant attention. Though a few buildings survived the earthquake and a few others have been built in the old center, much of the land resembles a public park area with numerous condemned buildings. Newer, low-lying buildings were also built beyond the original center, especially spreading to its south. With the city at risk from more than a dozen fault lines, seismologists have forecast that Managua will experience a serious earthquake approximately every fifty years.

Managua has a tropical climate, with moderate-to-hot temperatures throughout the year. It is one of the greenest cities in Central America due to its warm climate and heavy annual rainfall. Most precipitation falls during the rainy season between June and October, with October experiencing an average of 344 millimeters (13.5 inches) of rainfall. April is the hottest month, averaging 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit), while the cooler months are between November and February, with an average of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in December.

Climate change in Managua has caused changes in precipitation, rising sea levels, and more intense and frequent extreme weather events. This has caused a decrease in agricultural production, water insecurity, coastal flooding, and poor human health.

People

Metropolitan Managua had a population of approximately 1.083 million people in 2022, with 1.04 million inhabiting the city proper in 2017, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency and the National Institute of Development Information (INIDE).. Economically, the city's population is distinguished by the marked contrast between the wealthy and the impoverished.

The population grew quickly during the latter half of the twentieth century, as members of the rural population resettled in the capital in search of better opportunities. Throughout the 1980s, Managua's population increased as villagers from rural areas of the central highlands sought safety from guerillas seeking to destabilize the government.

Managua is characteristic of Nicaragua's Pacific lowlands and central highlands in terms of ethnic make-up, religion, and language. In contrast to the Atlantic coast—where indigenous and African ethnicities are dominant, indigenous languages and English are spoken, and Protestantism is the main religion—the population of Managua is predominantly mestizo (a mixture of Spanish and indigenous descent), Spanish-speaking, and Roman Catholic. A small minority of whites from Europe and North America also live in Managua.

Managua is divided into numerous neighborhoods called barrios that have developed along social and economic lines. While there are affluent neighborhoods, such as Las Colinas, as well as neighborhoods inhabited by the growing middle class, many of the city's residents live in shantytowns or working-class neighborhoods, some of which have become integrated into the city. In the poorest quarters, public services such as water and electricity are erratic or undeveloped, unemployment is high, violence is common, and the effects of natural disasters are experienced more acutely. Economic polarization has been further pronounced by the recent development of roads and business districts that cater to the affluent and bypass the city's poorer districts.

Economy

Nicaragua's gross domestic product (GDP) was 3.8 percent in 2022. However, the country had high inflation, which surged to 10.5 percent. Inflation was driven by higher prices on imported food and fuel and higher domestic consumption. About 30 percent of people in the country live in poverty.

Nicaragua's economy is overwhelmingly based on agricultural production. One major sector of Managua's economy involves the processing of crops such as coffee, cotton, tobacco and sugarcane that are grown elsewhere in the country for export distribution. Local factories also produce textiles and apparel. Essential services centered in the capital include the national banking system and the country's only international airport.

Several international corporations, attracted by the large labor force and relatively low costs of operations, maintain factories in Managua. Accusations that some of these corporations operate sweatshops, in which employees are overworked and underpaid, had little effect on often poor working conditions and few if any labor rights. Many of these corporations operate within the state-owned Las Mercedes Industrial Free-Trade Zone, where numerous products are assembled. Annual exports from Managua's free-trade zone constituted just over one-third of the value produced by all of Nicaragua's free-trade zones in 2016 alone.

Landmarks

Natural disasters and unplanned urban growth have contributed to one of the more unique aspects of Managua's layout—few streets are named and few buildings are numbered. Locals use landmarks in order to navigate their way around the city.

Markets are an important part of Managua's character and economy. Among the largest are Mercado Roberto Huembe and Mercado Oriental. A wide variety of products are available at these markets, and the majority of Nicaraguans do their shopping there. Mercado Roberto Huembe is also renowned for its traditional arts and crafts.

Few structures in Managua's city center survived the 1972 earthquake. Among them are the Old Cathedral which, because of extensive damage, is condemned; and the Ruben Dario National Theatre, named for the country's preeminent poet, which remains an important venue for Nicaraguan culture. The center is also known for Revolutionary Square, a public space in which political rallies have frequently taken place.

Monuments to poets and the revolutionaries abound in Managua. These include a monument to poet Ruben Dario; statues and murals of Augusto Cesar Sandino, an early fighter against imperialism for whom the Sandinistas were named; and the tomb of Carlos Fonseca, the founder of the National Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN).

History

Managua started as a fishing village on the shores of Lake Managua and was home to a small indigenous population. Nicaragua attained independence from Spain in 1821 and became an independent republic in 1838. The long-standing rivalry between the two colonial cities of Leon and Granada came to the fore as they competed to become the nation's capital. In order to settle the dispute, Managua was chosen as the new capital in 1855.

In addition to becoming the seat of government, the development of the railroad also contributed to Managua's emergence as a major center of commerce. The city was connected to coffee-growing regions in the central highlands in 1898 and to the port of Corinto, on the Pacific Coast, five years later. As a result, Managua's population grew quickly.

The city's history has been defined by several natural and man-made disasters. In 1931, a major earthquake caused extensive damage. Five years later, large portions of the city were destroyed in a fire. The most destructive event to date was the earthquake of 1972. The city center was flattened, and an estimated 10,000 people were killed. Another 20,000 people were injured and 300,000 were made homeless, since the earthquake damaged or destroyed approximately 80 percent of the city's housing.

Before the earthquake, there had been sporadic armed resistance to the dictatorship of the Somozas, a succession of family members which had ruled Nicaragua since 1937. After the earthquake, however, then dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle and his cronies embezzled much of the international aid which was flowing into the country and turned a significant profit through his landholdings as well as his factories that produced building materials. A drastic surge in resistance to his rule followed.

Parts of Managua were damaged in fighting between members of the resistance and the dictator-controlled National Guard, and in 1979, the FSLN entered Managua and took control of the government. The period between 1979 and 1990, the year the Sandinistas lost power, were marked by extreme political and economic upheaval as the US-backed Contra guerillas attempted to destabilize the government. Though they did not bring the civil conflict to Managua, the city experienced severe deprivation brought on by the sapping of public funds for the war and the economic embargoes placed by the United States. Nicaraguans fleeing the war zones in the central highlands also increased Managua's population.

Between 1990 and 2006, more conservative, business-oriented governments held power in Nicaragua. Some urban renewal projects were undertaken in Managua during this period, though many of the changes benefited only the city's small upper class and a few international corporations. Projects to restore the city center and improve amenities for the majority of Managuans were rumored but not yet undertaken.

Nicaraguan president José Daniel Ortega Saavedra took office in January 2007 and continued to hold this position in 2024. He is known for repressing dissent and silencing critics. He has closed universities and media outlets and escalated attacks on the Catholic Church. He has jailed those opposing his presidency, stripping them of their nationality.

In March 2014, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake occurred 14 kilometers off the coast of Nicaragua near Masachapa. The earthquake was felt in Managua and along the Pacific coast, but no one was injured.

Economic growth improved and poverty declined, as Nicaragua benefited from a favorable oil deal with socialist Venezuela that helped the Nicaraguan government to fund popular social programs. Declining oil prices beginning around 2014 and instability in Venezuela posed significant challenges for Nicaragua, however. When, in April 2018, Ortega proposed hikes to employee contributions to the social security system, pensioners organized demonstrations in Managua and received students' support. Protests soon spread to other cities. The government cracked down violently, killing hundreds of protesters, jailing activists and dissenters, and shuttering press offices and humanitarian organizations over the ensuing months.

Bibliography

Guevara, Alberto. Performance, Theatre, and Society in Contemporary Nicaragua: Spectacles on Gender, Sexuality, and Marginality. Cambria, 2014.

Hartmann, Christopher D. "Garbage, Health, and Well-Being in Managua." NACLA Report on the Americas, vol. 46, no. 4, 2013, pp. 62+.

McConnell, Shelley A., Salvador Martá; i Puig, and David Close. The Sandinistas and Nicaragua since 1979. Rienner, 2011.

"Nicaragua." World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 29 Feb. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nicaragua/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

Revels, Craig S. "Placing Managua: A Landscape Narrative in Post-Earthquake Nicaragua." Journal of Cultural Geography, vol. 31, no. 1, 2014, pp. 81–105.

Robles, Frances. "In Nicaragua, Ortega Was on the Ropes. Now, He Has Protesters on the Run." The New York Times, 24 Dec. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-daniel-ortega.html. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

Shillington, Laura J. "Right to Food, Right to the City: Household Urban Agriculture, and Socionatural Metabolism in Managua, Nicaragua." Geoforum, vol. 44, 2013, pp. 103+.

Walker, Thomas W., and Christine J. Wade. Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle, 5th ed., Westview, 2011.

World Trade Press. Nicaragua: Society & Culture. World Trade, 2012.