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Visit of Violeta Chamorro 4/17/91 [OA 6897] [4]
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Visit of Violeta Chamorro 4/17/91 [OA 6897] [4]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Backup Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S; 2004-0728-F; 2005-0989-F
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Chron Files, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13752
Folder ID Number:
13752-001
Folder Title:
Visit of Violeta Chamorro 4/17/91 [OA 6897] [4]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
26
21
3
5
of
in
were
he
isth-
for
ericans
groups
onduras
Indi-
Black
are
the
of
Saint
on
the
evident
WS
are
tinians
Hon-
East-
pub-
agua's
evi-
Gua-
estizos
A HISTORY OF CONFLICT
arious
The
rest
by
Rica
is
JOHN MITCHEM
eth-
-a
ka-
Throughout its history, Central America has been influenced by events
beyond its borders. Whether during the pirate-era gun play between Great
Britain and France in the days of the Spanish Main or the Con-
tra/Sandinista struggle of modern Nicaragua, the isthmus has served as
a testing ground for superpower frictions. Today the region once again
is being washed over by waves of international events, but this time there
is much cause for hope.
The cessation of open conflict in Nicaragua and the free election of Vio-
leta Chamorro stands as a pivotal sign that the tide has turned; that Wash-
ington, Moscow, and Havana are elsewhere occupied and may cease using
the region for a proxy bloodletting. As messy an affair as the U.S. invasion
of Panama and the extradition of Manuel Antonio Noriega was, it should
be remembered that, according to polls, 80 percent of Panamanians had
had enough of their dictator and supported the American action to end
his regime-bearing in mind, of course, that it was U.S. influence that had
installed him in the first place.
With democratically elected governments now found from Chiapas to
the Darien rain forest, there is a temptation to presume that all the suffer-
ing and strife is over for the Central American people. This is not the case.
The roots of the Central American conflicts run deep. The "narcocracy"
of Noriega, the institutionalization of a fascistic military elite in Guatema-
39
40
HISTORY
la, the death squads of El Salvador, the Sandinistas' uneven experiment
in socialism and America's churlish response with an economic boycott
T
and the Contra war, were all symptoms of a deep-seated sickness. The vital
signs are improving, but lingering signs of illness are there to be found.
W
In 1989, the Faribundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) mounted an of-
reac
fensive against the government in El Salvador that took the war to the
part
mansions of the country's oligarchy, and in Guatemala, in spite of the de-
ple
mocratically-elected President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo, the military has
ty.
its tentacles deeper than ever into the economy. Students and human
the:
rights activists still "disappear."
witr
For visitors to the area, the external signs of the conflict have evaporated
poss
somewhat; but the struggle for democracy, for economic justice, for intel-
elab
lectual freedom, goes on.
a m
Central America's history is the history of exploitation-exploitation
T
of mineral wealth, of agricultural produce, and of people. There was never
mat
the spectacular influx of immigrants that produced the high level of indus-
May
try and the varied economies in North and South America. What re-
mat
sources were available were squabbled over, and authoritarian rule and
intri
military conquest were favored methods of controlling the resources.
May
of V
Any culture is the product of its traditions and history, but in Central
America the ancient and the modern live side by side every day, often over-
to P
soar
lapping, often operating simultaneously. The methods of cultivation em-
usec
ployed by the campesino, or peasant (the word doesn't carry the pejorative
lang
implications of its English translation), in Central America are identical
hous
to those employed thousands of years ago. The social and political systems
tory
of the isthmus today share the same traditions of deference to authoritari-
vote
an rule, military resolution of conflicts, and politically powerful religion
B
found in the ancient cultures of the Maya. Central America has walked
ly in
uneasily into the modern world, and ancient traditions appear to die hard.
cles
And
The Preclassic Period
of th
only
Central America's first highly developed culture evolved among the
gold
Olmec, in the area of what is today Veracruz, Mexico, near the Tuxtla
wait
Mountain range, from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 100. The Olmec are known for their
art objects, notably anthropomorphized jaguars and massive, round
Wha
headed busts of mysterious figures with thick lips, wide noses, and some
press
kind of helmetlike cap. Some anthropologists have broadly speculated the
reac
possibility of these sculptures representing some African visitors, but given
the
the importance of fertility and virility in Olmec myth, the heads probably
mon
represent healthy overfed children or men.
Olmec society was highly artistic and employed advanced mathematics
cent
Their villages had crafts specialists who never worked in agriculture, and
Mex
large pools of available labor were used for urban engineering projects.
were
Olmec society had a highly organized leadership, able to direct numerous
cent
workers and oversee sophisticated commerce. It was a society of village
the
agriculturalists ruled by high priests who inherited their power at birth
ruin
The Olmec explored far and wide, and Olmec-style carvings, paintings,
TI
ceramics, and figurines have been found from Central Mexico to El Salva-
in th
dor and Costa Rica. It was also a society, like those that followed it,
nial
plaza
founded on military conquest and colonization.
HISTORY
41
riment
oycott
The Classic Maya
le vital
found.
While Europe was still mired in the Dark Ages, the Maya civilization
an of-
reached its peak. The empire covered all of Guatemala and Belize and
to the
parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico. The classic Maya were a peo-
he de-
ple of great intellectual dynamism and wide-ranging, vivid creative activi-
y has
ty. They enjoyed great public architecture and an explosion of energy in
uman
the arts, commerce, mathematics, and astronomy. They were a people who
witnessed the rise of urbanization and sophisticated engineering. They
rated
possessed an intricate written literature based on pantheistic religions and
intel-
elaborate myth. They had a complex system of theocratic government and
a multilayered social system.
ation
The greatest intellectual achievements of the ancient Maya were in
never
mathematics, astronomy, and the development of written language. The
ndus-
Maya had sophisticated, interlocking religious and secular calendars; a
it re-
mathematic system based, like our decimal system, on the zero; and an
and
intricate knowledge of astronomy, directly inherited from the Olmec.
Mayan astronomers predicted solar eclipses and mapped out the cycles
:S.
ntral
of Venus. The Maya were the only people in the pre-Columbian Americas
to possess a developed writing system. The other ancient cultures of Me-
over-
soamerica-including the Aztec of Mexico, who postdated the Maya-
em-
used only rudimentary symbols. The most famous example of their written
ative
language is the Dresden Codex, a 24-foot-long book of folding screens now
tical
housed in the State Library of Dresden. The Dresden Codex was a divina-
tems
tory treatise on astronomy with tables of eclipse dates and five panels de-
tari-
voted to the revolutions of the planet Venus.
gion
But despite their complex intellectual greatness, the Maya were curious-
Iked
ly inept. The Maya never developed the wheel-they had no wheeled vehi-
ard.
cles and no potter's wheel. They had no beasts of burden or draft animals.
And the Maya civilization was a stone-age culture. The ancient cultures
of the Old World had their iron and bronze ages, whereas the Maya used
the
only stone blades and tools. Indians of South America were working in
gold for 2,000 years before the Spanish Conquest, but the Mezoamerican
xtla
waited until A.D. 1000.
heir
The exploitive nature of the Maya culture should not be forgotten.
nd-
Whatever greatness there was was achieved through outrageous op-
me
pression. The great levels of education in the sciences and mathematics
the
reached by the priestly classes were at the expense of thousands who toiled
/en
the land so that others could live in luxury. The magnificent architectural
bly
monuments created by the Maya were built by slaves.
The rise of the Maya cities centered in the Petén of Guatemala and adja-
CS.
cent lowlands; the areas of Chiapas, Tobasco, and southern Campeche in
nd
Mexico; Belize and western Honduras. For the most part, Maya cities
ts.
were located on rivers or in uplands between river systems. By the fifth
us
century B.C. village farming communities had formed in the Petén, and by
ge
the time of Christ, buildings were already being constructed on top of the
h.
ruins of previous structures.
;S,
The greatest Maya center was at Tikal, near the present town of Flores,
a-
in the Guatemalan department of Petén. The site is dominated by ceremo-
it,
nial buildings in the form of truncated pyramids, arranged around central
plazas that served ceremonial and athletic functions. The largest of the
42
HISTORY
central lowland Maya cities, it is estimated to have had a population of
more than 50,000 at its peak (some say as high as 100,000) with a popula-
Th
tion density of 600 per square mile. The site was surrounded by suburbs
to
extending three or four miles in every direction.
WG
Tikal's Temple IV is the highest Mayan pyramid standing, at 212 feet.
die
The pyramids were constructed of limestone blocks, carved with obsidian
ica
blades and set with mortar. The truncated tops of the pyramids served
po:
astronomical and religous functions, and ceremonial fires burned on the
are
broad stairs leading upward. Some human sacrifices took place on the top
rie:
of the pyramids, but anthropologists today conclude that human sacrifice
ans
was practiced on special religious occasions, not as a matter of common
a P
practice.
]
By A.D. 900 the great Maya ceremonial centers were quiet. To this day,
or
historians can't target the reason for the Maya decline, although a rapid,
was
dramatic decrease in population and activity seems to have taken place.
OW!
It is thought that the social structure centered around the powerful high
a n
priests broke down completely since there is evidence that the palaces were
(
occupied by peasants, who cooked food on the once-sacred steps, discard-
he
ing garbage in a haphazard manner.
his
The Maya today number about two million, and they live alongside the
que
overgrown ruins of their ancient monuments. They have mingled to a great
brir
degree with the Latin, and most speak Spanish, although 15 dialects of
whe
Maya are still spoken. The Maya are often short and sturdy of build, with
ish
broad heads, flat noses, and copper-colored skin. Many are extremely reli-
dise
gious; Catholicism as practiced in the Maya areas of Central America has
151
deeply animist overtones reflecting religions that predate Christianity
His
here. The Maya are open and friendly but they are in many ways a hum-
alm
bled people. For the most part they do not seem to share their ancestors
Ped
passion for learning or leadership. They are today a people threatened with
the
cultural decimation as modernization, war, migration to Spanish-speaking
nal
urban centers, and the exhaustion of the land conspire to break the pat-
of ti
B
terns of their ancient lifestyle.
of th
plett
The Conquest
whe
Eat, eat, thou hast bread
man
Drink, drink, thou hast water
la in
On that day, dust possess the earth
In E
On that day, a blight is on the face of the earth
inevi
of th
On that day, a cloud rises
the
On that day, a mountain rises
On that day, a strong man seizes the land
by
On that day, things fall to ruin
ly
W
G
On that day, the tender leaf is destroyed
these
On that day, the dying eyes are closed
base
On that day, three signs are on the tree
centi
On that day, three generations hang there
mass
On that day, the battle flag is raised
socie
And they are scattered afar in the forest
ply a
-The Seventh Prophecy of Chilam Balam, 15th-century Mayan book
Thes
centr
of prophecy. Translated by D. G. Brinton.
HISTORY
43
1 of
Central America was not settled by the Europeans; it was conquered.
ula-
The men who came from Spain weren't religious puritans looking for land
trbs
to farm. They did not come to create a representative democracy of hard-
working farmers. They did not come to create anything. They were sol-
eet.
diers looking for riches to loot. The conquistadores came to Central Amer-
ian
ica to extract whatever they could (gold, principally), as rapidly as
ved
possible, and then return to Spain. The early first decades of the Conquest
the
are characterized by vicious bickering, arguments over conquered territo-
op
ries, claims, counterclaims, and accusations. Whatever misfortunate Indi-
ice
ans got in the way were quickly eliminated, but there was almost always
on
a priest handy to baptize them before they died.
Partly as a result of the feudal tradition in Spain, all measures of social
or economic prestige in the colonies were a function of land-how much
id,
was owned and what it produced. Secondary to land ownership was labor
ownership, and the conquistadores divided up the Indian communities in
a merciless system of forced labor.
Central America was first claimed by Columbus, in July 1502, when
he set foot on the island of Guanaja, in the Bay Islands off Honduras, on
his fourth voyage to the New World. The principal activity of the Con-
quest's first decade was the capturing of thousands of Indians in order to
bring them to work in the mines of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola,
where natives were dying from overwork in large numbers. The first Span-
ish settlements in the isthmus, in the Darién of Panama, were beset by
disease, shipwrecks, and hostile Indians. The Pacific was discovered in
1513 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who had stowed away on a ship from
Hispaniola. Balboa came back with gold and legends of a great empire,
almost certainly the Inca, somewhere to the south. A rival conqueror,
Pedro Arias de Avila, commonly known as Pedrarias, explored north up
the isthmus, while Balboa explored the south. Pedrarias founded the origi-
nal settlement of Panamá in 1519, but not before he had Balboa convicted
of treason and beheaded by a hastily gathered court.
By 1521, Hernán Cortés had defeated the Aztecs in Mexico. The Maya
of the Yucatán were subdued by Francisco de Montejo in 1527. (The com-
plete destruction of the Maya empire would not come about until 1697,
when the last Maya leaders of the Petén were captured.) A second in com-
mand to Cortés, Pedro de Alvarado, established the kingdom of Guatema-
la in 1524. Guatemala City was founded in the Almolonga Valley in 1527.
In Honduras, to the south, Alvarado linked up with Pedrarias, and the
inevitable territorial squabble forced the Spanish to divide the territories
of the isthmus. Spain's priority was on safe passage across the isthmus for
the incredible fortunes in precious metal being looted from the Inca, and
by 1520, Central America was already one of the world's most strategical-
ly vital areas.
Gold and silver mines were established early in the century, and when
these were played out, settlers streamed in and established an agricultural
base for the colonial economy. But from Panama to Mexico, the sixteenth
century was violent with conflict-Indian revolts, followed by Spanish
massacres in reprisal. Where the Indians lived in elaborate hierarchical
societies, such as in Guatemala or parts of Mexico, the Conquest was sim-
ply a matter of removing tribal leadership and putting the masses to work.
These are the regions of Mesoamerica in which one sees the greatest con-
centration of Indian populations today. But where the Indians were no-
44
HISTORY
madic and stubborn in their refusal to be enslaved, they were massacred
en masse. For example, the Indians of Costa Rica were so fierce that they
delayed Spanish settlement until 1561. Costa Rica today has the smallest
Indian population of any Central American republic.
Once the initial violence of the Conquest was out of the way, the coloni-
zation of Central America became more economic than military. The
Spanish took all the best Indian lands, destroying the system of coopera-
p
tive farming, and reduced the natives to landless serfs. The encomienda
was designed to replace slavery. It began as a tribute-collecting system,
but eventually became a device for the steady, organized usurpation of
all Indian lands and the enslavement of indigenous populations.
The Conquest also had its religious side. A voice of benevolence in this
century of genocide was Farther Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican
priest who tried to institute less violent, more productive forms of Con-
quest. He convinced Spain to promulgate the New Laws of the Indies in
1542, which officially abolished the encomienda. The colonists vigorously
opposed the New Laws. They considered Las Casas a troublemaker and
a dangerous impediment to progress. The repartimiento, created in place
of the encomienda, replaced tribute with forced part-time labor. Indians
were supposed to work one week a month for the Spaniards, with the rest
of their time free to tend their own land. But in practice, the Indians were
still little more than slaves. Migrant, landless Indians still constitute the
backbone of much of Central American agricultural production today.
From the very beginning of the colonial period, a sense of unity among
the Central American territories proved elusive. Problems of geography
and rivalry were so severe that by 1530, Guatemala, Chiapas (now part
of Mexico), Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama functioned under separate
royal orders. It was not until 1543 that the crown unified the region by
creating the Audiencia de los Confines. This administrative unit fell apart
in 1560, with Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua under one audiencia,
and Honduras, Guatemala, and Chiapas ruled by Mexico. By 1570, Gua-
temala was again independent of Mexico. Continuity of government also
proved elusive, since the colonial administrators were, for the most part,
a rotating corps of Spanish bureaucrats, few of whom remained in the colo-
nies.
Economic development in the sixteenth century established patterns
that are still evident today. The vast majority of early agricultural produc-
tion was for domestic consumption, but indigo and cacao were exported.
For the first 50 years, productive mines ensured considerable economic
activity, but once these precious metals played out, Central America be
came something of a backwater in the Spanish empire.
In a move that would prove fateful for the region's development, Spain
also actively discouraged intercolonial trade. The colonies were used as
productive engines that shipped raw materials to Europe, imported fin-
ished products in return, and little else. Individual provinces within the
colonies were isolated from each other. Transportation was developed to
link the productive plantation lands to the ports, not with each other.
Economic and social and political power in the colonies lay in the hands
of a small number who owned productive lands, controlled substantial
numbers of Indians, and exhibited fidelity to Spain. What wealth was evi-
dent was spent on government buildings, religious institutions, and mag-
nificent plantation homes, not on the general welfare.
HISTORY
45
The Decline of Spanish Power
The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 marked the end of Spanish
naval hegemony and the consequent inability of Spain to protect imperial
power abroad. Other European powers stepped up their activities in the
Caribbean, with France, Holland, and England vigorously trading in
cacao, tobacco, and indigo. They could sell goods to the Central American
colonies for much less than the Spanish could, and by the 1660s the British
were so bold as to establish a settlement to cut lumber at the mouth of
the Belize River.
The Caribbean coasts of Central America were subjected to devastating
raids by pirates, who wreaked havoc on the Incan treasure routes. Rival
European colonies were established at Jamaica (England), the Nether-
lands Antilles, and Haiti (France), and these territories served as bases
of piracy. In 1642 the British attacked and seized Roatán, in the Bay Is-
lands off Honduras, and with the complicity of Miskito Indians they soon
were raiding the Caribbean coast as far south as Costa Rica.
In 1643 the Dutch sacked Trujillo, and the Spanish reacted by building
a series of fortresses along the Caribbean coast. Fort San Felipe on the
Río Dulce in Guatemala and Castillo Viejo on the Río San Juan in Nicara-
gua are still standing today. In 1665 and 1670, English buccaneers pene-
trated Nicaragua as far as Grenada, and the arch pirate Henry Morgan
sacked Panama City in 1671. By 1680 the British controlled the entire
Mosquito Coast (the Caribbean coast), and added slave hunting to their
list of atrocities. The general underdevelopment of the Caribbean coast
of the isthmus today can be traced back to this period, as can the thou-
sands of English-speaking people who now live on the Caribbean coasts
of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Belize.
The ascent of the Bourbon Philip V plunged the Spanish empire into
the War of the Spanish Succession. The eighteenth century would be'a
period of profound conflict. It was a period in which the European powers
carved Central America up into spheres of influence and used the isthmus
as a battleground for European strategic conflicts and economic rivalries.
The close relationship between the Bourbon monarchs of Spain and
France pumped French ideas into the Spanish world and modified Spain's
colonial policies. Anticlerical measures reduced the power of the church;
commercial reform boosted trade; administrative reforms brought in-
creased colonial efficiency; and a new emphasis was placed on the military
defense of Spanish commerce in the isthmus. The Spanish Bourbons, aided
by the French, sought to rid Central America of British influence, and
new forts were constructed from Panama to the Yucatán. Britain coun-
tered by solidifying their grasp on the Mosquito Coast, and by 1748 the
English had significant settlements at Black River, Cape Gracias a Dios,
Bluefields, Roatán, and Belize. Spain's military responses were not
effective. In 1754 the British stopped a Spanish expeditionary force of
1,500 in the Petén, and Belize remained in the British camp. In 1756, Brit-
ish-sponsored Miskito Indians captured and murdered the governor of
Costa Rica.
By signing the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British recognized Spanish
sovereignty over Central America and agreed to dismantle their forts. In
return, the British were allowed to continue their woodcutting settlement
46
HISTORY
at Belize. But the British did not dismantle their forts, and Belize soon
By th
had a quasi-colonial administration that was approving private land titles.
altered ti
The Miskito Indians, acting on behalf of their British clients, continued
institutic
to harass the Spanish, and in 1779 Spain retaliated by routing the British
tive coloi
from Roatán and Belize. The British then focused all their efforts on the
lies, the
Mosquito Coast, in an attempt to cut the isthmus in half. However, preoc-
cupied with their insurrection in the newly declared United States, the
British eventually ran out of steam, and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended
Indep
the American Revolution and reaffirmed the 1763 treaty. The British left
the Mosquito Coast and settled permanently in Belize after 1787. In 1796
the British again seized and reoccupied the Bay Islands of Honduras and
increased their plunder of the Caribbean coast.
While Europe convulsed through the changes brought by the French
Revolution, shifts of a more subtle but still profound sort were going on
in the Central American colonies. The Creole aristocracy of the isthmus
developed a new view of Spain-a view not founded in the idealization
of the Spanish past that had previously characterized the colonies. These
Creoles still elevated the cultural and spiritual values of the Spanish Con-
quest, but in the Spanish officials who administered the colonies, they saw
scheming, calculating bureaucrats threatening their interests with taxation
and plans for new land-hungry immigration. A new bitterness emerged
against the Spanish, and a deep, parochial conservatism was born that sur-
vives in the Central American upper classes today.
Agustín
These changes were underscored by the growth of the mixed Latin-
pendence
Indian, or Ladino population in the region. The Ladinos emerged as mer-
pendent M
chants, artisans, and tradesmen, forming guilds and creating a petit bour-
the questic
geoisie that served as a precursor of the middle classes that would play
between ar
such a vital role in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In larger towns
independer
Ladinos were the majority of the population, but in the principal cities
CO led to tl
they often performed menial jobs or endured a new social malady-
1823. Only
unemployment. In the cities crime among the Ladinos became a concern,
The rest of
and laws were promulgated by the aristocracy that forbade the bearing
still part of
of arms by Indians or Ladinos. In 1806 laws were passed that outlawed
Independ
knives, with violators subject to 200 lashes and six years of hard labor.
ning. New
At the end of the eighteenth century, Indians were still a definite majori-
issues divic
ty of the population in Guatemala (as they are today), but Ladinos and
stubbornly
Spanish were the majority everywhere else in the region. Blacks, sprinkled
als, inspired
in various concentrations up and down the length of the Caribbean coast,
bons, advo
remained more a part of the British empire than of the Spanish.
clerical refo
By the time of the Spanish-French alliance against England in 1796,
the end of f
the British controlled the Atlantic. Spain had to turn to neutrals to carry
dimension
on their Central American trade, and the United States was the logical
federation
0
choice. Capitalizing on their new opportunity, American shipping in the
tives, strong
region increased radically. Madrid, seeing that the "neutrals" were sen-
to that of th
ously chipping away at its monopoly, revoked these rights in 1800, but
and adopted
titles, limite
American trading in the region would continue.
Due.
In 1804 war resumed between Spain and England. The Miskito Indians
received renewed military aid from the British and privateering again in
When Coi
creased. The Treaty of London in 1809 allied England and Spain against
war erupted.
the French, and Central American trade boomed. Belize grew with new
the war in 11
construction and increased shipping traffic. The Americans, their foot
state govern
moved the fc
the door, began to be seen as a long-term threat to the Spanish monopoly
HISTORY
47
soon
By the end of the eighteenth century, foreign ideas had permanently
and
titles.
altered the order of Spanish reign. There were new calls for freer economic
continued
institutions, a more open political process, and some form of representa-
British
tive colonial government. New questions were raised about trade monopo-
on
the
lies, the landed aristocracy, special privileges, and clerical power.
preoc-
tates,
the
Independence
ended
ritish
left
The states of the isthmus from Panama to Gua-
In
1796
temala will perhaps form a confederation. This
and
magnificent location between the two great
oceans could in time become the emporium of
French
the world. Its canal will shorten the distances
going
on
throughout the world, strengthen commercial
isthmus
ties with Europe, America, and Asia, and bring
ealization
that happy region tribute from the four quarters
These
of the globe. Perhaps some day the capital of the
Con-
world may be located there, just as Constantine
they
saw
claimed Byzantium was the capital of the an-
taxation
cient world.
emerged
Simón Bolívar, (Jamaica Letter)
that
sur-
Agustín de Iturbide's Plan de Igual in Mexico forced the topic of inde-
Latin-
pendence onto Guatemala in 1821. Indications were that an army of inde-
as
mer-
pendent Mexico might invade Guatemala and annex Central America, so
bour-
the question was not purely one of tearing away from Spain but a choice
play
between annexation to Mexico and independence. Guatemala declared its
towns
independence on September 15, 1821. The abdication of Iturbide in Mexi-
cities
CO led to the declaration of independence for Central America on July 3,
nalady-
1823. Only the colony of Chiapas elected to become a state of Mexico.
concern,
The rest of Central America (with the exception of Panama, which was
bearing
still part of Colombia) formed the United Provinces of Central America.
outlawed
Independent Central America got off to an unstable, turbulent begin-
labor.
ning. New political labels were invented to replace the old, but the same
majori-
issues divided Central Americans. The Conservatives opposed reforms,
and
stubbornly demanding the continuance of royalist institutions. The Liber-
sprinkled
als, inspired by the Enlightenment philosophers and the Spanish Bour-
an
coast,
bons, advocated free trade, economic liberalization, republicanism, and
clerical reform. They advocated "radical" ideas like public education and
in
1796,
the end of forced labor. The new political divisions also had a geographic
to
carry
dimension. The Liberals, largely representing the provinces, advocated a
logical
federation of states as had been created in North America. The Conserva-
in
the
tives, strongest in Guatemala, wanted a centralized government similar
seri-
to that of the colonial era. The Liberals gained control of the government
800,
but
and adopted the Constitution of 1824, which abolished slavery and noble
titles, limited monopolies, encouraged immigration, and limited tax reve-
Indians
nue.
again
in-
When Conservatives gained power in Guatemala in 1826, a bloody civil
against
war erupted. The Liberals, led by the Honduran Francisco Morazán, won
with
new
the war in 1829. They quickly imprisoned Conservative leaders and gave
foot
in
state governments broad powers to crush insurrection, and Morazán
onopoly.
moved the federal capital to Liberal stronghold San Salvador. In Nicara-
48
HISTORY
gua the dispute was particularly acute, with the Conservatives of Granada
and the Liberals of León in perpetual conflict. Costa Rica, remote
throughout the colonial epoch, remained to one side, avoiding the conflict
and quietly becoming the first state to export coffee in the 1830s.
The revolt of 1837 was the beginning of the end for the United Prov-
inces. This revolt wasn't just another violent rivalry-it was a peasant up-
rising throughout the isthmus. The rebellion was chiefly a reaction to the
Liberal reforms, modeled after England and the United States. Private ac-
quisition of titles was encouraged as a stimulus to production. A major
side effect of this legislation was the swallowing up of new lands by the
wealthy few who already possessed substantial holdings. Formerly landed
peasants became sharecroppers, and, most important, foreigners snapped
up substantial tracts of land, especially in Guatemala. The revolution was
particularly hostile to foreign elements.
Popular uprisings against the Liberal reforms stretched from Costa Rica
to Quezaltenango during the first half of 1837, but the nucleus of the war
surrounded Guatemala's peasant hero, Rafael Carrera. The governor of
Guatemala, Mariano Gálvez, failed in his efforts to arrest Carrera. The
war began to take on the image of a race war, with Indians, Ladinos, and
blacks joining to fight the landed white Creoles and foreigners. Guatemala
City fell to Carrera's forces on January 31, 1838. A fragile peace soon fell
apart, and by March, Carrera had resumed warfare.
Through all this, the federation over which Morazán governed was dis-
solving. Nicaragua seceded on April 30, 1838, and a month later the Con-
gress in San Salvador followed suit. By the end of the year Honduras and
Costa Rica had left the federation. In March 1839, Carrera again entered
Guatemala City. For the rest of the year he fought off Liberal resistance,
consolidating his grip over Guatemala. Conservatives meanwhile had
gained power in Honduras and Nicaragua, and in March 1840 the show-
down came. Morazán invaded Guatemala, entering the capital city on
March 18. The next day Carrera's Conservative forces routed his army.
Morazán escaped to Panama by sea and would reenter Central America
only once more. In 1842 he briefly seized power in Costa Rica, only to
die before a firing squad in San José.
A new power structure of Conservative caudillos, or strongmen, was
born in Central America. The Liberals' unsuccessful experiment with fed
eralism had dashed the Conservatives' plans for centralized government
in the isthmus. Conservatives now embraced a divisive form of national
ism. Braulio Carrillo in Costa Rica, Francisco Ferrera in Honduras, Fran-
cisco Malespín in El Salvador, and Carrera in Guatemala solidified the
formation of the new independent nations, thus permanently destroying
any dreams of lasting unity. In 1842 all these nations except Costa Rica
entered into a defensive pact dedicated to their individual sovereignty, pre
venting the restoration of the Constitution of 1824. Free trade was encour
aged, but they all produced the same commodities and had little to self
one another.
The idealism of the Liberals was abandoned. Carrera and his allies
rived in power as a reaction to the Liberals' efforts to impose economa
and social systems that flew in the face of three centuries of Spanish trade
tion. The Conservatives now supported a strengthened church, a society
run by elite landholders and merchants, a deep suspicion of foreigner,
and a respect (bordering on romantic glorification) of the region's Spanist
HISTORY
49
Granada
heritage. The Conservatives' emphasis on nationalism and autonomous
remote
government, coupled with their paternalistic concern for the rural masses,
: conflict
established attitudes that are the bedrock of modern Central American
)s.
nationalism.
ed Prov-
isant up-
The Age of Imperialism
on to the
rivate ac-
International economic pressures played as large a role as internal polit-
A major
ical dynamics in the development of nineteenth-century Central America.
is by the
The decline of Spain and the simultaneous rise of the modern industrial
y landed
powers put Central America under a microscope of world attention not
snapped
experienced since the treasure flows of the sixteenth century.
ition was
Since the days of the conquistadores, a canal had been seen as the key
to the economic future of the isthmus. All through the nineteenth century,
osta Rica
English, Dutch, French, and North American interests encouraged plans
f the war
for a canal-usually through Nicaragua. As the leading world trading na-
ernor of
tion, Britain took the lead.
era. The
After 1830 Britain established military garrisons and colonial settle-
inos, and
ments in the Bay Islands. Central Americans retook the islands almost
uatemala
immediately, lost them again in 1839, and finally reoccupied them in 1841.
soon fell
Britain's economic imperialism continued apace. Belize became the princi-
pal port for Central American import and export, and by 1846 all Central
was dis-
American products except coffee entered England duty-free.
the Con-
Debt also solidified the British influence. Numerous loans from British
uras and
financial institutions to Central American governments created a morass
1 entered
of debt that is not resolved even today. As an example of the imperialistic
esistance,
nature of these loans, the Carrera government of Guatemala negotiated
hile had
with the firm of Isaac and Samuel in 1856 to pay off previously encoun-
he show-
tered debts. Under the terms, the Carrera government pledged 50 percent
I city on
of its customs receipts to service the debt. Trade, like loans, furthered the
is army.
British interests. By 1840 nearly 60 percent of Guatemala's imports came
America
from England via Belize, with another 20 percent coming directly from
, only to
England. By contrast, only 15 percent came from Spain.
The United States had little direct contact with Central America before
nen, was
1850. The Americans had recognized Central American independence
with fed-
promptly, but did little to discourage British designs in the area. It was
vernment
not until the end of the Mexican War and the acquisition of California
national-
and Oregon that U.S. interests were turned southward. The Bidlack Trea-
as, Fran-
ty of 1846 guaranteed U.S. rights of transit across Panama, and a U.S.
dified the
company used the treaty to construct the Panama railroad between 1850
estroying
and 1855.
osta Rica
Anglo-American rivalries were grafted onto domestic Central Ameri-
gnty, pre-
can frictions as respective commercial and political spheres of interest
S encour-
were carved out. Great Britain tended to ally with Conservative forces,
tle to sell
encouraging the division of the territories as a hedge against their domi-
nance in the region, while the Americans ardently supported the Liberal
allies ar-
cause of unification.
economic
British gunboat diplomacy once again became commonplace along the
ish tradi-
Caribbean coast. In 1848 the British seized the settlement at the mouth
a society
of the Río San Juan in Nicaragua. The Americans, predictably, protested
breigners,
vigorously. U.S. interests in the region, and in the possibility of a canal,
S Spanish
were steadily expanding. The U.S. Pacific territories were separated from
50
HISTORY
the east coast by thousands of miles of trackless wilderness and hostile
stantial
Indians, and the Central American isthmus was looked to as the most ex
required
peditious east-west route available.
borrowe
The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 called for joint U.S.-British control
America
of any route across the isthmus. It stepped lightly around the questions
this rail
of colonization and military presence. While it seemed on the surface to
but by tl
guarantee parity of influence, two years later the British declared the Bay
continue
Islands a British colony. Honduras protested with U.S. backing, and the
Willia
British withdrew in 1859. By a treaty with Nicaragua in 1860, the British
complete
likewise agreed to abandon the Mosquito Coast. In 1859 the question of
degree fi
sovereignty over Belize was dealt with in a treaty with Guatemala. Guate-
and Edi
mala agreed to recognize British sovereignty in return for the construction
and beca
of a road between the port and Guatemala City. The road was never built,
only wor
and the issue was never adequately settled. Guatemala reluctantly agreed
ic, he toc
to Belizean independence in 1981, but a British garrison is still based in
ed him t
the former colony.
expansio
Liberal-Conservative conflicts continued in the form of civil wars and
a variety
open conflicts between the Central American republic. The use of exile
Indian n
forces and international support for internal conflicts became common
when, in
in the nineteenth century, and this tradition is seen vividly today in
invaded
Nicaraguan support for revolutionary forces in El Salvador, and Hondu-
the short
ran assistance to insurgent Nicaraguan Contras. This ongoing meddling
Mexican
has severely impeded regional unification and has been dramatically com
a devast:
pounded by the participation of extra-regional forces-British and Ameri-
In Nic
can and now Cuban and Soviet influences.
but in 18
strength
William Walker
assistanc
co, huge
The story of William Walker is one of the most bizarre episodes in Latin
his force
American history. Not accidentally; every Central American schoolchild
Californi
knows all about Walker and his adventures, while few North American
was mor
children even know his name.
with the
The alliance of the Conservatives in Nicaragua with the aggressive Brit
the other
ish had largely discredited them in the eyes of many Central Americans
Walke
For much of the 1840s, Nicaragua effectively had two governments, with
encounte
Conservatives and Liberals respectively operating out of Granada and
comman
León. This simmering civil war had carried on without relief since inde
emerging
pendence, and Nicaragua was divided and weak. The British had their eyt
Granada
on the territory as the site of a possible canal, and in many ways the cour
ment, he
try was up for grabs with various players-the Liberals and Conservative
Walker
within Nicaragua, Conservatives from Honduras and Costa Rica, the Brit
Washing
ish and the North Americans-all jockeying for position.
Cornel
North American stakes in the game were raised precipitously by
was, mea
discovery of gold in California in 1848. This fact, coupled with the absence
undercut
of convenient transcontinental routes in North America, placed Nicarag
additiona
squarely at the center of the principal route for California-bound traffic
into the
In 1849 Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associates established a service
Walker,
which passengers traveled by boat from New York to San Juan del Non
these vie
in Nicaragua, boarded riverboats for travel up the Río San Juan and La
wanted t
Nicaragua, and then rode stagecoaches for a brief land journey to the Pre
The B₁
cific coast, where they boarded other ships to the San Francisco Bay are
Costa Ri
Vanderbilt juggled the books to rob the Nicaraguans of taxes on his
the isthn
HISTORY
51
nd hostile
stantial profits, and by 1851 his service needed loans to finance expansions
most ex-
required by the thousands demanding transit to California. Vanderbilt
borrowed from British financiers, thus coming into direct conflict with
sh control
American interests involved in building a railroad across Panama. (Once
questions
this railway was completed, Vanderbilt's company went out of business,
surface to
but by this time Vanderbilt had neatly bought into the Panama route and
d the Bay
continued to profit.)
;, and the
William Walker was the gifted son of a Tennessee frontier family who
he British
completed college at age 14 and who by age 23 had obtained a medical
restion of
degree from the University of Pennsylvania; studied at Paris, Heidelberg,
a. Guate-
and Edinburgh; and opened a law practice. He drifted into journalism,
struction
and became a controversial editor at the New Orleans Crescent. When the
:ver built,
only woman he would ever love died in a Gulf Coast yellow fever epidem-
ly agreed
ic, he took off for California via Panama. No great wealth or success await-
based in
ed him there, and he took up the career of the filibuster. At this time of
expansion and growth the United States was acquiring new territories in
wars and
a variety of ways. Some were bought, some conquered, some wrested from
: of exile
Indian nations, and some the object of private initiative. Such was the case
common
when, in 1853, Walker and a group of hastily gathered gold-field losers
today in
invaded the northern Mexico department of Sonora, comically declaring
Hondu-
the short-lived Republic of Lower California. They were soon routed by
neddling
Mexican federales and surrendered to American border authorities after
ally com-
a devastating march across the scorched desert.
d Ameri-
In Nicaragua the Liberals had gained ground in the ongoing conflict,
but in 1854 Carrera dispatched aid from Guatemala, which substantially
strengthened the Conservative position. The Liberals looked abroad for
assistance, offering Byron Cole, an associate of Walker's from San Francis-
co, huge tracts of land in return for military assistance. Walker gathered
in Latin
his forces in San Francisco and took off south with a motley band of 57
oolchild
Californians of various nationalities, inadequate weaponry, and a boat that
merican
was more an embarrassment than a ship of war. U.S. authorities, flushed
with the acquisition of new territories and the Monroe Doctrine, looked
ive Brit-
the other way.
ericans.
Walker and his mercenaries landed at Realjo in June 1855. At his first
its, with
encounter his forces were routed by Conservative troops under Honduran
ada and
command. Walker successfully retreated to Chinandega, eventually
ce inde-
emerging as commanding general of the Liberal forces. In October he took
heir eye
Granada, and the Conservatives agreed to a truce. A coalition govern-
le coun-
ment, headed by a Conservative, Patricio Rivas, was established with
rvatives
Walker named chief of the armed forces. Formal recognition came from
he Brit-
Washington in May 1856.
Cornelius Garrison, Cornelius Vanderbilt's San Francisco manager,
by the
was, meanwhile, conspiring with New York financier Charles Morgan to
absence
undercut Vanderbilt's interests in Nicaragua. They sent arms, money, and
caragua
additional mercenaries to Walker. Veterans of the Mexican War flooded
traffic.
into the territory and the Walker army soon numbered over 2,500 men.
vice in
Walker, who had been philsophically opposed to slavery, departed from
I Norte
these views as his ranks swelled with American southerners who allegedly
d Lake
wanted to annex Nicaragua as a slave state.
the Pa-
The British had opposed Walker's activities all along, and they fanned
ly area.
Costa Rican, Honduran, and Guatemalan fears of American designs on
is sub-
the isthmus. Liberals throughout Central America supported Walker,
52
HISTORY
agreeing with him that the region needed democratic values, destruction
poli
of the aristocracy, public education, and increased trade. But Liberals
dev
were out of power in every territory, and by February 1856 the Conserva-
the
tive governments of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala
and
were sending troops to dislodge Walker. On March 1 of that year, Costa
Rica declared war and the British provided them arms, munitions, and
equipment.
By May, Walker was on the ropes. Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salva-
E
doran troops arrived in Nicaragua to aid the Costa Ricans, and Rivas quit
fligl
the government. In June 1856 a rather dubious election recognized Walker
abr
as president of Nicaragua. He desperately tried to consolidate his power,
tod
offering large land grants to Americans who would join him, making En-
eco
glish the official language, and legalizing slavery. As Americans with vi-
pla
sions of annexing a slave state arrived, support for Walker among Nicara-
a S)
guans dwindled. Costa Ricans soon had Walker on the defensive and his
wea
retreating forces burned Granada, ravaging its architectural beauty. At
F
the end of the year additional reinforcements from the United States were
ing
stopped by a British blockade. In April 1857, 2,000 Guatemalans defeated
the
Walker's exhausted and diseased forces. When the Costa Ricans promised
so-
surrendering Americans medical attention and passage home, most de-
finc
serted Walker, leaving him with only 200 troops. Walker surrendered to
To:
a U.S. warship sent by President Buchanan.
of ]
In New Orleans, Walker received a hero's welcome. He vowed to return
Tib
to Central America, and in 1860 he did, when British residents in the Bay
mo
Islands, furious over British surrender of the islands to Honduras, ap-
cal
proached him with the plan of declaring the islands' independence from
elit
Honduras. Walker developed plans to join a group of Liberals then rebel-
Ric
ling in Tegucigalpa, and in June 1860 he set sail for Roatán. He landed
rigl
instead at Trujillo, only to be captured by British marines and handed over
to the Hondurans. He was promptly executed and is today buried in Truji
tive
llo.
cro
The Walker misadventure discredited Liberals throughout the isthmus
chu
and consequently extended Conservative power. Also discredited was the
gan
United States, which had demonstrated its new imperial role in the region.
in
The Civil War and completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 di-
the
minished U.S. interest in Central America., and the French thought
step into this void and contracted to build a canal through Nicaragua
the
1858. Failing in this, they contracted with Colombia in 1878 for a cana
for
through Panama. Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal direct
was
ed the effort, which failed during construction. The emergence of the Unit
in
ed States as a naval power focused new interest on the strategic signifi
cance of the isthmus, and the U.S. stepped in to finish the canal in 1914.
the
securing Panamian independence from Colombia and carving out a U.S.
colony-and a permanent military presence-in the Panama Canal Zone
The shift of power from Conservatives to Liberals at the end of the cer
tury accelerated trends toward modernization and dependence upon coffe
and other export commodities. Politically, resurgent Liberalism meant
reaction against the Conservative caudillos, but dictatorship continued
the principal method of government. The new Liberals had lost some
the idealism of their predecessors in the days of Morazán, but they
not abandon dreams of progressive government. Rather they had conclut
ed that material economic growth was a priority that needed to prece
HISTORY
53
truction
political democracy. Long-term patterns emerged in their obsession for
Liberals
development: anticlericalism, faith in technical education, a rejection of
onserva-
the metaphysical, a "postponement" of democracy, imitation of European
atemala
and North American values, and an insensitivity to the working classes.
r, Costa
ns, and
Age of Dictatorship
d Salva-
Between 1870 and 1900 commerce boomed in the region, but capital
vas quit
flight also began as wealthy plantation owners deposited their funds
Walker
abroad. (This export of wealth is still a critical problem in the region
power,
today.) Foreigners played vital roles in the development of the export
ing En-
economies, but a large-scale influx of hardworking immigrants never took
with vi-
place in Central America as it did in North and South America. Rather
Nicara-
a small foreign entrepreneurial class created an elite partnership with
and his
wealthy Liberals and skimmed their fortunes off the top of the economy.
uty. At
Politically historians call this period an Age of Dictatorship. The boom-
es were
ing export trade required centralized, executive-managed economies, with
efeated
the military as a guarantor of labor peace and political stability. These
omised
so-called Republican dictators from the Liberals' stronghold-Justo Ru-
lost de-
fino Barrios, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, and Jorge Ubico of Guatemala;
ered to
Tomás Guardia of Costa Rica; José Santos Zelaya and Anastasio Somoza
of Nicaragua; Marco Aurelio Soto, Luis Bográn, Policarpo Bonilla, and
return
Tiburcio Carías Andino of Honduras; and Santiago González and the infa-
he Bay
mous Maximiliano Hernández Martínez of El Salvador-all created politi-
as, ap-
cal machinery founded on rigged elections and military might, with an
e from
elite of coffee producers and foreigners as their patrons. Only in Costa
1 rebel-
Rica, where an election transferred power successfully in 1889, did voting
landed
rights mean anything at all.
ed over
On the face of it these Liberal dictators were similar to their Conserva-
I Truji-
tive predecessors, but several changes were evolving: personal cliques of
cronies were replaced by permanent administrative bureaucracies; the
sthmus
church lost much of its privileged status; the armies, previously bully
vas the
gangs faithful only to local caudillos, became professional and institutional
region.
369 di-
in nature; and most of the elite families of the Conservative period lost
their fortunes. But the new oligarchy would soon become as inbred and
ght to
gua in
aristocratic as their predecessors, and plans for reforms that would spread
canal
the wealth evaporated. Public education had always been a rallying issue
direct-
for Liberals, but the only nation that made any headway during this period
: Unit-
was Costa Rica, where literacy rose from 11 percent in 1864 to 76 percent
signifi-
in 1927 and 85 percent in 1963.
1914,
Rural peasants and Indians remained where they had always been-at
a U.S.
the bottom of society in every category of development. Throughout the
Zone.
region planters ruled entire villages through debt patronage, forced labor,
and naked intimidation. Whenever Indians or workers made efforts to or-
e cen-
coffee
ganize, they were ruthlessly suppressed by the army. Communal Indian
eant a
lands were steadily gobbled up, and a landless serfdom was created. The
ued as
material advances championed by the Liberals-new roads, ports, bridges,
me of
expanded agricultural production, and exports-were provided by the
ey did
backbreaking labor of shamelessly exploited peasants.
nclud-
The twentieth century found Central America in the same colonial, de-
recede
pendent position from which it had supposedly liberated itself in the previ-
54
HISTORY
ous century. In the modern era, however, the tune would be called by the
nis
United States of America.
bo
The Continuing Struggle
de
It was the United States participation in the Cuban War of indepen-
any
dence, and the subsequent acquisition of Puerto Rico and a string of Pacif-
ati
ic island colonies that focused new interest in a Central American canal
Na
at the turn of the century. The United States, always with the consent of
Ga
local authorities, had sent troops to Panama (then a department of Colom-
no
Sai
bia) numerous times in the second half of the nineteenth century to protect
str
the American transisthmus railroad.
mo
In 1902, however, U.S. troops entered in response to disturbances in
tat
Colombia and aided Panama in gaining independence. A treaty was
1
signed, granting the United States construction rights for a canal, U.S.
dis
control of the 10-mile-wide Canal Zone-and permanent military pres-
Th
ence.
an
The canal exponentially raised the economic and strategic stakes in the
thr
Caribbean Basin and Central America. The U.S. rose to the challenge with
ass
military interventions in Haiti in 1915, the Dominican Republic in 1916,
cra
and, perhaps most significantly, in Nicaragua in 1912. While U.S. fiscal
I
agents seized control of the national treasury, the marines occupied the
into
principal cities, towns, ports, and railroads. The Bryan-Chamorro Treaty
mil
of 1916 formalized the client-state status of Nicaragua, and granted the
disp
U.S. exclusive rights to the construction of a Nicaraguan Canal, 99-year
that
leases to the Corn Islands off the Caribbean coast, rights to the construc-
insu
tion of a navy base in the Gulf of Fonseca, and carte blanche to intervene
eeri
in Nicaraguan affairs whenever so inclined. As a trade-off, Nicaragua re-
vad
ceived all of $3 million-to be subtracted from its substantial foreign debt.
tow
The U.S. occupation was essentially low-key. Showing the flag seemed
cou
enough to maintain the Conservative governments of Emiliano Chamorro
the
and his succesor Diego Manual Chamorro. The marines were there to pro-
groi
tect U.S. economic interests, not to police the turbulent nation. Banditry
is ca
and political strife continued in the countryside, but stability was sufficient
troo
for the marines to withdraw in 1925.
eart
When new revolutionary action broke out in 1926-with support from
toda
Mexico-the marines returned. In 1927, State Department official Harry
nez'
Stimson negotiated a compromise that would maintain Aldofo Díaz in
own
T
power through 1928, when a U.S.-supervised election would take place.
Cari
The Stimson agreement also provided for the U.S. creation of a National
la an
Guard to police the countryside. In 1928, Liberal army chief José Maria
in G
Moncada won the presidency. However, a military ally of Moncada's
Augusto César Sandino, didn't cooperate, and took to the hills as a guerril
G
la fighter. U.S. and Nicaraguan forces (led by American officers) pursued
Sandino into Nicaragua's northern mountains, but the geography and
In
guerrilla tactics of Sandino's army stymied their efforts. In desperation
Free
U.S. forces began aerial bombardment-which did more damage to civil-
assas
ian mountain villages than to Sandino's soldiers-and intimidation of the
orgai
peasant population sympathetic to the rebels. Sandino was a profound
posit
anti-imperialist, and leftists the world over rallied to his cause; however,
natio
he resisted their support, publicly rejecting the solidarity of the Commu-
United
HISTORY
55
by the
nist International. Sandino, contrary to modern historical revision from
both Havana and Washington, was certainly never a Marxist.
In 1932 an election placed the Liberal Juan Bautista Sacasa in the presi-
dential palace, and in January 1933, U.S. forces left Nicaragua. In Febru-
idepen-
ary 1934 Bautista Sacasa met with Sandino, ostensibly to discuss reconcili-
f Pacif-
ation. After their dinner together, however, Sandino was murdered by
National Guardsmen led by Bautista Sacasa's nephew, Anastasio Somoza
n canal
García, who was the head of the National Guard. Somoza García would
isent of
not formally assume the presidency until 1936, but from the murder of
Colom-
Sandino onward, the Somozas ruled the Nicaraguan Republic-the
protect
strongest family dynasty in Latin American history. In 1950, "Tacho" So-
moza pushed a constitution through congress that gave him indefinite dic-
nces in
tatorial powers.
ty was
The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Depression was
1, U.S.
disastrous for all the commodity-exporting economies of Central America.
y pres-
The collapse of the region's economies led to an embracing of authoritari-
an regimes (and, in many cases, flirtations with fascism and communism)
; in the
throughout the isthmus. In addition to Nicaragua, strong-arm dictators
ge with
assumed power in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Even demo-
1 1916,
cratic Costa Rica endured strikes and riots.
i. fiscal
In El Salvador the military installed Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
ied the
into the presidency in December 1931. Hernández Martínez crushed the
Treaty
mildly socialist opposition, further polarizing the nation's two incredibly
ted the
disparate have and have-not classes. El Salvadoran communists decided
9-year
that the times were right for revolution, and on January 22, 1932, a peasant
instruc-
insurrection was launched in the western coffee-growing region. As an
tervene
eerie backdrop, that evening volcanoes throughout Guatemala and El Sal-
gua re-
vador erupted, filling the air with an ashen haze. Rebels marched on the
n debt.
town of Sonsonate, pillaging and terrorizing the various ranches of the
seemed
countryside. The army garrison in town managed to drive them back, and
morro
the revolutionaries-some 5,000 strong-retreated to a nearby town to re-
to pro-
group. Martínez responded with a demonic frenzy of violence. Today it
inditry
is called simply the matanza-the massacre. In villages all over the region,
fficient
troops marched civilians to mass graves and executed them. A scorched-
earth policy was pursued and entire villages were wiped out. Estimates
t from
today are that up to 30,000 people were systematically executed by Martí-
Harry
nez's army and a hastily assembled civil guard composed of wealthy land-
Díaz in
owners and their loyal peasants.
place.
Tiburcio Carías Andino was the dictator of Depression-era Honduras.
ational
Carías Andino was considerably less ruthless than his fellows in Guatema-
María
la and El Salvador, but where Martínez in El Salvador, and Jorge Ubico
cada's,
in Guatemala lasted until 1944, Carías held onto power until 1948.
uerril-
ursued
Guatemala
ly and
In Guatemala, General Jorge Ubico became the prototypical tyrant.
cration
Freely elected in 1931, Ubico turned suddenly brutal, ordering a wave of
) civil-
assassinations, executions, prison terms, and exile for communists, labor
of the
organizers, and any others who seriously questioned his rule. With all op-
found
position silenced, Ubico bore down on the financial front, stabilizing the
wever,
national economy and granting generous concessions to foreign (usually
mmu-
United States) economic interests. Although the Guatemalan economy ac-
HISTORY
59
cal in-
forces, began systematic assassinations of opposition political leaders.
11 and
Leftist and moderate leftist parties abandoned the electoral process, head-
huge
ing into the mountains to organize armed opposition. The Catholic,
sants
church, led by Archbishop Oscar Romero, boycotted Romero's inaugura-
early
tion. The People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) began activity in the coun-
S.
try's eastern mountains, and open civil war was on.
capi-
A revolutionary junta seized power in 1979 with Duarte serving as chief
/ offi-
of state. Although moderate middle-class leaders and progressive young
1982,
officers made up the junta, they could not restrain the accelerating activi-
who
ties of the death squads. In January 1980, Guillermo Ungo and Román
orn-
Mayorga, the junta's most important progressive civilians, quit the junta
ifor-
and went into exile. Ungo assumed the leadership of the Revolutionary
oline
Democratic Front (FDR), a new union of leftist political and military or-
the
ganizations. In March the much-loved Archbishop Romero was murdered
not
while saying mass. In April the Farabundo Martí Front for National Lib-
ath-
eration (FMLN), named for the communist leader of the 1932 uprising
un-
that led to the matanza, unified the country's guerrilla forces. As center-
left and centrist politicians began to be targeted by the death squads, they
eral
joined the guerrillas in increasing numbers.
spe-
Meanwhile, Duarte was virtually a puppet president, held captive by
ejía
the military and landowners, who frustrated his attempts at gradual
ted.
change and land reform. In 1982, Duarte was defeated by a right-wing
ng,
coalition led by Roberto D'Aubisson, a retired army major described by
ved
U.S. Ambassador Robert White as a "pathological killer" responsible for
the murder of Archbishop Romero. Alvaro Magaña was named provision-
al president in 1982. Magaña was a moderate but beholden to the reaction-
ary coalition that had secured his election. In many ways Magaña was
a compromise lesser-of-two-evils, acceptable to the military and to the
44,
powerful U.S. Embassy, which was determined to keep D'Aubisson out
of
of the Presidential Palace.
ble
When Duarte was elected to the presidency in 1984, narrowly defeating
si-
Roberto D'Aubisson, El Salvador was in many ways an exhausted nation.
th
The guerrillas had mounted a premature "final offensive" in 1981 and,
0-
after failing to inspire an insurrection, settled in for a long, bitter struggle
io
with the military, which continues today.
61
nt
Nicaragua
Throughout the twentieth century, when nationalistic strikes and social-
ist-inspired reforms swept over Central American countries, Nicaragua
was America's most faithful and docile ally. A special relationship was
formed between the government and American business interests, which
guaranteed stability, continuity, and profit-at the expense of democracy,
social evolution, and welfare. The Somoza family dynasty ruled a Nicara-
gua that lived out social and economic patterns forged in the previous cen-
tury. A tiny minority of the population profited from close association
with the Somozas, while the majority toiled in the agricultural export in-
dustries, owned by the oligarchy, that was the foundation of the economy.
While disenchantment with the Somozas grew, only one party, the Con-
servatives, stood as an alternative-and they were deeply divided over
whether to collaborate with the dictatorship. When an earthquake flat-
tened Managua in 1972 and the Somozas made off with much of the inter-
60
HISTORY
national aid that poured into the nation, the appalled people of Nicaragua
cal parties,
began to think seriously about alternatives to Somocismo.
Neighborhc
The Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) was founded in
on the bloc
the 1960s by university students convinced that Marxist-Leninist revolu.
among the
tion was the only option for getting rid of the Somoza dynasty. The FSLN
The Sand
was considered the radical left of the Nicaraguan political spectrum until
new housin
events of the late 1970s forced an alliance of the Sandinistas with other
campaign tl
sectors in opposition to the dictatorship. Among these sectors to ally with
The Sandini
the Sandinistas were opposition business people frustrated at the graft and
dustry (larg
avarice of the Somozas, the Catholic church, active in social issues since
mozas), COO
the declaration of Vatican II, independent unions, political parties, and
production
the independent press, particularly the influential daily La Prensa.
relations, an
In January 1978, La Prensa publisher Pedro Juaquín Chamorro was
omy.
assassinated-many feel on orders from Somoza. The people of Nicaragua
In 1984, ]
rose up in insurrection. Somoza struck back with fury, unleashing his pal.
was elected
ace army, the National Guard. The United States fretted back and forth
tion campaig
alternately supporting and condemning the dictatorship. Weapons and
FSLN.
material support flooded to the Sandinistas from Costa Rica, Venezuela,
and Panama. As the war marched through the towns of Nicaragua and
Central 1
as thousands died in the crossfire, the United States sought to ease Somoza
out of power through resolutions from the Organization of American
It would t
States; pointedly leaving out the Sandinistas.
dent Gorbac
When a national strike-coupled with the flight of capital out of the
Central Ame
country-paralyzed the nation in the spring of 1979, the Sandinistas
cial democra
launched a final offensive from Costa Rica. Somoza retreated to his bunker
land, access
overlooking Managua as his National Guard, in disarray, turned to aerial
and the deni
bombing of the city in an effort to hold back the tide of revolution. Interna-
arrangement
tional opinion, already behind the Sandinistas, pushed Somoza over the
power games
edge when National Guard troops murdered U.S. journalist Bill Stew
the stakes an
ard-on camera, for all the world to see. On July 19, 1979, the Sandinistas
and Moscow
marched into Managua, and Somoza's National Guard fled.
there is hope
Over 40,000 Nicaraguans had died in the vicious civil war, and the na
allow Centra
tional economy was a shambles. The United States set out to assist the
by themselve
shattered nation with generous loans, aid, and the renegotiation of existing
thing that on
debt. But as Cuban advisers and Soviet-supplied weaponry poured into
In Nicarag
the nation, it became clear that the broad spectrum of dissent that had
orro and the
ended the wa
forced the Somoza regime out was largely powerless-and that true power
ways of looki
lay in the national directorate of the FSLN and in the Sandinista Army
spective of CI
When Ronald Reagan entered office in 1981, the U.S. ceased aid and
cialist progra:
adopted a decidedly adversarial position. The CIA began meeting with
pant inflation
exiled officers of Somoza's National Guard, and the Nicaraguan Demo
government t
cratic Force (FDN) was created to harass the Sandinistas. The Contra
aged sons to
allied with insurgent Mosquito Indians from the Caribbean coast and will
On the oth
exiled Nicaraguans in Costa Rica under the leadership of Eden Pastora-
the legendary Commander Zero-who had bravely served with Sandinist
more than a I
never got a ch
Forces during the insurrection, only to find himself edged out of power
care, political
by hard-line Marxist Sandinistas.
ed States chos
In Nicaragua the Sandinistas embarked on a revolutionary program
country to sta
much of it modeled on the social and political experiments of the Cubs
There is truth
revolution. The people were quickly mobilized into mass organization its
guans is to cc
government-dominated unions, and a militia that by 1984 brought
structure that
Sandinistas' total military force to over 100,000. Opposition unions, polit
HISTORY
61
of Nicaragua
cal parties, and the clergy were harassed, and censorship was decreed.
Neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, modeled
founded in
on the block spies of Castro's Cuba, kept watch for suspicious behavior
inist revolu.
among the citizenry.
The FSLN
The Sandinistas' efforts toward positive social transformation included
:ctrum until
new housing and health facilities for the poor and a celebrated literacy
with other
campaign that combined basic reading skills with political propaganda.
to ally with
The Sandinistas created a hybrid economic system of state-controlled in-
he graft and
dustry (largely created from the vast expropriated holdings of the So-
issues since
mozas), cooperative farming, and private enterprise that has thus far seen
parties, and
production dramatically plummet. The United States cut off all economic
rensa.
relations, and the ongoing counterrevolutionary war further bled the econ-
morro was
omy.
Nicaragua
In 1984, Nicaragua's de facto chief of state, Daniel Ortega Saavedra,
ing his pal-
was elected president in elections marred by censorship, limits on opposi-
and forth,
tion campaign activities, and a state-mobilized organization in favor of the
apons and
FSLN.
Venezuela,
iragua and
Central America Today
se Somoza
American
It would be difficult to find a corner of the world in which USSR Presi-
dent Gorbachev's perestroika has not had an influence. The crux of the
out of the
Central American conflict has always been a purely local struggle for so-
andinistas
cial democracy and equality. The concentration of the region's wealth,
his bunker
land, access to education and political power in the hands of a tiny elite
d to aerial
and the denial of fundamental human rights to any who questioned this
1. Interna-
arrangement has always been the heart of the matter. But it was the super-
1 over the
power gamesmanship between the United States and the USSR that raised
Bill Stew-
the stakes and caused the lion's share of the destruction. With Washington
andinistas
and Moscow stepping back from the brink of their own confrontation,
there is hope in Central America today that this release of pressure will
id the na-
allow Central Americans to get on with the job of settling their problems
assist the
by themselves. There is an air of hope in the region-and hope is the one
of existing
thing that only recently seemed lost.
ured into
In Nicaragua, the recent election of newspaper publisher Violeta Cham-
that had
orro and the willingness of the Sandinistas to honor her mandate has
ue power
ended the war that claimed some 50,000 lives since 1979. There are two
a Army.
ways of looking at the internationally-supervised election. From the per-
aid and
spective of Chamorro, Nicaraguans were fed up with the ill-conceived so-
ing with
cialist program of the Sandinistas. They were tired of rationed food, ram-
1 Demo-
pant inflation, and a deteriorating standard of living; they cast out a
Contras
government that was prying into personal affairs and drafting their teen-
and with
aged sons to fight an unpopular war against their compatriots.
astora-
On the other hand, the case can be made that the election was nothing
ndinista
more than a popularly drafted declaration of surrender. The Sandinistas
of power
never got a chance to complete their humanistic policies of literacy, health
care, political empowerment and economic democracy, because the Unit-
rogram,
ed States chose to wage a tragic war rather than allow a Latin American
: Cuban
country to stand up and declare its independence from U.S. aggression.
zations,
There is truth to be found in both points of view. The challenge for Nicara-
ght the
guans is to continue this debate within the framework of a democratic
;, politi-
structure that allows Nicaraguans to reinvent the nation for which so
62
HISTORY
many have died. Perhaps with Soviet and American arms safely moth-
balled, the fighting can end and the ideas can begin to flow.
If the ripple of perestroika can be felt in Havana and Managua, it can
also be felt in El Salvador. While the FMLN managed to stage a spectacu-
lar assault on the capital city of San Salvador at the end of 1989, many
saw the event as the front's last gasp of armed resistance. Throughout its
war against the government of El Salvador, the FMLN has received mili-
tary and logistic support from the Sandinistas. The leadership of the front
operated from offices in Managua, and the guerillas received arms and safe
haven from Sandinista Nicaragua. All this of course, has changed. With
a hostile government in Managua, and Moscow putting the brakes on arms
shipments to the region, the FMLN's days of controlling vast areas of El
Salvador seem numbered.
The challenge for the guerillas, then, is to assume a new role as a purely
political entity. Whether the FMLN can become a loyal opposition, and
whether the government of President Alfredo Christiani can restrain his
military, is the central question. This won't be easy. An army full of patho-
logical anti-communist paranoia is not likely to accept former military ad-
versaries in the FMLN as participants in the democratic political process.
The outcome in El Salvador may be in large measure determined by Wash-
ington. If the guerillas must be reconstituted as a political party, so must
the military be reformed so that it may serve the interests of all Salvado-
rans. U.S. willingness to offer a helping hand to former guerillas will test
the Americans' goodwill in the region.
The tragicomic opera of the U.S. invasion of Panama can be summa-
rized with a glance at the next-day headlines. American newspapers told
of daring raids against the headquarters of military dictator Manuel Anto-
nio Noriega and of a blow against the heart of the cocaine trade. Mexico
city newspapers told of a flagrant violation of international law and of hun-
dreds of civilians killed or rendered homeless by sloppy American bellicos-
ity. They also reminded readers that General Noriega had been in the em-
ploy of the Central Intelligence Agency since 1968.
Still, the majority of Panamanians supported the venture. The United
States and Panama have an intertwined history and a unique relationship.
A large swath of the country, the Canal Zone, remains U.S. property until
the year 2000. Thousands of American military personnel and civilians
live in Panama full-time. The U.S. dollar is the official currency. Panama,
of course, was an invention of the United States which urged the territory
to secede from Colombia in order to facilitate the construction of the
"American canal". This long shared history created the kind of ironies
witnessed during the U.S. invasion. Even as they invaded Panama, many
Americans were received by jubilant crowds in the streets waving the flags
of both nations, dancing with soldiers and offering celebratory cocktails
But for many Panamanians it was not Noriega the man that mattered;
it was the principle. National sovereignty, territorial integrity and the
charters of both the United Nations and the Organization of American
States were rudely violated in the invasion. The U.S. scorned the terms fill
of the Carter-Torrijos canal treaties and enough international laws to
a textbook. The enterprise smacked of gunboat diplomacy and Panama
in the eyes of many Latin Americans, has accepted the role of Banana
Republic, living under the shadow of the "colossus of the North". History
will judge. For now, Panama is no doubt a better place. U.S. aid and inter-
HISTORY
63
oth-
national investment will again pour into this trading nation with its canal
and international banks, and the country will no doubt look back on the
can
enterprise as a rescue. Still, innocent civilians lost their lives by the hun-
dreds, and the United States chalked up yet another in a long list of mili-
any
tary interventions into the affairs of its southern neighbors.
its
Tourism is gaining ground in Guatemala after a decade of decline fol-
hili-
lowing horrific violations of human rights committed by its military gov-
ont
ernments in the early 1980s. The archaeological parks and Indian markets
safe
are once again receiving visits from intrepid travelers, and the country re-
mains one of the most stunningly beautiful in Latin America.
rms
But all is not well. The economy has suffered marked decline recently
El
as a result of dropping commodity prices, and the democratically-elected
civilian government of Vinicio Cerezo has been unable to restrain the mili-
rely
tary. In early 1990 the United States took the unusual step of recalling
and
its ambassador to Guatemala following an upsurge of political assassina-
his
tions attributed to right-wing extremists in the Army.
ho-
For 45 years, Guatemala has suffered through a low-level civil war be-
ad-
tween extremists of the left and right and for the vast majority of this time,
ess.
the nation was ruled directly by the military. The civilian government did
sh-
not instigate the mayhem; rather, it appears unable to stop it. According
lust
to Americas Watch, in one 14-month period ending in February 1990, five
do-
human-rights activists disappeared, political violence claimed the lives of
test
officials of the Christian Democratic and Social Democratic parties, and
a Nicaraguan diplomat and a Salvadoran leftist leader were murdered.
na-
U.S. citizens, including a nun engaged in human-rights work, have been
old
harassed and arrested by National Police officials. Tourists have not been
ito-
directly involved, and indeed, one may visit Guatemala without knowing
tico
that anything is amiss; but Guatemala today remains a deeply disturbed
un-
society.
os-
:m-
ted
iip.
atil
ans
na,
bry
the
ies
any
ags
ils.
ed;
the
an
ms
fill
na,
na
)ry
er-
Cen
$400
if
are
all
U.S.
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ap-
into
mic
tral
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ark
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ΓΓy
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CENTRAL AMERICA
ive
act
An Introduction
g.,
by
ve
JOHN MITCHEM
ets
sh
0;
John Mitchem has covered Latin America for a variety of publications,
including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Denver Post, and Américas Mag-
azine.
For centuries the tropics have held a unique allure. Something clicks
in the mind of Europeans or North Americans-particularly during their
respective winters-when the tropics are considered as an ideal vacation
spot. The tropics are paradise.
Central America has all the attributes needed to fulfill dreams of equato-
rial bliss. A languid pace of life; compelling, polychromatic landscapes;
hundreds of miles of coast where the sea meets beaches lined with coconut
trees, and jungle foliage crashes down nearby mountains. From the rain
forests of Costa Rica to the high-mountain volcanic lakes of Guatemala
and to the offshore cays and islands strung like jewels from Panama to
Belize, Central America has always been a sensory paradise of color and
climate.
But new images of Central America have begun to circulate, supplant-
ing the romanticized visions of the past. And these images are every bit
33
34
INTRODUCTION
as much a part of Central America as the more traditional views-but
of
they are not nearly as pleasant. They are images of war-of tooth-and-nail
ou
conflicts, of divided loyalties and pitched confrontations between philoso-
phies, between families. A new language, too, has emerged to describe
these new images. New words and phrases need to be learned to articulate
the events of the region: lucha: struggle; fusil: rifle; escuadrón de muerte:
death squad. More familiar phrases require less memorization: imperialis-
tir
To; communismo; opresión; revolución. Some terms have become interna-
TI
tionally accepted and are seldom translated: CIA; Sandinista.
an
Central America today is a region that can fulfill any vision. If one goes
su
looking for the conflict, one will find it-in the mass political rallies of
it
Managua, in the cold stare of uniformed troops in Guatemala, or among
SO
the guerrillas of El Salvador. But if one is looking for a place to lay back
and luxuriate in the pleasures of an earthly paradise, Central America can
19
offer this-in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, on Honduras's Bay Islands,
the San Blas Islands of Panama, or the offshore cays of Belize.
Central America is a compelling, fascinating part of the world. It is a
place where the texture and electricity of history-in-the-making is felt
o
every moment of the day. In many ways, Central America is working
a
through a lot of the same growing pains that Europe and North America
experienced only a generation ago. Here, as elsewhere in the world, a cer-
tain common-sense caution is in order. But there is no reason to avoid
a
the region, or in any way abandon it.
The Geography of Influence
Central America, from Guatemala to Panama, has a total area of
196,000 square miles, which makes it about one-fourth the size of Mexico,
its northern neighbor. But this area is packed with a variety of terrain that
rivals the continent of South America. Mountain peaks at over 14,000 feet;
areas of jungle in the Darién and the Mosquito Coast have never been sur-
veyed; there are deserts, plains, and vast pine barrens; high-altitude hard-
wood forests resemble northern Europe more than the tropics.
The narrow isthmus, as narrow in some places as 50 miles, is, in its en-
tirety, smaller than Texas. But the placement of the isthmus has opened
the area up to incredible amounts of foreign influence. It has always tended
to stand between things: between the gold and silver of Peru and Spain;
between the East Coast of the United States and California (during the
California Gold Rush, Nicaragua was the preferred transit route for west-
ward migration); between Mexico and South America-and, at least polit-
ically, between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Panama Canal
is an added factor, raising the strategic stakes in the region and bringing
to bear incredible political pressure.
Economically, culturally, and politically, Central America has been
washed over by repeated waves of foreign influence. Never isolated like
Africa or the jungles of the Amazon Basin, its great ancient cultures were
in decline before the European Conquest and were easy prey for the eco
nomic and cultural exploitation of Spain. It is today a mélange of various
African, Amerindian, and European cultures with, for the most part, only
the Spanish language and the Catholic church to give it a sense of unity.
And even Spanish is not universal, as thousands of Central Americans pre-
fer to speak the English language or indigenous dialects. And as the coasts
INTRODUCTION
35
of Central America and its placement on the globe have exposed it to the
outside world, its mountains have hindered communication within.
hiloso-
escribe
The Barrier Mountains
iculate
nuerte:
The overwhelming geographic fact of life in Central America is the con-
erialis-
tinuous, relentless chain of mountains that dominate nearly every republic.
The mountains that run the north-south length of the isthmus are volcanic
and young. There are over 20 active volcanoes in the region. These pres-
goes
sure points of geothermal energy constantly threaten havoc, but ironically
of
it is the rich ash of volcanic eruptions that have given Central American
soil its legendary fertility. Virtually the entire region is an active earth-
back
quake zone, and on numerous occasions (as recently as 1972 for Managua,
1976 for Guatemala City, and 1988 for San Salvador), large sections of
can
capital cities have had to be substantially rebuilt.
Over the centuries the mountains have served to divide population
is
a
groups to the degree that today the cultural landscape of the region is more
felt
of a quilt than a melting pot. The terrain of the isthmus, which made roads
and communications problematic right into the 1980s, can still be blamed
erica
for much of the economic underdevelopment of the region. Trade among
cer-
the Central American republics has always been difficult, and attempts
at regional political integration have failed repeatedly. It was only under
President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress that a highway linking the re-
publics of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and
Panama was constructed. Belize is still cut off from the rest of Central
America with poor mountain roads across to Guatemala and irregular
of
shipping down the coast to Honduras. Even within nations the mountains
and jungles of Central America have kept populations separate to the de-
that
gree that mountain Indians in Guatemala often speak no Spanish, and the
peoples of the Caribbean coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua generally
sur-
have more relatives in New Orleans or Miami than they do in Tegucigalpa
or Managua.
The ocean has always been a more reliable transit route for the Central
en-
American economies, and as a result, Europe and the United States have
overwhelmingly influenced the isthmus. Intraregional contact remains
problematic. An extractive, agricultural economic system has developed
in which most economic activity involves the export of commodities and
the
the import of goods and services from outside the region. These foreign
economic powers have brought their cultural and political influences with
them, and thus, Central America today has profound difficulties with re-
gional unity.
The mountains have also stood as a barrier to social equality and the
development of the Central American people. When the riches of the
Maya were looted and the gold and silver mines played out, the Spanish
conquerors turned to export-oriented agiculture as the primary economic
activity of the Central American colonies. To put it bluntly, the indigenous
inhabitants of the land were driven to the mountains or barren coasts,
where they scratched out whatever subsistence could be had. Even today
it is on the coasts and in the highest mountains that one finds concentra-
tions of native inhabitants. The Spanish built their plantations on the best
areas of rich soil, and the Indians came down to work these fields as day
laborers. Indigo, cacao, and then sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco, and ba-
36
INTRODUCTION
nanas were the primary crops. Few of these products are actually designed
of the
to feed the people of Central America.
pedier
The struggle over land has been at the root of most Central American
Throu
conflicts in the 500 years since the arrival of the first Europeans, and it
agricu
remains the principal cause of the struggle today. Early in its history, Cen-
mount
tral America divided into two distinct classes of people-those who had
merels
the land, and those who worked the land on their behalf. The mountains
predestined this division from the very earliest days of Central America's
Ce)
history.
Cen
The Receding Forests
cial ty
built I
It is a serious understatement to describe the landscapes of Central
even
America as beautiful. The Caribbean and Pacific coasts, the high mountain
as the
cloud forests, even the supernatural desolation of the volcanoes in Central
The
America have a transcendent quality. The popular conception is of jungle,
self 0
dense with color and the omnipresent roar of insects, reptiles, and multi-
Indian
colored birds.
Olmer
But despite this fantastic popular view, the hand of man is everywhere
lize, II
apparent. Central America has a dense and rapidly growing population
living
Beyond the agroindustrial tracts of bananas, cotton, and coffee, most agri-
South
culture is of a rudimentary subsistence nature. The principal method of
Guays
planting is of the slash-and-burn type-the most primitive form of plant-
Rica
ing on earth. Land is cleared, trees cut down, and the biomass is burned
less CO
The soil, often deceptively meager under the canopy of natural growth,
Betw
rapidly loses its nutrients as minerals are leached away. The patch of land
Hond
is then abandoned for another. Scrub weeds take over and underfed cattle
The
graze where forests once stood. This type of destruction is complicated
into V
by the need to cultivate even extremely steep tracts of land to keep up with
place i
the demands of a rapidly growing population. The slash-and-burn tech-
in Spei
nique produces alarming erosion and land destruction from which there
fors, a
is little hope of recovery.
oles b.
Belize was once a logging colony where fine hardwoods like mahogan
ly bee
were harvested for nearly two centuries. Today virtually the entire expanse
ONE
of the nation is covered by a meager scrub of gnarled trees and under-
the of
growth. The great stands of mahogany have been turned into furniture
in
for North American and European drawing rooms. In Honduras and E
take
Salvador overcultivation and erosion are complicated by rocketing popula
ally in
tions, which further tax the exhausted soil. Water tables are dropping
E
the
dangerous rates and international aid agencies finance the digging of ever
India
deeper wells to perform rudimentary irrigation. The rain forests that one
characterized the isthmus are, sadly, vanishing. In northern Costa RK
less
the pressure comes from large-scale cattle ranching, which produces ches:
from
meat for American fast-food chains. In northern Guatemala and southern
Mexico simple population pressures are driving subsistence farmers for
the
ther and farther into the wilderness in search of new land to slash 224
burn. The destruction of natural habitats for wildlife in the region are dm
ing many species of animals, notably exotic birds and wildcats, to the bra
of extinction.
A political dimension is introduced into the mix when it is remembers
that the struggle over land continues to be the essence of the Cents
American conflict. Since the best lands are occupied by the tiny minori
INTRODUCTION
37
signed
of the population that controls the national economies, it is politically ex-
pedient to encourage peasant occupation of unused wilderness lands.
herican
Throughout the isthmus there are unoccupied lands with seemingly great
and it
agricultural potential. But, on closer inspection, these rain forests and
y, Cen-
mountains are ill-suited to commercial development. Their occupation
ho had
merely hastens the ecological crisis.
intains
herica's
Central American People
Central America is an ethnic patchwork-a blend of virtually every Γa-
cial type known to the New World. A foundation of indigenous population
built upon by waves of European, Afro-Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and
Central
even Asian immigration has created a modern mixture of races known
ountain
as the mestizo.
Central
The indigenous population of pre-Conquest Central America was in it-
jungle,
self a blend of Indians from North and South America. Mezoamerican
multi-
Indians were the product of highly developed, often urban cultures. The
Olmecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs of Mexico and the Maya of Guatemala, Be-
ywhere
lize, Honduras, and El Salvador are examples of advanced Indian groups
ilation.
living in developed, hierarchical states. Indians migrating northward from
st agri-
South America included the Chibcha of Colombia; the Cuna, Chocó, and
hod of
Guayamí of Panama; the Huetares, Borucas, and Chorutegas of Costa
plant-
Rica; the Rama, Suma, and Miskito of Nicaragua. These groups lived in
ourned.
less complex societies based on hunting, primitive agriculture, and fishing.
;rowth,
Between these two distinct groups were the Lenca, Jicaque, and Paya of
of land
Honduras and El Salvador.
1 cattle
The Spanish that came to settle in Central America soon subdivided
olicated
into various social strata founded on degrees of racial purity and even
up with
place of birth. The Spanish crown dictated that only the peninsulares born
n tech-
in Spain could occupy key posts such as governors, judges, and administra-
h there
tors, and these Spaniards came to monopolize wealth and power. The Cre-
oles, born in the colonies, were relegated to inferior positions, but eventual-
hogany
ly had their day when independence destroyed the peninsular aristocracy.
expanse
Continuing down the social ladder of colonial Central America were
under-
the mestizos, who soon came to represent the majority. The mestizos fell
rniture
in where the "pure" bloods left off-in small business and small-scale plan-
and El
tation farming. The mestizos, for the most part, spoke Spanish and cultur-
popula-
ally embraced Europe. The mestizos in turn passed social aggression down
ping at
the scale to the full-blood Indians, who were held in contempt by all. The
of ever-
Indians served as serfs and slaves, oppressed and put down by every reli-
at once
gious, political, and economic institution created by colonialism.
Rica
Indians in Central America, even in the present day, have had to make
cheap
a bitter choice in their lives-to live in Indian communities and withdraw
outhern
from advancement along the economic scale or to ignore their cultural
far-
heritage by assuming the Spanish language and European dress, abandon-
and
ing traditional lands and moving to urban areas, and even discarding their
driv-
indigenous names. This choice between isolation and assimilation is in-
brink
creasingly evident in Central America as Indian communities continue to
languish at the most basic levels of social and economic poverty.
nbered
Africa also lives in Central America-in the thousands of black Central
Central
Americans, the vast majority of whom live on the Caribbean coast of the
inority
isthmus. Blacks were first brought to the region in the sixteenth century
38
INTRODUCTION
the colonies needed to be replenished. These older black populations
when indigenous slave populations working the mines and plantations
augmented by groups of blacks from the West Indies brought to the
mus in later centuries for plantation work or, in the case of Panama,
speak English as their primary language.
large-scale engineering projects. Many of these black Central America
Blacks in the coastal region have intermingled with indigenous
to the degree that today many tribal peoples in Nicaragua and Hond group
appear Negro in their physical aspect. The Miskito, Suma, and Rama Ins.
ans of Nicaragua are examples of this. A smaller subgroup are the BI
Caribs of Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The Black Caribs are
product of a racial mix of Africans and Carib Indians on the island of Saira the
Vincent who were exported en masse by the British and deposited on the
coast of Central America in the late eighteenth century.
Various new strains have been added to this mixture. Asians are evider
in virtually every Central American city. European-descended Jews
a small but economically dynamic ethnic group, as are the Palestiniard
sprinkled throughout the region-with a particular concentration in Hon-
duras, where they are active in industrial development. Cubans and East
ern Europeans were, at least through the recent election of newspaper pub-
lisher Violeta Chamorro, active in the administration of Nicaragua
Sandinista government. North Americans of various ethnicities are evi:
dent in every Central American nation.
Central America's geography is a mirror of its multiracial history. Gus.
temala today is overwhelmingly indigenous, with the minority of mestizos
and whites concentrated in the cities. Belize is primarily black with various
blends in the principal cities and Maya communities in the south. The
coast of Honduras has a strong Afro-Caribbean influence, with the rest
of the country populated by various formulas of mestizaje. Costa Rica is
the only country in Central America with a largely "pure" European eth
nicity. Panama has the color and feel of the Caribbean or Brazil-a ka
leidoscopic blend of numerous races and colors.
NICARAGUA: THE ECONOMY
The Nicaraguan economy has deteriorated sharply in the last
few years; per capita income is estimated by the World Bank
to be $300-350 per year. Years of macro-economic
mismanagement by the Sandinistas have left the nation without
the capacity to maintain its rapidly deteriorating
infrastructure. Nicaragua is currently among the world's
most economically disadvantaged countries, with little
prospect for growth without significant debt relief and new
assistance. 1990 closed with more than a 4 percent decline
in output and about 13,500 percent inflation.
Nonetheless, there was progress toward economic reform
during 1990:
Tax revenues increased sharply as a result of the
indexation of taxes and the elimination of certain
exonerations, the maximum tariff rate was lowered
from 60 to 20 percent, a presidential decree
eliminated the government export monopoly, and the
exchange rate was unified.
With the March 3 introduction of its stabilization plan,
the GON has taken the most essential and politically
difficult first step in putting its economic and
financial house in order. The plan includes:
--
Devaluation of the cordoba oro from 1:1 to 5:1 per
U.S. dollar,
Real reduction of public sector salaries,
Commitment to end inflationary Central Bank
financing of the fiscal deficit and the banking
system,
--
Establishment of realistic utility prices
Withdrawal of the devalued old cordoba by the end
of April.
While strikes have broken out in protest of the plan,
they are not as violent as the protests that paralyzed
the nation last summer.
The government has settled strikes in the health and
education sectors; while these settlements call for wage
increases in excess of those under the stabilization
plan, observers believe that the government has the
resources to absorb these wage costs without
significantly deviating from the stabilization plan.
The strongest challenge to the plan will come in 10
weeks, when the GON must fulfill its promise to restore
the purchasing power of its lowest paid workers.
Ref.
ars of Travel Experience
F1429
F63
LE
1991
WH
odor's
5th
EDITION
Central America
Including Guatemala,
Belize, Costa Rica,
Honduras, Panama
\/\/
Foreword, y
Map of
Facts at Yo
Copyright © 1991 by Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc.
To Go or N
Fodor's is a trademark of Fodor's Travel Publication, Inc.
3; Tourist I1
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Clothing to
Published in the United States by Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of
Background
Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of
There and (
Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
and Costs, 2
No maps, illustrations, or other portions of this book may be reproduced in any form without
ments, 27; T
written permission from the publisher.
ties, 31; Cle
ISBN 0-679-01893-X
Introduction
Fodor's Central America
A History
Editor: Andrew E. Beresky
Guatemala:
Area Editors: Robert Braaton, John Chater, Neville Hobson, Tito del Moral,
Guatema
Michael Shawcross
Map o,
Editorial Contributors: Patricia Alisau, Cliff Gaw, Maribeth Mellin, John
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Antigua,
Drawings: Sandra Lang
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Maps: Jon Bauch, Pictograph
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Cover Photograph: Jangoux/Peter Arnold
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FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
by
A. R. WILLIAMS
TO GO OR NOT TO GO. If you're thinking about traveling to Central
America these days, you also may be secretly wondering whether it's all
that good an idea. But how dangerous will it really be? And how crazy
do you have to be to do it? Not as much as you might think, on either
count. You'll just need a healthy sense of adventure in some places, a good
dose of patience everywhere, and a practical no-nonsense streak to keep
you out of trouble.
Nicaragua and El Salvador are not vacation destinations yet. Both coun-
tries are experiencing a decrease in military action as this goes to press,
but their political situations have historically been so volatile that we can't
advise travelers to visit these countries safely. We have, therefore, exclud-
ed individual chapters on Nicaragua and El Salvador from this edition
of Fodor's Central America. Both countries also are experiencing such
drastic shortages in even the most basic supplies-food, potable water,
gasoline-that the traveler would have to be prepared for tremendous
hardships. Granted, some dedicated surfers will risk their lives to battle
the waves off El Salvador, and devoted religious and peacemaking groups
do sponsor trips to Nicaragua, but these are highly specialized journeys
with specific destinations in mind. For now, we would counsel the casual
traveler to wait a while longer before visiting these two beautiful, yet belea-
guered, countries. It is hoped that conditions in Nicaragua and El Salva-
dor will improve over the next year so that chapters on the two countries
will be included in the next edition of this guide.
Common sense dictates that it would be foolish to plan a jaunt through
Nicaragua or El Salvador at this point in time. Americans, in particular,
are far from popular with military and guerilla types in these regions, ex-
cept as kidnap victims, or worse. Border crossings can be hair-raising.
With this in mind, we have concentrated on the Central American coun-
tries that are encouraging tourism and welcoming visitors in record num-
bers. Belize and Costa Rica are experiencing an unprecedented boom in
tourism, for good reason. Both countries abound in natural and cultural
wonders. Honduras and Panama are a bit more difficult, because of shaky
military situations. Though relations between the U.S. and Panama are
improving, the borders are still somewhat dangerous, and it's best to stick
with well-traveled routes. The Bay Islands of Honduras are a popular par-
adise for scuba divers, but the interior is another story, involving risky
military situations. Guatemala is so gorgeous and so rich in ancient cul-
tures that travelers continue to visit, despite the country's well-deserved
reputation for violence. Follow all the rules here, and behave with utmost
courtesy and respect.
Aficionados of Central America will tell you that the trip is more than
worth the effort, and many return year after year to their favorite spot.
1
2
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
One woman, for instance, has been back and forth so many times on vaca-
de
tions that the visa section of her passport is a solid block of immigration
sa
stamps, and the silver eagle has been worn off the front cover after many
U.
heavy handlings at border crossings. Among other attractions, the world's
yc
second-longest barrier reef-after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia-
yc
brings skin divers to the offshore islands of Belize and Honduras. Ruins
of Mayan settlements such as Tikal in Guatemala and Copán in Honduras
are rated as spectacular even by veteran Mesoamerican pyramid climbers.
Textile collectors bargain for brilliantly colored weavings with Guatema-
lan Indians (called indígenas there, never indios) speaking softly sibilant
$1
native languages, or for intricate reverse appliqué molas from Panama's
Cuna Indians. The trains that link Costa Rica's capital of San José to the
H
coastal city of Puerto Limón, and the Panama Railroad that links Panama
of
City on the Pacific with Colón on the Atlantic, are classic railroad adven-
ha
tures, The Panama Canal, that country's number one tourist attraction,
is still a wonder of engineering. Bird-watchers add to their life lists in Be-
lei
lize's jungles and Costa Rica's extensive national parks. High rollers revel
ev
in Panama City's sizzling nightlife.
Sure, there are risks in some of this. Hardly a day goes by when Central
ic
America doesn't appear in the news, and reports usually are not cheery.
in
You've got to expect that traveling through countries involved in seething
cl
political confrontations will pose some dangers, but then if you wanted
th
complete security, you'd still be reading National Geographic in front of
the fireplace. Actually risk to life'and limb through armed conflict is not
great. Certainly there are dangerous places, but, in general, host govern-
ments are not about to let tourists anywhere near potential or real hot
spots, and you're unlikely to get into serious trouble unless you insist on
(b
being where you're not supposed to be and doing what is forbidden.
The present unrest is more likely to have an impact on your trip in the
form of inconveniences-increased border security, military checkpoints
along highways, disrupted public transport, and so forth. How inconve-
nient things get depends greatly on what country or countries you'll be
traveling in-places with grave political problems don't have much time
20
or patience for the niceties of the tourist trade, of course. Predicting what
areas those will be by the time you read this book is impossible. Things
are changing so quickly in Central America these days that even people
SC
who travel around the region frequently on business are finding it difficult
to keep current. We have tried in this section, though, to provide you with
basic information on how to plan and prepare for your trip and how to
maneuver yourself through what you find once you get there. But in a re-
gion where rules, regulations, and the specifics of a given situation are lia-
ble to shift suddenly, nothing can or should be taken for granted. It is rec-
St
ommended that you check with your State Department for current travel
advisories before departure. Once you arrive, keep your wits about you,
and if something looks dangerous or different from what you expected,
ask about it. Things may have changed just yesterday.
TRAVEL AGENTS. The chances of finding a travel agent who counts
Central America among his or her specialties is slim. Nevertheless, a good
one can be a tremendous boon to your trip, saving you time and money
by guiding you through the complex maze of foreign travel. Agents can
arrange transportation, accommodations, auto rentals, tours, and package
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
3
deals. They can advise you on how to obtain a passport and can get neces-
sary visas for you (usually for a separate fee). They have information about
y
U.S. Department of State travel advisories and what sort of inoculations
S
you are likely to need. As a middleman, the agent may also be able to sell
you different kinds of insurance offered by a variety of specialty compa-
S
nies.
S
Insurance is a good thing to consider when planning a trip to Central
America, for obvious reasons. Baggage insurance against loss or damage
depends on the length of your trip and the coverage you want-a 30-day
$1,000 policy may run you about $50. (Check first to see if your homeown-
er's personal property policy already covers some of your belongings.)
Health insurance also depends on the length of your stay, with fees and
options varying widely. (Again, check current coverage. What you already
have may be sufficient.) Comprehensive packages are also available, and
may include coverage for trip cancellation or interruption, baggage prob-
lems, accidental death, medical expenses, personal liability, or emergency
evacuation.
You might consider planning your trip through a vast agency like Amer-
ican Express or Thomas Cook or through a smaller one with an affiliate
in the country or countries where you will be traveling. You will be their
client, and they can take care of you all along the way. Bear in mind,
though, that travel agents are much more likely to be able to help someone
who wants to fly in and out of Central America, stay at upscale hotels,
and see the sights from a rental car or a guided tour. They may not know
much about local transport, land border crossings, or charming, cheap
(but clean and comfortable) pensiones in converted colonial houses. The
more unusual your plans and off the beaten track your itinerary, the more
you're on your own.
If you don't know of a good travel agent, consult the Yellow Pages for
a travel agency that displays the American Society of Travel Agents
(ASTA) logo, or contact ASTA directly (Box 23992, Washington, DC
20026-3992, tel. 703-739-2781); they can provide listings of their mem-
bers in your area. See if the initials CTC appear after your agent's name,
too. These stand for Certified Travel Counselor and indicate that the per-
son has had at least five years' experience and has completed a two-year
graduate-level program on the travel industry. Travel-related disputes
should be sent in writing to the Consumer Affairs Dept. at the above ad-
dress. ASTA Canada can be contacted through Cabie House of Travel
Ltd., 511 W. 14th Ave., Suite 101, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1P5; the Associa-
tion of British Travel Agents (ABTA) can be contacted at 55-57 Newman
St., London W1P 4AH (tel. 01-637-2444).
OFFICIAL PAPERS AND PAMPHLETS. You will need some sort of
documentation to enter all Central American countries. A few require a
passport stamped with a visa granted for a specific purpose and period
of time. Embassies and consular offices of the countries you plan to visit
issue visas, and you can arrange to obtain the ones you need at home, or
one or two countries ahead on the road (at the Guatemalan Embassy in
Mexico City, for instance, if you're traveling down that way). There is
sometimes a fee for obtaining a visa (it can run to $10 or so), you may
need one or more photographs, and the process is a slow one, so start well
4
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
in advance. If you're negotiating this through the mail, be sure to send
your passport registered and insist that it be sent back the same way.
It is wise to obtain all visas you think you will need before you leave
home. Foreign consular offices abroad may have hours that are very incon-
venient for your traveling schedule, and the offices may be difficult to find
in a strange city. Failing this, on the road you should try to keep at least
one visa, if not two, ahead of your travels. It's also a good idea to take
a half dozen passport-style photographs in case additional documentation
is required for anything from a fishing license to a tourist-card extension.
Other countries in the region let tourists from certain countries visit
with a tourist card and proof of citizenship (birth certificate or naturaliza-
tion papers, for instance; other documents may be accepted, but that varies
from country to country, and it's best to check that out with an embassy
or consulate). Some tourist cards are issued free, some cost money, most
last for just a few months. Many travelers to Central America pick them
up in the airport at the counters of airlines serving the region, but embas-
sies and consulates issue them as well, and they can usually be obtained
at land border crossings.
The U.S. Department of State publishes a pamphlet entitled Visa Re-
quirements for Foreign Governments, which can be obtained for 50¢ by
writing to Foreign Visa Requirements, Consumer Information Center,
Pueblo, CO 81009. The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs
maintains an information line for visitors who wish to check on any official
travel advisories for the region at 202-647-5225. In addition, the bureau
provides information on customs, currency regulations, health concerns,
local laws, and social customs. Various other brochures available for $1
each include "Your Trip Abroad", "A Safe Trip Abroad", "Tips for
Americans Residing Abroad", "Tips for Senior Citizens", "Tips for Trav-
elers to Central and South America". Request by title from Superinten-
dent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC
20402, or call 202-783-3238 and charge on your MasterCard or Visa. No
COD orders accepted. Central America is in such a state of flux these days,
though, that details may quickly become out of date. You had best double-
check what you'll need by contacting embassies or consulates directly.
You can then inquire about other requirements as well. Some countries
require an ongoing or return airline or bus ticket, and some ask visitors
to show money to prove they can support themselves. The amount often
depends on the particular traveler, the immigration officials, and the
length of stay. Most countries charge an entrance and/or exit fee, but pay-
ment configurations may be unusual. Belize, for example, charges a depar-
ture tax. In Guatemala, visas are free, but tourist cards must be purchased
for $1 and departing visitors pay an $8 fee. Also, if you arrive at land bor-
ders at off hours, you may be asked to pay extra. If you're planning on
doing anything out of the ordinary, ask about it. (Example: if one parent
is traveling with a minor child in Guatemala, he/she needs a written au-
thorization from the other parent, notarized and in triplicate.) Embassies
and consulates sometimes can provide you with general tourist informa-
tion as well, or they will refer you to national tourist offices that can.
Although a number of Central American countries do not require that
U.S. citizens have a passport, it is a good idea to carry one anyway. It
is the internationally accepted form of personal identification and is recog-
nized everywhere-at airport immigration, at land border crossings, at
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
5
send
military checkpoints on the roads, at banks when you want to cash travel-
er's checks. (A birth certificate is much less recognized and will be unintel-
eave
ligible to a non-English speaker anyway.) Make sure you fill in on page
con-
4 of the passport the name, address, and phone number of next of kin or
find
a close friend. If you lose your passport, or if it is stolen, notify the nearest
least
U.S. consular office or passport agency immediately.
take
If you are planning to travel among several Central American countries,
a passport bearing multiple-entry visas may be more convenient than tour-
ist cards. Several embassies and consulates in the U.S. can assist you with
visit
visas. Send your passport by registered mail, and enclose a self-addressed
envelope and the paperwork to have it returned by registered mail. Allow
two weeks for handling. The waiting period may be decreased if you deliv-
er your passport in person. Small border crossings in particular may pres-
nost
ent difficulties if you're traveling on a tourist card. At the crossing closest
to the Mayan ruins of Copán, for instance, Guatemalan officials may re-
bas-
fuse to allow travelers with tourist cards to cross the border out of Guate-
mala and visit the site-even if Honduran officials directly across the way
give the go-ahead. Conversely, if you're coming from Honduras into Gua-
Re-
temala, the Guatemalan officials at that same crossing do not issue tourist
by
cards, and you won't be able to enter Guatemala there without a visa in
ter,
a passport. Farther north, Guatemala doesn't recognize Belize as a coun-
try, so border crossings between the countries may be dicey without a pass-
port and visa. In addition to border problems, getting extensions on tourist
cards can be difficult, requiring a lot of time and red tape.
'ns,
$1
TOURIST INFORMATION. The publications these offices send you
for
will give a fair idea of how competitive the tourist industry is in each coun-
try. On the high end of the scale is Costa Rica, with National Tourist Bu-
reaus in Miami (200 S.E. 1 St., Suite 402, Miami, FL 33131; 305-358-
DC
2150). People answering the phones know their country and the tourism
No
business well, and they send out a splendid package of country and city
ys,
maps and brochures on almost every tourist experience you might want
to have in Costa Rica. The Guatemala Tourist Commission may be con-
tacted at Box 144351, Coral Gables, FL 33114-4351, 305-854-1544. For
information on Honduras, send an SASE to Honduras Information Ser-
vice, Box 673, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10156, 212-490-0766.
Not a government agency, the information service provides information
he
packets for $5 which include tourist highlights, hotels, tours, and maps.
They can also give you information on Guatemala. The Belize Tourist In-
formation Board has a toll-free information number (800-624-0686) for
referrals to companies that specialize in tours of Belize.
The cultural attachés at the following embassies may be useful when
you're making travel plans:
Belize: 3400 International Dr. NW, Suite 2-J, Washington, DC 20008,
202-363-4505.
Guatemala: 2220 R St. NW, Washington, DC 20008, 202-745-4952.
TOURS. Your travel agent should be able to get you information on
tours to Central America that match your means and interests. The variety
of what's available within the region is considerable, though tours are con-
centrated in countries that are most popular (and considered safest). Ar-
cheological tours abound, of course, since Central America was the home
6
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
of the Maya empire and ruins lay scattered across the northern part of
customs
the region. (The Complete Visitor's Guide to Mesoamerican Ruins, written
by Joyce Kelly and published by the University of Oklahoma Press, is a
spread di
good site-by-site primer complete with maps and photographs.) Far Hori-
the way
zons Cultural Discovery Trips (Box 1529, 16 Fern Lane, San Anselmo, CA
obtain m
94960; 415-457-4575), for instance, offers a 10-day tour of the Mayan
macist fc
ruins in Belize, with an optional four-day extension to visit Tikal in Guate-
from a lc
mala. Holbrook Travel (3540 N.W. 13 St., Gainesville, FL 32609; 904-
and that
377-7111), has tours of Belize and nature tours of Costa Rica, among oth-
When
ers. The more adventurous might want to try the Costa Rican white-water
es and el
rafting, volcano climbing, and nature hiking tours put together by Wilder-
a copy o
ness Travel (801 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710; 415-548-0420 or 800-
to spend
247-6700) and SOBEK Expeditions (Box 1089, Angels Camp, CA 95222;
appropri
209-736-4524 or 800-777-7939). Costa Rica Expeditions (Apartado 6941,
You can
San José, Costa Rica) has white water rafting tours and a fishing lodge
the wate:
on the Caribbean in Costa Rica; Great Trips (1616 W. 139th St., Burns-
should ta
ville, MN 55337; 800-552-3419) specializes in tours of Belize; Ocean Con-
to be sca
nection (16728 El Camino Real, Houston TX 77062; 713-486-6993 or
control
800-331-2458) has scuba trips to Belize, Honduras, and Costa Rica; Sa-
Band Ai
faricentre (3201 Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266; 213-546-
cine, de
4411) has custom tours to Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Rica; Internation-
sunscree
al Expeditions (1776 Independence Court, Suite 104, Birmingham, AL
ping, the
35216 or 800-633-4734) has tours of Belize and Costa Rica; the Clipper
coastal 2
Cruise Line (7711 Bonhomme Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; 314-727-2929
the itch
or 800-325-0100) has 14-day tours in Apr. and Nov. aboard its Yorktown
gests.
Clipper to Costa Rica's National Parks and Panama's San Blas Islands
Befor
as well as to the Panama Canal; and Wildland Journeys (3516 N.E. 155th
injury. (
St., Seattle, WA 98155; 206-365-0686 or 800-345-4453) has several tours,
Medi
including camping, family, and jungle safaries to Belize and Costa Rica.
if not, t.
If can't make up your mind about what you want to see before you go,
Once
you can always arrange to take a local tour. Travel agencies in every capi-
likely to
tal city will be delighted to help you put together a travel itinerary for
to think
their country-and they're likely to know more than your agent at home,
volved (
since they're on their own turf.
transmi
In ger
STAYING HEALTHY. Before you set off on your trip, make sure immu-
safe, un
nizations for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and per-
and imj
tussis are up-to-date. You might also consider a typhoid vaccination and
towns a
a gamma globulin shot against hepatitis as well as a yellow fever vaccina-
drink th
tion (for travelers planning to be off the beaten track in infected areas).
for the
None of these is required except the yellow fever vaccinations, and that
Hotels
only for Panama's provinces of Bocas del Toro and Darién. Nevertheless,
their Wi
it is a good idea to keep an official record of your vaccinations. The booklet
water (
International Certificates of Vaccination (# PHS-731), is an international-
stocked
ly recognized form that serves this purpose and can be obtained for $2
eign CO
from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
will be
Washington, DC 20402; telephone 202-783-3238. Keep the booklet with
before
your passport. If you are subject to severe allergic reactions or have some
after at
other unusual health problem, you should wear a medical-alert bracelet
boil wa
and carry an appropriate warning card along with your passport as well.
zen wa
If you take prescription medicines, keep them in their original bottles
on which
and carry a copy of your doctor's prescriptions to make passage through
washed
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
7
irt of
customs easier. (Panama is particularly strict about this because of wide-
ritten
spread drug trade in neighboring Colombia.) Take whatever you need in
is a
the way of medical supplies. In many Latin American countries you can
Hori-
obtain medicines over the counter just by knowing what to ask the phar-
CA
macist for, but shortages are not unknown. If you do purchase medicine
ayan
from a local pharmacy, make sure that it has been refrigerated, if needed,
uate-
and that the expiration date hasn't passed.
904-
When you're packing, put in an extra pair of eyeglasses and contact lens-
oth-
es and enough contact lens fluid to see you through the trip, as well as
vater
lder-
a copy of the prescription for your glasses or lenses. Travelers planning
800-
to spend time in coastal areas should include a pair of sunglasses and an
222;
appropriate sunscreen. (Bear in mind that the sun is strong in the tropics.
941,
You can get a burn before you realize it, so take it slow. Reflection off
odge
the water or off a light-colored building will fry you doubly quick.) Women
irns-
should take along feminine hygiene products. Tampons, in particular, tend
Con-
to be scarce, expensive, and of dubious quality. The same goes for birth
3 or
control devices. You might also make up a small first-aid kit of basics:
Sa-
Band Aids, antiseptic cream, aspirin or stronger pain killer, diarrhea medi-
546-
cine, decongestant-antihistamine, motion sickness pills, lip balm with a
tion-
sunscreen, topical sunburn remedy, hand and body lotion against chap-
AL
ping, throat lozenges, dental floss, antifungal foot powder (for the steamy
pper
coastal areas), insect repellent, Calamine lotion or other remedy to soothe
.929
the itch of insect bites and sunburn, and anything else your doctor sug-
own
gests.
ands
Before you leave, make sure you treat, or have treated, even the smallest
5th
injury. Cuts and stings fester quickly in the tropics.
urs,
Medical insurance is a must. Double-check that you are covered, and
ica.
if not, take out a policy.
go,
Once you're off on your travels, it's the food and water that are most
api-
likely to do you in. Until your body gets used to local bacteria, it's best
for
to think before you put anything into your mouth. And if hands are in-
me,
volved (in eating, dental flossing, etc.), scrub them first. They can easily
transmit street bugs into your digestive tract.
In general water systems in the larger Central American cities are fairly
nu-
safe, unless the city has undergone tremendous growth without expanding
er-
and improving water treatment and sewage facilities. Water in smaller
and
towns and villages is less dependable, though in Costa Rica it is safe to
na-
drink the tap water throughout the country. It is best to use bottled water
as).
for the first few weeks, or for your entire trip if you're not staying long.
hat
Hotels where tourists stay are usually quite honest about the quality of
:SS,
their water and will gladly bring you bottled (aqua de botella) or purified
let
water (aqua purificada) if you ask. Some hotel rooms are automatically
al-
stocked with it. If you generally feel nervous about drinking water in for-
$2
eign countries or plan to be out backpacking where you know the water
ce,
will be consistently bad, you can stock up on Sterotabs or Halazone tablets
ith
before you leave home. When dissolved in the water, they will purify it
ne
after about a half hour. If you have the proper equipment, you can always
let
boil water for about 15 minutes. Remember that ice cubes are simply fro-
:11.
zen water and might be contaminated. Make sure that plates and glasses
les
on which you are served are completely dry. Residual water on a recently
gh
washed plate may be bad as well.
8
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Unless you are on a long trip and your body can adjust slowly to the
local food, it's best to avoid eating on the street or in markets. Even after
adjusting, it's a risky proposition. Carelessly washed glasses in market res-
taurant sections have been known to pass on the cold-sore type of herpes
virus, among other things. You should also avoid salads, fresh fruits or
vegetables that you haven't peeled yourself, milk or custard products of
suspicious appearance or origin, and mayonnaise and creamed foods
(which spoil quickly in the tropics). Meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables
should be cooked thoroughly and served hot. Pork is best avoided entirely.
Bottled soft drinks, beer, wine, and hot coffee and tea are safe beverages.
Despite the best precautions, you may come down with a case of diar-
rhea. Some travelers prefer to let nature take its course for a few days.
Others swear by over-the-counter medication such as Pepto-Bismol tab-
lets; one theory advises you to drink Pepto-Bismol before every meal to
coat your stomach and prevent germs from settling in. Still others prefer
to plug everything up right away with a prescription remedy like Pramidi-
sa or over-the-counter Immodium or Lomotil (though this can be toxic
if the indicated dosage is exceeded). If you've traveled a lot, you know
what works for you. If not, you should ask your doctor for suggestions
before you leave home. If you are stricken, stick to a bland diet of foods
like rice, mashed potatoes, bananas, papayas, and lots of liquids. Latin
American mothers set great store by chamomile tea (tée de manzanilla,
or just manzanilla) as a treatment for upset stomachs.
If the diarrhea persists or if it is accompanied by fever, cramps, and
blood in the stool, you may have dysentery. Don't try to treat it yourself.
See a doctor, who will will figure out which sort it is and prescribe proper
medication to clear up the problem. Central American doctors may be
better at treating tropical gastrointestinal maladies than their colleagues
in the United States, since they see patients with such complaints all the
time. U.S. embassies often have lists of local English-speaking doctors.
Malaria is a serious health problem around the world, especially since
the disease itself is becoming resistant to medicines and mosquitoes are
increasingly resistant to insecticides. Virtually every Central American
country has infected areas, particularly in low-lying coastal regions. If you
know you will be traveling where malaria is a risk, ask your doctor at home
to prescribe the appropriate antimalarial medicine before you leave.
(Chloroquine is still good for most of Central America, but malaria strains
in Panama are becoming Chloroquine-resistant, so Fansidar may be pre-
scribed for that country.) The medicine should be taken before, during,
and after your trip, either daily or weekly. It is not prophylactic, but sim-
ply suppresses the symptoms. Once you've contracted the disease, you're
stuck with it, and bouts of fever and chills may reoccur for years. Preven-
tion, of course, is best.
Malaria mosquitoes feed between dusk and dawn, and they don't have
the high-pitched whine that alerts you to swat them. You can protect your-
self after sunset by avoiding perfume or aftershave, covering as much of
your body as possible with clothing (preferably light-colored), applying
insect repellent to exposed skin, and sleeping under a mosquito net unless
your hotel is air-conditioned and the windows are sealed.
If you develop a high fever and extreme exhaustion once you have re-
turned home, you may have contracted malaria. See your doctor immedi-
ately and tell him/her where you have been and when.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
9
Travelers should be aware that the incidence of dengue, a viral disease
transmitted by mosquitos, has increased in Central America over the last
few years. Although visitors are considered at low risk for severe dengue
infection, extra precautions against mosquito bites are advised.
Backpackers, bird-watchers, and other travelers who expect to be in the
boonies should be aware of Chagas' disease. It is caused by parasites borne
by the barbar bug, or vinchuca. This nocturnal critter hitchhikes on opos-
sums, armadillos, and various rodents of the countryside, and usually bites
humans on the face as they sleep. The resulting disease is inevitably fatal.
The nooks and crannies of native huts are favorite hiding places of the
vinchuca, so if you're planning to accept local hospitality, bring a ham-
mock (or buy one-they're one of Central America's best handicrafts) and
string it up outside. Though not all that common, cases of Chagas' disease
occur in all countries covered in this book except Belize.
Rabies is a much bigger health problem in Latin American countries
than it is in the United States. Loose dogs on the street obviously should
be avoided, but be careful of domestic animals that are behaving peculiarly
as well. If you are bitten, the offending animal should be kept under obser-
vation for signs of the disease. Treatment for humans, begun within three
days of the bite, is a series of injections given over a two-week stretch.
If you want to read up on any of the above diseases and health problems
before you set out, the Health Guide for Travellers to Warm Climates, pub-
lished by the Canadian Public Health Association, 1335 Carling Ave.,
Suite 210, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Z 8N8, is highly recommended
by many tropical travelers. Health Information for International Travel
is comprehensive and updated yearly, though slanted toward health-care
professionals. Your doctor should be able to get it for you free from the
Centers for Disease Control, Center for Prevention Services, Division of
Quarantine, Atlanta, GA 30333 (tel. 404-639-3534); or it can be pur-
chased for $5 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The International Association for
Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT for short) publishes a wide va-
riety of pamphlets with health information, including one on Chagas' dis-
ease, a World Malaria Risk Chart, a World Immunization Chart, one on
How to Adjust to the Heat, and another on How to Avoid Traveller's Diar-
rhea. Its World Climate Charts contain information on appropriate cloth-
ing and the sanitary conditions of water, milk, and food. And it puts out
a list of IAMAT affiliates around the world that will find you an English-
speaking doctor (a specialist, if you need one) who has agreed to provide
services for a set fee ($20 for an office visit, $30 for a house or hotel call,
and $35 for Sundays, holidays, and nights). To obtain any of the IAMAT's
publications, write to 736 Center St., Lewiston, NY 14092, or tel. 716-
754-4883.
CLIMATE. The clothing you decide to take with you will depend on
where you will be traveling in Central America and what time of year it
is. Climate generally depends on altitude. Coastal areas tend to be hot and
humid, and low-lying Panama in the south can be quite a steam bath. Cit-
ies of the highlands and central plateaus are mild all year round. Some,
like Tegucigalpa in Honduras and San José in Costa Rica, are known as
cities of eternal spring. There, the middle part of the day is usually warm
and sunny-sometimes even hot-but evenings are chilly enough for a
10
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
jacket or a sweater. Towns at higher altitudes are cooler during the day
and can be downright nippy at night. Climate variations, though, are no-
where near as drastic as the change from winter snow to summer heat up
north. Central America is a temperate region, and the clothing you pack
can be reasonably homogeneous, even if you plan to spend some time in
the mountains and some time on the coast.
The region's rain cycle will be the overriding climate factor that will
shape your trip. The rainy season runs from about April or May to Octo-
ber. It moves north, so while Panama's Darién province may be dripping
in April, northern countries may still be waiting for the first rains in May.
Rain falls part of almost every day, with brief afternoon showers during
the first part of the season giving way to downpours (often still in the after-
noon) later on, and finally rain and more rain well into the season. It turns
the land to an emerald green bursting with flowers. It also brings a steamy
100 percent humidity to the coasts, makes unpaved roads virtually impass-
able, and breeds mosquitoes-not big problems if you're sticking to large
cities.
During the dry season, from November to April or May, rainfall is un-
usual except along the coasts. The land is generally parched and brown,
the air may be dusty and unpleasant to breathe at times.
Many people try to plan their trips to Central America during the tran-
sition periods, which are the most pleasant parts of the year. In June and
July the rains have just started, the dust has settled, and the countryside
has begun to bloom again. And in October and November the land is still
lush and the air still fresh, although the rain has slackened off. Travelers
have to break out the umbrella for rain in either case, but showers are
bracketed by clear weather, and nothing gets too wet or too dry.
WHAT CLOTHING TO PACK. U.S. spring-weight clothing is a good
basis for a Central American wardrobe. It is appropriate for the central
plateaus, and you can add layers if you're going up into the highlands or
subtract layers if you'll be on the coasts.
Although wash-and-wear fabrics are convenient, natural fibers are apt
to be more comfortable-and healthy-in either cold or heat. Cotton is
a good fiber for the tropics. It is marvelously absorbent and allows perspi-
ration to evaporate as well as air to circulate. Synthetics can be hot and
sticky on the coasts, cold and clammy in the mountains. This is true all
the way down the line, from shirts to underwear to socks. Don't worry
about keeping the cotton pristine. Labor is relatively cheap in Central
America, and you can get clothes washed and ironed for very little money.
Dry cleaning is quite another matter. Quality in this part of the world is
very uneven.
If you're going to be on the coasts a lot, lighter colors will be cooler,
since they reflect rather than absorb light. Bring a straw or cotton sun
hat if you plan to be outdoors a lot as well as at least one long-sleeved
shirt and a pair of trousers to fend off the sun in case you get burnt. Re-
member your bathing suit, too.
You might pack a water-repellent raincoat (waterproof won't let the
air circulate), which will keep the rain off in general and over a woolen
sweater will keep you warm in the highlands. Bring a fold-up umbrella
as well.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
11
Shoes are important, especially if you will be walking a lot. Make sure
they're comfortable and sturdy, and take a couple of pairs. Tuck in sandals
for warm days. You certainly don't want to overpack, but don't count on
being able to purchase satisfying replacements for shoes-or any other-
item of clothing-that you have forgotten. For one thing, quality may not
be up to U.S. standards. But more important, you may be much larger
and proportioned quite differently than local customers, so finding some-
thing that fits in a useful fashion may be difficult. Tailors are still pretty
cheap compared with those in the U.S., and they do beautiful work, but
having something custom-made is practical only if you're staying put for
a while. Good tailors often have quite a backlog of orders to fill, and you'll
have to go back for fittings if you've asked for something complicated like
a suit.
It is quite all right for women to wear trousers in Central America, but
shorts on either sex are definitely out of place anywhere outside coastal
resorts and archeological sites. (And they're not such a great idea when
you're pyramid climbing. If you have to sit down to get down steep, shal-
low stairs, you're liable to get your legs scraped.) Women should be partic-
ularly careful not to draw attention to themselves with their clothing.
Wearing sarongs, strapless sundresses, or tube tops outside of a resort set-
ting is frowned upon. Always wear a bra, whether you need it or not, un-
less you deliberately mean to provoke. Under no circumstances should any-
one of either sex wear army khaki or camouflage jungle attire or carry
or use anything that smacks of the military. You're setting yourself up
as a target if you do.
Central America has gotten used to the disheveled backpacker style by
now, but in general you'll have a much better traveling experience if you're
clean and tidy. Latin Americans are very appearance-conscious, and peo-
ple there take great pains with personal grooming and attire. The logic
behind someone having enough money for international travel, yet looking
like a waif in patched jeans, escapes them. Border guards and other offi-
cials may be particularly unsympathetic. If you look especially scruffy,
penniless, and powerless and act at all disoriented, you run the risk of hav-
ing drugs planted on you, and perhaps being denied entry into a country.
It's also likely that you will be required to prove you have a return ticket
out of the country and sufficient funds to cover your stay.
On the other end of the scale, if you're planning to dine in good restau-
rants, attend cultural events, or go to a nightclub, your dress should be
reasonably formal. Women should bring at least one nice dress and appro-
priate shoes, while men will want a lightweight suit, or trousers and sports
jacket. Men in Central America often wear collars open at the neck, but
you should bring a tie just in case. The guayabera shirt is standard apparel
for men in Central America and is accepted in all but the most elegant
situations. Always worn open-necked and with the hem outside of the
waistband, it may have plain vertical tucks or lots of embroidery done in
the same color thread as the shirt (usually white, cream, pale yellow, pale
blue). Short-sleeved varieties are more sporty, long-sleeved more appropri-
ate for evening wear. If you like that sort of thing and want to go native,
it's one local item of clothing that is a good buy.
Other Necessities
Each traveler has a different list of things he or she absolutely cannot
live without on a trip. Here's a list of suggestions in case you go blank
12
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
when it's time to pack. A penknife, complete with scissor, screwdriver,
It is
and bottle opener elements. (Pack this in your checked luggage, or it may
can tri
be confiscated from you at the security checkpoint.) A flashlight. An alarm
might
clock. (Wake-up calls are unreliable.) A sewing kit and safety pins. A
tion is
manicure kit with tweezers and nail file. Scotch or adhesive tape. Rubber
Lugga
bands. A good supply of toilet tissue and facial tissues. (Hotels outside
safer i:
of big cities may provide toilet tissue only sporadically, and you are unlike-
this m
ly to find any at all in public places; so carry a small packet of facial tissue
taking
in your purse or pocket for emergencies.) Zip-lock plastic bags in various
phone
sizes and a couple of big garbage bags. (They're good for separating wet
phone.
things from dry, clean from dirty.) A flat rubber plug for baths and sinks.
the ba,
A small spiral notebook, for use as a journal as well as a record book for
A ca
expenses and photos taken. Ballpoint pens. (These make good gifts to chil-
so you
dren who have a hard time getting school supplies.) Business cards. (It
pered
is very Latin to exchange business cards with someone you have just met
the mc
socially.) A few paperback books you can leave along the way for the times
the less
you have to sit and wait for something. (Keep it light, though; literature
airline
and dri
deemed revolutionary, subversive, or otherwise politically sensitive may
should
be confiscated in a number of countries.) Addresses of people you want
should
to send postcards to. Special soaps, shampoos, and conditioners that might
not be available locally. Handiwipes, for use as disposable washcloths. In-
carry a
should
dividually packaged moistened towelettes. (Marvelously refreshing for
also bei
face and neck when traveling in the tropics.) Earplugs. (Dogs bark at
change
night, roosters crow early in the morning, and traffic tends to be loud, espe-
occurre
cially if it's a large truck revving its engine or a motorcycle without a muf-
How
fler.) A small Spanish dictionary-phrasebook. Small packages of snack
on the 1
food (especially good during long car or bus rides).
ing in c
Leave valuables at home. They may pose a great temptation to potential
sleeping
thieves, and it's not worth the worry of constantly looking after them or
at one's
the hassle of (futilely) filling out a police report after a theft. But if you
ings or
do bring something that needs to be locked up in the hotel safe, make sure
conscio
you can get at it when you need it. You don't want to be running to make
trousers
an 8 A.M. flight only to find that hotel personnel in charge of the safe are
find tha
not available.
be loop
importa
LUGGAGE. If you are flying to Central America, ask about the baggage
inside tl
allowance of the airlines you'll be using when you make your reservation.
You
Most regulations are pretty standard, but details can change from airline
down to
to airline. Generally you are allowed two bags, with the length and width
America
of the larger not to exceed 62 inches and the total dimensions of both not
to a sma
to exceed 106 inches. You can also bring aboard one carry-on, as long as
you plan
you can stow it under the seat in front of you. Under this arrangement,
make ro
no bag should weigh more than 70 pounds. As long as the volume of what
the fligh
you're bringing is under regulation, most airlines won't bother about the
Never
weight unless you've packed something extraordinarily heavy. Also, if the
your bac
flight isn't that full, you can probably sneak on a little extra without being
off with
charged for excess baggage-but that's taking a chance.
and tell
If you're not flying, consider the possibility that you might end up toting
MONE
your own bags more frequently than you had planned, notwithstanding
Central
the availability of all manner of baggage carriers all over Latin America.
A number
Take only what you can manage with two hands.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
13
It is best not to bring expensive or brand-new luggage on a Latin Ameri-
can trip. Thieves figure that if the outside looks good, what's on the inside
might be even better. Suitcases should have some sort of lock. Combina-
A
tion is best, since a key lock may be opened with any key from that series:
Luggage should certainly be locked while in transit. Some travelers feel
safer if they keep it locked when they're not in their hotel room, too, but
this may serve as an advertisement that there's something inside worth
taking. All luggage should bear a tag on the outside with the address and
us
phone number of your destination as well as your home address and
phone. A slip of paper with this information on the inside will identify
the bag as yours if the outside tag is lost.
A carry-on bag should have a sturdy shoulder strap as well as a handle
or
so you can hang on to it closely when you're not actually on a flight. Zip-
It
pered compartments inside a main chamber are best on the theory that
the more a thief will have to go through before finding what he's after,
the less likely he is to bother. Important documents, such as your passport,
es
airline tickets, medical prescriptions, vaccination booklet, credit cards,
and driver's license, should be carried in an inside compartment, but you
should be able to get at them fairly easily when you need them. They
should never be locked inside checked baggage. Neither should one person
carry all the documents (especially passports) for a group. Each person
1-
should carry his or her own. Toiletries, cosmetics, medicines, and jewelry
also belong in your carry-on, as well as clean underwear, if not an entire
change of clothing, in case your main luggage goes astray (not an unusual
occurrence).
How you decide to carry your money and traveler's checks may depend
on the kind of trip you're taking. Backpackers who are camping and stay-
ing in cheap pensiones may prefer a money belt, which can be worn while
sleeping and taken into the shower if necessary. But this does make getting
at one's valuables difficult, if not downright embarrassing, at border cross-
ings or in banks and restaurants. Some packers and other super safety-
conscious travelers use a pouch that can be carried inside the front of one's
trousers or slung over one's neck and under the armpit. Many travelers
find that a thick leather bag (difficult to slit open) with a strap that can
be looped over the neck and interior compartments to hold money and
important documents is safe enough. If not too large, the bag can be tucked
inside the carry-on.
You might also take along a French net shopping bag, which scrunches
down to a light handful but expands to hold great quantities of Latin
American market purchases. A nylon tote bag that folds and zippers down
to a small square may also be useful. If you've made more purchases than
you planned, for instance, you can jettison dirty laundry into the tote to
make room, then pack valuable purchases in your lockable suitcase for
the flight home.
Never ever let your baggage out of your sight. You only need to turn
your back once and it may be gone. Don't let the airport taxi drivers run
off with your things in their effort to hustle business. Hang on to your bags
and tell them to wait a sec-un momento, por favor.
MONEY AND OTHER LEGAL TENDER. Gone are the days when all
Central American currencies were pegged at a fixed rate against the dollar.
A number have been devalued recently or are in the process of being deval-
14
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
ued. Also, with the current economic problems, there is often a better par-
B.
allel rate in addition to an official one.
and
Exchange regulations vary from country to country. In Costa Rica,
ever
changing money anywhere but at a bank or your hotel is punishable by
men
a jail term or a heavy fine. The exchange rate at press time can be found
You
in the Practical Information sections for each country, but do check out
the
current rates and regulations before you leave.
Was
The traveler's checks you take should be from an internationally recog-
Tl
nized company, perferably one that will cash a personal check for you or
let el
be similarly helpful if you run short. You should get them in U.S. dollars
a pa:
and in as small denominations as possible. Most Central American curren-
refer
cies are virtually worthless outside their country of origin, since they are
If
generally impossible to exchange once you leave. You want to exchange
go 01
as little money as possible and spend all the local currency you've got be-
such
fore you leave (putting aside just enough for the departure tax). Don't
week
count on being able to get currency for your next destination at your cur-
of th
rent one. For example, if you are traveling to the Guatemalan ruins of
biwe
Tikal from Belize, you'll have to count on the money changers who flock
around the border during the busiest crossing hours. They charge a heavy
Ph
commission, so exchange only what you'll need to reach your hotel.
of th
Carrying cash is risky, but it does have its advantages. For one thing,
great
traveler's checks are difficult to cash in some places, and the process may
but t
involve lengthy paperwork in countries like Costa Rica and El Salvador.
was-1
For another, you're likely to get a much better exchange rate, and you
your
won't have to pay a commission. In addition, U.S. dollars are welcome
too e
just about anywhere; for example, you can usually pay for a taxi from the
in yo
airport to your hotel in dollars when you first arrive, then worry about
Th
changing money and figuring out the local currency later. Bring some
28mr
cash, and make it small bills. One-dollar tips are easy for you and wel-
f/1.8
comed by maids and bellhops. (Save your quarters. U.S. coins can't be
the d
exchanged abroad.) Veteran travelers to Latin America often carry a wad
ing a
of 20 or 30 one-dollar bills for just such purposes. Also, when you're bar-
If yo
gaining for textiles in Guatemala, you're likely to get a much better buy
blue
if you offer U.S. dollars. And you may be asked to pay entry or exit fees
know
in dollars if you're crossing land borders.
actioi
Keep track of local holidays and weekends. You don't want to run short
phy a
of money, only to find that the bank is closed. Also, ask when the local
Bring
payday is. Banks are likely to be mobbed then.
termi
If you're traveling outside of large cities, take lots of small bills in the
swabs
local currency. Bear in mind that what may be a small bill in the city may
packe
be an unchangeable fortune in the countryside.
Est
Because of currency controls, it may not be a good idea to have money
er yo
sent from home. You may not be able to acquire dollars in the transaction,
film y
and you'd hate to end up with, say, $500 worth of Costa Rican colones.
if you
Still, if you think you may need to do this, ask your bank at home for
kinds
the name of a correspondent bank where you'll be. When you're traveling,
been
you can then telex your bank at home and get it to send funds to that local
specia
Take
bank.
ASA
If you're planning to put à lot of your trip on plastic, bring a couple
of credit cards. Major ones are widely used, but some business establish-
bird P
specta
ments won't accept all of them.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
15
par-
BACKGROUND READING. The U.S. Department of State publishes
and periodically updates pamphlets called Background Notes on just about
lica,
every country on earth. They cover people, geography, history, govern-
: by
ment, and economy and include a reading list, travel notes, and a map.
und
You can purchase the ones for Central America for $1 or more apiece from
out
the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402; 202-783-3238.
cog-
The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs puts out a book-
1 or
let entitled Your Trip Abroad, which discusses everything from how to get
lars
a passport to clearing U.S. customs when you return home. It's a handy
ren-
reference and is available for $1 from the Superintendent of Documents.
are
If you want to keep up with the news in Central America before you
nge
go or once you return, you can subscribe to English-language newspapers
be-
such as The Tico Times, Apartado Postal 4632, San José, Costa Rica (a
on't
weekly covering Central America, at $16.50 for three months); The Times
cur-
of the Americas, 910 17 St., N.W., Suite 321, Washington, DC 20006 (a
S of
biweekly covering all of Latin America and the Caribbean, at $25 a year).
ock
avy
PHOTOGRAPHY. Central America is a wonderfully photogenic part
of the world, and you will want to take a camera with you. Polaroids are
ing,
great fun and good ice breakers if you don't mind giving away snap shots,
nay
but that can be expensive. For the traveler who wants pictures for an I-
lor.
was-there album, an instamatic-type camera is a good idea. It will fit in
you
your purse or pocket and won't attract the attention of thieves. If it wasn't
me
too expensive, you won't worry about its being stolen if you leave it behind
the
in your hotel.
out
The serious amateur will want to take a camera body with strap, a
me
28mm wide-angle lens for landscapes and crowded marketplaces, a 50mm
vel-
f/1.8 lens for low-light situations, and some sort of telephoto. (Consider
be
the difference in weight between a 100mm and a 400mm if you'll be walk-
vad
ing a lot.) All lenses should have protective skylight filters and lens caps.
ar-
If you're shooting in color, you might bring a polarizing filter to darken
ouy
blue skies and an 81B to warm up dull days, but only take them if you
'ees
know how to use them. Otherwise, they're just dead weight. Most of the
action and color here is out of doors, but if you do a lot of indoor photogra-
ort
phy and don't mind carrying it all, pack a flash, tripod, and cable release.
cal
Bring two fresh batteries, and a typewriter eraser to clean oxidation from
terminals. You might also tuck in a blower brush, lens tissues, and cotton
the
swabs for cleaning, as well as several sizes of zip-lock bags and Silicagel
ay
packets to protect against moisture.
Estimating how much film you will need is always difficult, but whatev-
ey
er you figure, take more. (Each country has its own limit on how much
on,
film you can bring in, but customs officials are usually lenient about this
if you are a tourist.) Film is terribly expensive in Central America, some
for
kinds may be unavailable, and what is for sale may not be fresh or have
been stored under improper conditions. Unless you're doing something
special, most of your film should be medium speed (ASA 64 to ASA 125).
Take along a few rolls of faster film for low-light situations (ASA 200 to
ASA 400) and a few slow rolls (ASA 25) for bright light. Wildlife and
sh-
bird photographers should concentrate film in the fast range, since many
spectacular species live in dimly lit cloud forests. Keep your film as cool
16
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
as you can, and don't take it out of its inner container until you're ready
(
to use it, even if you've jettisoned the outer box to save on space.
fly
To avoid problems leaving the country you are visiting and clearing cus-
wit
toms on your return home, you should take purchase receipts or a list of
Mia
all your equipment and its serial numbers to a U.S. customs office and
ies
register it before you leave. Foreign countries don't want you to sell the
net
cameras and lenses you've brought with you, and the U.S. customs doesn't
Lat
want you to sneak home without paying duty on a great photo equipment
wor
bargain you got abroad.
Aer
One time through a low-dose X-ray machine at an airport probably
Pan
won't do your film any harm, but if you're taking a number of flights and
ria $
film is X-rayed several times, your pictures may indeed be spoiled. You
nect
can protect film by putting it in a lead-lined film shield bag, which you
coul
can purchase at most camera stores. You might also put film in carry-on
A
luggage and ask for a hand inspection. You should not travel with film
liter
in your camera, in case it accidentally gets sent through the X-rays or an
as y
overzealous customs agent insists on opening it. If you take rolls of 12
whe
or 20 exposures, you can finish a roll of film before traveling without
usin
throwing away too many shots.
for a
A camera bag is a definite target for thieves, but it's the best way to
that
carry your equipment. If you're carrying an expensive camera, you're a
that
temptation anyway, so just hang on to everything. Unbreakable metal
est t
straps may foil slash-and-run artists. There are some places it may not
from
be wise to take your camera at all, and your hotel should be able to give
fares
you advice on this score. Do not leave photographic equipment in your
at co
hotel room. Have it locked up in the hotel safe if you can't take it with
mind
you.
airlir
The act of photographing in Central America is an educational experi-
airlin
ence these days. For one thing, the region is no longer as innocent as it
it co
once was, and you may be asked to pay anyone who appears as a subject
to B
in your pictures. Cuna Indians on Panama's San Blas Islands, for example,
your
charge 25 cents per person per photo; natives of Santiago Atitlán in Guate-
If
mala charge one quetzal per click-and they count. In addition, photo-
next
graphing military subjects is almost out of the question. Even an innocent
chase
shot of a marine taking down the flag at the end of the day outside a U.S.
to alt
Embassy may incense local army guards at the embassy entrance. When
chan
in doubt, move slowly, raise your eyebrows and ask with your eyes before
ticket
you even focus.
road.
Film processing in Central America, where available, often is not of the
perce
best quality. Wait till you get home. If you are on a lengthy trip and can't
Lat
bear to haul all that film around, you can mail it back. Don't use film com-
your
pany mailers. Stamps reportedly don't stick to them very well, and they
hours
draw thieves' attention. Use a strong padded mailer, certify the package,
at lea
and send it airmail. (Surface mail for this sort of thing might as well be
Do
sent by burro, it's so slow.) If you bought the film in the United States,
a Cen
you can send it home duty free. Just mark the package for customs: Unde
port.
not be
veloped photographic film of U.S. manufacture-Examine with care.
immig
BEFORE YOU GO. Leave your passport number, traveler's checks
Mo
cities
-numbers, airline ticket data, credit card numbers, and any other informa-
choose
tion you might lose and need in a hurry, along with a copy of your itiner-
of Flo
ary, with a friend or relative.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
17
ready
GETTING THERE AND GETTING AROUND. By plane. Most visitors
fly to Central America. International flights connect the United States
ig cus-
with all the region's capitals and some large cities as well. New York,
list of
Miami, New Orleans, Houston, and Los Angeles are the U.S. gateway cit-
e and
ies to the region. Many flights originate in Mexico City, too, and a whole
ell the
network of intraregional flights connects Central America's major cities.
oesn't
Latin American airlines are generally the ones that serve this part of the
pment
world, and they include Taca, Tan-Sahsa, Copa, SAM, Aviateca, Lacsa,
Aerónica, and Mexicana. Pan Am flies into Guatemala City, San José, and
bably
Panama City, Continental to San Jose, and Belize City, and KLM and Ibe-
ts and
ria serve all three capitals. Panama is the odd country out here, with con-
You
nections to more U.S. cities as well as to South American and European
h you
countries on a variety of international carriers.
ry-on
Airline fares are in a great state of flux these days. They change daily-
1 film
literally. And how much you pay will depend on a number of factors, such
or an
as your point of departure and destination, the time you are traveling,
of 12
whether your trip is part of a package, and whether the airline you are
thout
using has a special fare offer. Be aware, also, that if a carrier drops a route
for any reason, there is automatically less competition, and other airlines
ay to
that fly to the same destination may boost prices precipitously. Some tips
i're a
that may help lower your fare: check departure cities other than those clos-
metal
est to you. For example, Continental recently offered a round-trip fare
y not
from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica, that was half the price of most
). give
fares. Regional carriers tend to have lower fares, but make frequent stops
your
at countries along the way. You can get significant savings if you don't
with
mind changing planes in Mexico City, the hub for many Central American
airlines. Also, keep your eye out for introductory fares as more and more
tperi-
airlines react to the demand for more flights. Travelers to Belize may find
as it
it costs far less to fly to Cancún, Mexico, and transfer there for a flight
bject
to Belize. In other words, don't always accept the first fare that comes
nple,
your way.
uate-
If you are planning to travel from one Central American country to the
noto-
next by plane, you should think carefully about whether you want to pur-
cent
chase your tickets ahead of time in the States. If you do so and later decide
U.S.
to alter your arrangements-leave at a different time, say-and need to
Vhen
change carriers, you may have trouble getting one airline to endorse the
efore
ticket over to the next. On the other hand, if you wait till you're on the
road, you may have to pay a local sales tax (5 percent in Honduras, 10
f the
percent in Costa Rica, for instance).
can't
Latin airlines are chronically overbooked. Make sure you reconfirm
com-
your reservation within 72 hours of your departure, then check again 24
they
hours before flight time. Arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare-
tage,
at least 2 hours.
11 be
Don't book flights back to back on the same day or expect to fly into
ates,
a Central American country and make quick connections to ground trans-
nde-
port. Leave yourself enough time for Latin time. Baggage handling may
not be nearly as fast as in the United States, and clearing customs and
immigration can be agonizingly slow.
ecks
Most Central American countries have internal airlines that serve larger
ma-
cities and popular tourist spots. In Guatemala, for example, tourists
ner-
choose between the national airline Aviateca or air-taxi service to the town
of Flores to visit the nearby Mayan site, Tikal. Many of these flights are
18
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
incredibly inexpensive-$7 to fly from Quepos to San Jose on Sansa in
Costa Rica, for example-and are immensely more comfortable and effi-
ti
cient than buses.
ne
By ship. Costa Rica and Panama appear on the itineraries of a number
pa
of luxury cruises. Panama City, or the port of Balboa, is especially popular
ar
because many ships sail to or through the Panama Canal on their routes.
of
One trip might leave from Tampa, Florida, for instance, calling at Playa
da
del Carmen on the island of Cozumel off Mexico, cruising to and from
Gatún Lake in the Panama Canal, then stopping at Aruba, La Guaira,
en
Grenada, Martinique, and Saint Thomas before returning to Tampa.
ais
Many round-the-world cruises travel through the Panama Canal, and
als
some put in at Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, or, most likely, Balboa, Panama.
at
Other cruises-out of San Diego, for example-might include stops at
do
Mexican ports on the way down to Central America as well as land con-
nections to San José, Costa Rica, a tour of Panama's San Blas Islands,
the
and transit of the Panama Canal with stops at each end in Colón and Pana-
the
ma City. Still other ships sail from Alaska, stopping in Balboa, Panama,
ma
and transversing the Panama Canal on their way to Europe. It all depends
an
on what you want and how much you can pay. Some short cruises cost
ab
as little as $2,000. The more monumental ones can run into the tens of
thousands.
tax
Cruise lines serving Costa Rica or Panama include Holland America-
tha
Westours and Windstar, 300 Elliott Ave. W., Seattle, WA 98119, 800-426-
Ta
0327; Cunard Line, 555 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017, 212-880-7500;
fle:
Sitmar Princess Cruises, Century City, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Los An
and
geles, CA 90067, 800-421-0522; Crystal Cruises, 2121 Ave. of the Stars,
of
Los Angeles, CA 90067, 800-446-6645; and Costa Cruises, World Trade
you
Center, Miami, FL 33130, 305-358-7330.
are
Ford's International Cruise Guide, published quarterly, gives details
about a great number of U.S. cruises going to all sorts of places. It costs
you
$9.95 an issue or $34 a year and can be obtained from Ford's Travel
yot
Guides, 19448 Londelius St., Northridge, CA 91324.
qui
The same company puts out Ford's Freighter Travel Guide semiannually
car
for $8.95 or $15 a year. Travel on a passenger-carrying freighter is much
tral
cheaper than on a luxury liner, but it does depend on the commercial con-
ten
siderations of trade routes and cargo.
By bus. A brochure put out by Panama's Tourist Bureau notes that 8
of
bus ride from Panama City to San José, Costa Rica, "costs about one-fifth
gle
of the air fare, takes about 16 times as long." That about sums up bus
star
travel in Central America, but in a region where money is scarce and time
ters
is no object, it is the method of transportation par excellence.
the
If you're coming down through Mexico by bus, Greyhound travels as
wre
far south as Laredo, Texas, They will sell you a through ticket to Mexico
care
City, but since they feel the Mexican connection is unreliable, they wont
P
quote a schedule. You have to cross the border and get on the Mexican
may
bus yourself.
get
A company called Ticabus used to run Greyhound-style buses to all the
way
Central American capitals, but it reportedly has suspended most services
with
Now it connects only Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. Other lines
is th
are still making the long runs between countries, but no one seems to X
mos
trad
going everywhere, the way Ticabus did.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
19
a in
If you are traveling by bus, you should arrange all your visas ahead of
effi-
time. You cannot hop out of one of these buses at the border and try to
negotiate a tourist card. In fact, the bus driver will probably run everyone's-
aber
passport and personal identification by the border guards en masse. These
ular
are popular routes, so you should also book your passage well in advance
ites.
of when you want to leave and be prepared for layovers of a couple of
laya
days in capital cities until you can get another passage to the next capital.
rom
The local bus network in Central America is vast. Schedules may be
ira,
erratic, buses are slow and often crowded with passengers standing in the
npa.
aisle, and you may have to share a seat with a chicken or two. Buses are
and
also extraordinarily cheap and go just about everywhere, not only stopping
ma.
at various locations within large cities but also going off the highways
S at
down dirt roads to tiny towns.
On all Latin American buses, you will want to sit toward the front of
con-
nds,
the bus. The rear is quite a bit more bouncy, and the engine is located
there, so it can be hot and noisy. Rest stops are few and far between and
ina-
may not be even close to U.S. standards, so go easy on liquids beforehand
ma,
and take Lomotil for diarrhea.
nds
We do not recommend traveling alone at night on buses; inquire locally
cost
about the safety of this.
$ of
By taxi. All Central American capitals, and some large cities, have
taxis. They are much less expensive than those at home, running not more
ica-
than a dollar or two for a normal ride and certainly less than $10 an hour.
26-
Taxis traveling to and from airports may charge more. In addition to the
00;
flexibility they offer over city buses, they also remove you from the theft
An-
and sexual harassment (if you're a woman) fostered by the close confines
ars,
of public transport. They are often not metered, so agree on a price before
ade
you get in. You'll get a better deal, of course, if you speak Spanish and
are familiar with local customs.
ails
By car. Other forms of transportation can't beat being able to throw
sts
your gear into a car and take off whenever you want to wherever strikes
vel
your fancy. Flying into your destination and renting a car locally is the
quickest and least arduous way of acquiring wheels during a trip. Major
illy
car rental companies, and sometimes local ones, have facilities in all Cen-
ich
tral American capitals, especially at airports and in large hotels. But they
on-
tend to be expensive, as is gasoline, almost all over the region.
Four-wheel-drive vehicles are good to have if you want to visit the out-
t a
of-the-way beaches or Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica or the jun-
fth
gle ruins in Guatemala and Belize. Jeeps usually cost $10 to $20 more than
ous
standard vehicles. In Belize, a Jeep with insurance and unlimited kilome-
me
ters will cost more than $100 per day. Whatever you drive, be sure to check
the car for dents before leaving the rental office. Rocky, bumpy roads
as
wreak havoc with paint jobs, and you could be charged for someone else's
ico
carelessness.
n't
People with a good chunk of vacation time who genuinely enjoy driving
an
may consider taking their own car down. It's a long haul, but you can
get all the way down to Panama's Darién Gap on the Pan-American High-
he
way. (The route stops in the Darién about 200 miles short of the border
es.
with Colombia. The official reason the highway has not been completed
es
is that it would encourage the transmission of South America's hoof-and-
be
mouth disease northward. It also, obviously, impedes the northbound drug
trade. When the road will be finished, if at all, is anyone's guess.)
20
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Before you set off on such a safari, you should have a mechanic check
your car from top to bottom. Mechanics in Central America can be quite
good and cheap (they'll do 10 hours of work on your car for about $60
in Honduras, for example), but you would hate to get stuck in some out-of-
the-way place over something you could have prevented at the outset.
Precautions notwithstanding, things do go wrong. Make sure you're
prepared. Take a jack, and know how to use it, as well as a kit of standard
7
car tools. You may not know what to do with all of them, but mechanics
along the way will. A repair manual with diagrams may be similarly use-
a
ful. Good tires are a must in this part of the world, as is a spare. Tires
take a beating over potholes, mud and gravel, and cobblestones. Pack as
many spare parts as you can. Things like a fan belt, an extra diaphragm
for the gas pump, a spare condenser and rotors for the distributor, spark
a
plugs, an extra set of points, a washer for the gas filter, and fuses for the
lighting system may not always be available along the way. (Latin Ameri-
can mechanics are wonderfully inventive, since they often can't get proper
parts and have to come up with novel solutions to keep local vehicles on
the road. There are limits, however, and you should prepare yourself for
the possibility of having to wait for a part to be flown in from the States
if something major gives out.) Jumper cables are a good idea, and also
flares, a water jug (radiators often boil over at highland altitudes, and you
may have to make a water run to the nearest house or village), electrical
tape, and a flashlight, as well as a funnel, length of hose, and gas container
for siphoning gas. (In some countries, like Guatemala, it is considered a
normal courtesy to give a bit of gas to motorists who have run out along
the road. And you may run short, yourself.)
A U.S. driver's license is generally recognized in Central America, but
an international driving permit issued by the American Automobile Asso-
ciation is a good thing to take along as well. It's valid in all countries in
the region and has an explanatory page in Spanish, so there will be no
doubts or misunderstandings. It costs $7 for members, $12 for non-
members, and you'll need two passport-size photos and a currently valid
driver's license.
Good maps are essential for this sort of venture. Bradt Publications (41)
Nortoft Rd., Chalfont St., Peter, Bucks SL9 OLA, England; also available
from International Travel Map Productions, Box 2290, Vancouver, B.C.
V6B 3W5, Canada) is reputedly the best source of Latin American maps,
though proprietor George Bradt admits that Central American maps are
particularly difficult to come by these days because of current political dif-
ficulties. Some tourism offices, particularly in Costa Rica, have good road
maps, though they may be outdated. Failing those possibilities, you may
have to pick maps up as you go along. National geographic institutes in
the capital cities of many Central American countries often have splendid
maps that show types of roads, the size of towns (and, hence, an indication
of the quality of food and lodging), the location of gas stations, and points
of interest (such as archeological sites).
Since you will be driving through Mexico, you will need to get in touch
with the nearest Mexican consulate to negotiate a transit visa for your car.
If you don't do this ahead of time, Mexican border officials may send you
back to the nearest consulate in the United States, thus adding an extra
day to your trip, or may charge you whatever fee they feel like, which
may be far in excess of the official rate.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
21
check
You can purchase car insurance for your trip through Mexico at the
quite
U.S.-Mexico border, and if you get it from Sanborn's, they will supply
t $60
ut-of-
you with detailed road logs that take you town by town, street by street,
tset.
through Mexico on the route you have planned. You can write ahead for
ou're
more information and a list of their offices to Box 1210, McAllen, TX
idard
78501.
anics
Some countries require you to have an internationally valid car insur-
use-
ance policy. Even in countries where it is not mandatory, it's a good idea.
Tires
People are generally not cautious behind the wheel, and accidents are fre-
ck as
quent. It's a macho society-Costa Ricans boast that they have the re-
ragm
gion's highest rate of auto accident fatalities. You may be able to arrange
spark
a policy before you leave home from a U.S. company dealing in interna-
ir the
tional insurance, but as of 1986, AAA discontinued its Central American
meri-
coverage. Policies issued in Guatemala are often good for the whole region,
roper
or you can negotiate the matter country by country.
es on
Border crossings are the bane of driving in Central America. Countries
If for
are small, so crossings are frequent-and they often seem to take forever,
States
although it may only be hours. You will need vehicle registration papers
also
as well as a passport so that officials may stamp a car entry permit into
1 you
it. (They want to make sure you leave with a vehicle if you enter with it.)
trical
You will have to clear immigration as well as customs (two stops), and
ainer
you may be asked to take just about everything out of your car. Your car
red a
probably will be fumigated as well. (Central American economies are
along
heavily based on agriculture, and countries can't afford to have devastating
pests spread across the region.) All of this usually requires a series of fees.
but
And even when you think you've left it all behind, there may be more cus-
Asso-
toms officials down the road double-checking the honesty of those at the
es in
border. Look and act your best at border crossings. There is no interna-
e no
tional audience at these border crossings, as there is at airports, and every-
non-
thing is up to the discretion of the border authorities. Try to cross during
valid
the normal workday, and bear in mind that the hours officials work on
each side of a contiguous border may be different. After-hours crossings
S (41
may cost more. If your Spanish isn't good, border crossings may be even
lable
more difficult; keep this in mind before deciding to drive through Central
B.C.
America at all.
haps,
Before you start off on your trip, try to get the most current information
S are
from embassies and consulates about border crossings. For instance, the
1 dif-
crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica was just recently reopened;
road
you would have been stranded in Nicaragua when it was closed, though
may
with determination and patience, you might have made it through with
es in
all the right paperwork.
ndid
Road conditions vary widely here, and even in the same country you
ation
may find they range from perfectly fine highways (usually well-traveled
bints
routes such as the Guatemala City-Antigua run) to rock and mudhole
swaths that don't look like much more than wide cowpaths (the road
buch
through Guatemala's Petén to Tikal, for instance). The Pan-American
car.
Highway is in great disrepair in spots, so if you're traveling on that route,
you
ask as you go along. Locals may know better and faster ways of getting
extra
to where you want to go. Roads are the main transport arteries through
hich
the region, so highways are likely to be filled with exhaust-belching, road-
hogging passenger buses and freight trucks.
22
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Many road signs nowadays are done in pictures, and the ones below
are fairly common. Still, many directions are given in Spanish. Even if you
don't speak the language, you should be able to recognize them if you are
driving. The ones you're most likely to see are the following:
alto
stop
bajada
downgrade
bajada frene con motor
steep hill; brake with engine
camino angosto
narrow road
camino cerrado
road closed
camino en reparación
road under repair
carril izquierdo sólo para rebasar
left lane for passing only
ceda el paso
yield
conserve su derecha
keep right
cruce
crossroad, crossing
cuidado
be careful
curva forzada
sharp turn
curva peligrosa
dangerous curve
despacio
slow
desviación
detour
dirección única
one way
escuela
school
grava suelta
loose gravel
hombres trabajando
men at work
no estacionarse
no parking
no hay paso
road closed
parada obligatoria
full stop
peligro or peligroso
danger or dangerous
pendiente peligrosa
dangerous grade
poblado próximo
town nearby
puente angosto
narrow bridge
siga en fila
follow single file
topes
traffic control bumps
una vía
one way
un solo carril
one lane
viraje obligatorio
obligatory turn
zona de derrumbes
landslide zone
The puente angosto sign is often found in the countryside, sometimes
hand-lettered. It means not only that the bridge is narrow, but also that
it will accommodate only one vehicle at a time. Such structures are negoti-
ated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
A circular sign bearing two crossed black lines and FC (for ferrocarril
indicates a railroad crossing.
Topes or túmulos are a series of washboardlike bumps designed to make
vehicles slow down, often at the entrance to a town or to a residential
neighborhood in the city. They can be quite wicked, so take them very
easy.
Shoulders of the roads are often narrow, and pedestrians use them as
sidewalks, night and day. Also, livestock is often unpenned and may stroll
across the road toward the grass that's greener on the other side. Piles
of rocks or tree branches that signaled a breakdown may be left on the
highway after vehicles have finally moved on. All this, plus dubious road to
conditions, make night driving extremely dangerous and something
23
NO
ON BICYCLES
NO
DO NOT ENTER
CIRCULACION
KEEP RIGHT
Viskm
GAS STATION
CEDA E.
PASO
YIELD
RIGHT-OF-WAY
TWO-WAY TRAFFIC
DIP
ALTO
STOP
100
km/h
MA XIMA
SPEED LIMIT
(IN A KPM)
NO
ON TURN =
J
CONTINUA
CONTINUOUS TURN
FERRY
4.20
E
VERTICAL
CLEARANCE
MEN WORKING
It
NARROW BRIDGE
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
PEATONES A
PEDESTRIANS
KEEP LEFT
NO
NO LEFT TURN
A
INSPECCION
INSPECTION
MECHANIC
S
SUPPERY ROAD
LOOSE GRAVEL
SCHOOL CROSSING
BUMPS
RU
Highway Signs
MAXIMUM WEIGHT
(METRIC TONS)
UNA HORA
I
10
-
PESO
MAXIMO
E
ONE-HOUR PARKING
NO
NO TRUCKS
HOSPITAL
13km
TELEPHONE
CATTLE
RR CROSSING
3m
m
ANCHO
LIBRE
HORIZONTAL
CLEARANCE
E
LIMITE
PARKING LIMIT
CONSERVE
SU DERECHA
USE RIGHT LANE
AIRPORT
RESTROOMS
LANDSLIDE AREA
SIGNAL
BA
NO REBASE
PASSING ON
NO
PEDESTRUMS ON
NO
PARKUNG ON
TRAILER CAMP
:500 m
RESTAURANT
STEEP HILL
TRAFFIC CIRCLE
below
1 if you
you are
times
that -
egoti-
arril)
make
ential
very
m as
stroll
Piles
the 1
road
g to
24
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
avoid. If you must travel at night, try to follow a local car (at a distance).
The driver will be familiar with the road and may react to anything out
of the ordinary more quickly than you can.
It's a good idea to slow down and beep your horn before you take sharp
curves in the mountains. If you barrel on through, you may get halfway
around and come face to face with another vehicle that has careened into
your lane.
If you're going up into the mountains or on unpaved roads, use a four-
wheel-drive vehicle with high suspension. Even the road to Chichicaste-
nango, Guatemala, may stall an ordinary car with four gears.
Unleaded gas may be hard to find in Mexico, and it does not exist farther
south, so you will have to unhook your catalytic converter. Never let your
gas tank fall below the half-full mark. There may be a gas station marked
up ahead on the map, but it may be waiting for a shipment and not have
a drop.
Unscrew your U.S. license plates and put them inside the car, showing
through the back window. They tend to disappear, since they are great
souvenirs. And in countries with political problems, they may be lifted
by unsavory characters who put them on their own cars, which they then
use to commit dastardly deeds.
Take everything that is easily removable off the outside of your car and
stash it in the trunk. Likewise, use a gas cap with a lock. And don't leave
anything of value in your car, locked or not. At night leave your car only
in an attended lot (estacionamiento) or in your hotel parking space. If you
park on the street during the day and someone offers to watch your car
for you (usually a small boy or an old man), agree and let him know you'll
pay a few units of local coin when you return. If he knows he's getting
paid, at least he won't steal anything.
If you are going to Central America for a substantial stretch oftime and
want to ship your car down, you will need a freight forwarder to book
your car on a ship and deal with the copious paperwork. Such agents are
listed in the telephone yellow pages of port cities, and the port authority
may be able to help you find one as well. Cost will vary according to how
heavy your car is and how far you're sending it, but a Baltimore-Costa
Rica shipment, for instance, might run $1,500.
By rail. Railroads generally transport bananas, not people, in Central
America. There are two well-known exceptions that tourists might be in
terested in: the train linking San José and Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, and
the one that runs across the Isthmus of Panama between Panama City
and Colón. Both have regular daily schedules.
CREATURE COMFORTS AND COSTS. There are hotels and restau-
rants to fit almost every taste and pocketbook in Central America, but
the selection, as well as the price, will depend very much on where you
are, both within a given country, and from country to country within the
region. Deluxe international-name hotels with pools, room service, air-
conditioning, televisions-the works-are mostly in capital cities, though
hotels in the Belize cays and the resort islands off the Honduran coast can
be just as luxurious and expensive. A room in a Honduras Bay Island
hotel, including boating, snorkeling, and three meals a day, may run $150
a day, double occupancy. A double at the Marriott in Panama City is
around $135 a day. It all depends where you are.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
25
ance).
Capitals and large cities have the widest selection of hotels, ranging
ig out
from the top of the line noted above to spartan pensiones or casas de
huéspedes (guest houses) where a room and a shared bath may go for $5
sharp
or so. Mid-range hotels can be found for around $25 to $35 (in Belize City,
alfway
$25-$100 per day). They may lack the pool and air-conditioning, but you
d into
probably will get your own bath. What they lack in amenities, they may
well make up for in charm-some are lovely Colonial-style buildings with
four-
cool tile floors and bougainvillea-decked patios.
caste-
Outside big cities, the selection-and the luxury-are more limited, but
prices are quite a bit lower as well. In the colonial town of Antigua, just
arther
a 45-minute drive outside Guatemala City, a double room in a quiet, clean
t your
small hotel that was once an old Spanish house built around a garden
arked
courtyard may cost $15. The farther you stray from modern bustle, the
have
fewer creature comforts you are likely to find.
Restaurants tend to reflect the situation of hotels. In capitals and large
owing
cities, there is generally a wide selection of domestic and international cui-
great
sines at a range of prices. In San José, Costa Rica, for instance, you can
lifted
get a filet mignon for two for $25. At the other end of the scale, a meat
then
stew with tortillas and beans might be a couple of dollars. Smaller towns
may have only one or two less expensive restaurants, and the menu will
.r and
be limited to local dishes-sometimes written each day on a chalk board-
leave
depending on the produce available.
only
Within the region as a whole, Panama is probably the most expensive.
If you
The prices of hotel accommodations, restaurant meals, and evening enter-
ir car
tainment are definitely on the high side, since this is an international busi-
you'll
ness and banking center, and prices are what the market will bear. Depart-
etting
ment store price tags are about on par with those in the United States,
and you probably won't do any better with the bargains in duty-free stores
e and
than you would in a weekend of shrewd shopping in New York.
book
A few additional notes about hotels and restaurants. Some hotels do
ts are
not have hot water all the time. Inquire about hours when you check in,
hority
or you may be surprised with a cold shower in the morning.
) how
At times some places may not have water at all. In Santa Elena, the
Costa
closest town to Tikal in Guatemala, for instance, there is no water during
certain hours of certain days. The hotel management will let you know.
entral
Many of the lodges and hotels in jungle regions don't have hot water at
be in-
all. Some on the coast use salt water for their showers, which can be far
1, and
from refreshing. Bring along a jug of water for your final rinse.
City
Power failures black out many parts of Central America fairly frequent-
ly; bring a flashlight and keep it in your day pack or purse. Out-of-the-way
hotels often have their own generators, which run for only a few hours
stau-
at night. Most places supply guests with candles and matches.
1, but
Motels and autohotels rent by the hour in this part of the world and
e you
are no place for weary tourists.
n the
Before you plan your trip, find out when major holidays and local fiestas
air-
are celebrated. They are often fun to see and participate in, but the rest
ough
of the country may be on the move, too, and hotel reservations may be
it can
hard to get. Holy Week is particularly bad for accommodations all over
sland
the region, and Panama is mobbed by shoppers before Christmas, so make
$150
sure you have a hotel room waiting for you before you set off from home.
ity is
Taxes and tipping. A number of countries charge a tourism tax on hotel
room bills-usually 5 to 10 percent. Also, a value-added tax, or IVA (im-
26
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
puesto de valor agregado), may be tacked on to your restaurant check.
A typical IVA is that of Belize, which ranges from 7-10 percent, depend-
ing on the article or service purchased. In Costa Rica, a 10-percent gratu-
ity will automatically appear on your restaurant check. Elsewhere in the
region, 10 percent is a reasonable tip, except in Panama, where the cons-
tant stream of high rollers from around the world has boosted tipping to
an international 15 to 20 percent.
SPORTS. Central America offers all sorts of participatory and specta-
tor sports for the athletically minded or competitive traveler. In many in-
stances equipment can be rented, but if you prefer your own, pack it. A
partial list includes: golfing, tennis, bowling, swimming (in pools, Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, lakes, and thermal springs), volcano climbing (with
the Club de Andinismo in Guatemala, for instance), fishing (sport fishing
tackle is reportedly in short supply in Costa Rica, so bring your own),
S
skin diving and snorkeling (you might want to bring your own mask, fins,
and snorkel), sailing, waterskiing, hang gliding (at Lake Atitlán in Guate-
mala), surfing (supposed to be good off Puerto Quepos in Costa Rica, and
so spectacular off El Salvador that surfers continued to visit even through
the worst of that country's troubles), wildlife and bird-watching (bring
binoculars), hiking (wear high-topped boots against snakes in the back
country), bullfighting (strictly a spectator sport), horseback riding, base-
ball, spelunking (in Belize), cricket (also in Belize), and white-water raft-
ing (in Costa Rica). For those of you who like a friendly wager, there is
horse racing in Panama (all of the Panamanian jockeys now working in
the United States got their start at the President Remon Racetrack there),
st
cockfighting and gambling (roulette and a type of blackjack in some hotels
be
in Costa Rica; roulette, dice games, blackjack, and slot machines in Pana-
manian casinos).
on
SPEAKING SPANISH. The shape that your trip ultimately takes will
depend on how much Spanish you speak. Although Belize is an English-
speaking country, some Indian groups still speak original native tongues,
and English is the compulsory second language in schools in Panama, the
vol
region as a whole is Spanish-speaking. In capitals and large cities many
people, including tourism professionals such as hotel receptionists, speak
excellent English and will, in fact, prefer speaking that with you if your
Spanish is less than fluent. Many more people in spots frequented by tour
out
ists speak a passable variety of English, and they' have as much fun prac-
dry
ticing with you as you will trying your Spanish out on them. If you have
you
come to Central America on a guided tour or are spending most of your
no
vacation at a large hotel in a capital city and taking local tours to see the
the
sights, the vocabulary you will need is minimal.
to
If, however, you plan to be a bit more adventurous and perhaps try out
50
local public transport, you should know enough Spanish to at least get
you back to your hotel. (Remember to keep the name and address of your
hotel in a purse or pocket. If you get hopelessly lost, you can always hop
M
a taxi, show the driver your cheat sheet and be deposited safely back where
you started.) A basic vocabulary of maybe 500 words that will allow you
to order food in a restaurant and inquire about transportation routes, fares,
and schedules-Where does it go? How much does it cost? When does
how
it leave?-will help enormously, and you might tote a pocket dictionary
The
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
27
check.
or phrasebook along so you can look things up as you go. As some travel-
epend-
ers point out, though, it's not formulating the question that's the hard part.
gratu-
It's understanding the answer.
in the
The farther off the beaten tourist track you get, the more heavily you
cons-
ing to
will have to rely on Spanish. Most people in small towns in the countryside
will not speak or understand English at all-and if their first language is
an Indian dialect, they may not speak much Spanish either. If your Span-
specta-
ish is similarly weak, you may find yourself incommunicado, and although
any in-
you may be able to mimic your way through a meal, fixing a car break-
K it. A
down is another matter entirely. In fact, it is inadvisable to drive down
tlantic
to Central America or to drive extensively around parts of the region with
(with
serious political problems if you speak no Spanish. You can't count on
fishing
border guards or personnel at civilian and military road checkpoints to
own),
speak much English at all, and a trouble-free passage through those spots
k, fins,
depends on your doing precisely what they tell you to. (This is not to say
Guate-
that you might not get by those spots more easily if you pretend to speak
a, and
less Spanish than you do, if you're fluent. Exceptional ability in Spanish
arough
may indicate to a soldier that you have been trained by the U.S. govern-
(bring
e back
ment.)
, base-
When you're learning a language, there is no substitute for being in a
:r raft-
country where it is spoken, and many travelers find that a session or two
here is
of Central American Spanish classes helps them polish what they already
king in
have learned in the States or gives them a good foundation for future
there),
study. Language schools are numerous in Latin America, and you should
hotels
be able to find an intensity and a schedule that suits you. Programs in Gua-
Pana-
temala have a reputation for being particularly good at total immersion,
with students housed in non-English-speaking homes and paired one-on-
one with a tutor during the day so they are obliged to speak Spanish all
es will
the time.
nglish-
ngues,
ELECTRICITY. Electrical current in most of Central America is 110
na, the
volts-60 cycles, and U.S. plugs are used. There is usually not a third open-
many
ing for a grounding prong, however, so bring an adapter if your appliances
speak
need it. Electricity in some countries (Belize and Honduras, for example)
if your
may run at 220 volts in places, but that's usually in private homes. Black-
y tour-
outs are not unusual all over the region, so your razor, travel alarm, hair
1 prac-
u have
dryer, curlers, and radio-cassette player should be battery-powered unless
of your
you don't mind waiting till the current comes back on. You should have
see the
no problem clearing customs with any of those appliances if it is obvious
they are for your personal use. Officials at land borders may take longer
try out
to sift through it all, though. Larger appliances may require more red tape,
ast get
so check with embassies or tourist offices before you set off.
of your
ys hop
MEASUREMENTS. Central American countries function under the
where
metric system. Aside from buying food by the kilo at the market, you are
)W you
most likely to have to deal with this when you're keeping track of your
, fares,
car speed on highways in kilometers per hour (about double miles per
n does
hour) and filling the tank with liters of gasoline (about four per gallon).
ionary
The following chart should help you keep it all straight.
28
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
CC
CONVERTING METRIC TO U.S. MEASUREMENTS
world
to wa
Multiply:
by:
to find:
throu
call fr
Length
may €
millimeters (mm)
.039
inches (in)
rates,
meters (m)
3.28
feet (ft)
calls 1
meters
1.09
yards (yd)
Sen
kilometers (km)
.62
miles (mi)
than t
Area
matter
hectare (ha)
2.47
acres
hotel.
Capacity
before
liters (L)
1.06
quarts (qt)
consul
liters
.26
gallons (gal)
tries' o
liters
2.11
pints (pt)
can Ex
Weight
up ma:
gram (g)
.04
ounce (oz)
would
kilogram (kg)
2.20
pounds (lb)
tive wh
metric ton (MT)
.98
tons (t)
ness. If
Power
er's ch
kilowatt (kw)
1.34
horsepower (hp)
mail fo
Temperature
oficina
degrees Celsius
9/5 (then add 32)
degrees Fahrenheit
know S.
names :
CONVERTING U.S. TO METRIC MEASUREMENTS
you wil
cash or
Length
not hav
inches (in)
25.40
millimeters (mm)
once yo
feet (ft)
.30
meters (m)
tents ar
yards (yd)
.91
meters
miles (mi)
1.61
kilometers (km)
SAFE
Area
Foreign
acres
.40
hectares (ha)
and of c
Capacity
segment
pints (pt)
.47
liters (L)
self in V
quarts (qt)
.95
liters
what yo
gallons (gal)
3.79
liters
spoil you
Weight
crimes a
ounces (oz)
28.35
grams (g)
that you
pounds (lb)
.45
Pirate C
kilograms (kg)
tons (t)
1.11
metric tons (MT)
dangerou
Power
Driver
you are 1
horsepower (hp)
.75
kilowatts (kw)
Politic
Temperature
elers, of
degrees Fahrenheit 5/9 (after subtracting 32)
degrees Celsius
give defin
and thing
TIME ZONES. Central America is six hours behind Greenwich Meas
the next.
Time, the same as U.S. Central Standard Time. Panama is five hours be
another t
hind GMT, the same as U.S. Eastern Standard Time. There is no dayligh
travel qui
savings in Central America, so calculate accordingly.
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
29
COMMUNICATIONS. Central America is connected to the rest of the
world by long-distance telephone, cable, and telex lines. You may have
to wait awhile in some countries for an international phone call to go.
through, and calls are liable to be expensive-about $13 for a three-minute
call from Guatemala to Alabama, for instance. Calls from your hotel room
may end up being quite a bit more expensive than normal long-distance
rates, so inquire before dialing. You may also only be able to make collect
calls to North America, not Europe.
Sending mail home is no problem, though it's best to use airmail rather
than the slow surface service. Getting mail sent down to you is another
matter. If you know where you'll be staying, you can have it sent to your
hotel. Tell the sender to mark it "hold for arrival" in case it gets there
before you do. If a letter is mailed to you in care of a U.S. embassy or
consulate, it probably will be returned to the sender, though other coun-
tries' officials may be more helpful for their citizens. And although Ameri-
can Express offices were once the place for international wanderers to pick
up mail sent to them abroad, it is an expensive service that the company
would rather not continue. If you're interested, ask your local representa-
tive whether the office in your destination country is still in the mail busi-
ness. If so, you'll have to have an American Express credit card or travel-
er's checks to use the service. The main post office of each city will hold
mail for you as long as it is addressed care of the lista de correos at the
oficina central de correos. If the postal worker can't find something you
eit
know should be there, have him look under your middle name. Latin last
names are compounded differently, and it may be filed under that. Usually
you will be charged a small fee for each letter you pick up. Do not have
cash or checks sent through the mail. They probably won't make it. Do
not have packages sent to you and do not send down packages to friends
once you return home. Customs duties are often many times what the con-
tents are worth.
SAFETY. Theft is a big problem for tourists all over Central America.
Foreign visitors are the haves traveling in a have-not part of the world,
and of course their possessions will represent a great temptation to certain
segments of the population. We have given advice on how to protect your-
self in various sections above, but it really is not all that different from
what you would do in a big city in the United States. There's no need to
spoil your trip with paranoia. A healthy case of caution will do. Violent
crimes are rare here. You may get your purse snatched, but it is unlikely
that you will be physically assaulted in the process. Belize City (dubbed
Pirate City by some), Panama City, and the Darién are probably the most
dangerous spots as far as crime is concerned.
Drivers are crazy throughout the region. Exercise extreme caution when
you are crossing streets.
Political turmoil and the dangers it presents are of great concern to trav-
elers, of course, but these are precisely the subjects it is most difficult to
give definite advice about. Situations vary greatly from country to country,
n
and things are changing so quickly that a hot spot one day might be safe
the next. Still, the whole region is not out in the streets shooting at one
it
another the way it sometimes seems in newspapers and TV news. You can
travel quite comfortably and quietly through much of Central America,
30
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
and danger is the exception rather than the rule. The following, as general
trip) if yo
rules of thumb, may help you stay clear of those exceptions.
with med
The places where everyone else is working, playing, and traveling are
the safest. The farther you get away from population centers and into
legal mati
need. If y
mountains and jungles, the more likely you are to run into something
write for t
scary. Border areas are particularly bad. The Guatemala-Belize border
isn't very friendly, since Guatemala doesn't recognize Belize as a country.
Bureau of
The Guatemala-Mexico border has a great Guatemalan refugee problem.
20520.
The Honduras-Nicaragua and Costa Rica-Nicaragua borders. are tense
for political-ideological reasons. In addition, specific areas within a coun-
ILLEGA
try should be avoided. As of this writing, for instance, northwestern Gua
that they i
temala sees sporadic guerrilla action and army "sweeps." The danger in
region are
these areas is not so much that you would be a target of attack as that
around. Pe
you might blunder into something unknowingly. The U.S. Department
tions, to sa
of State's Office of Overseas Citizens Emergency Center (2201 C St. NW,
and soft di
Washington, DC 20520; 202-647-5225) issues travel advisories that evalu-
with illegal
ate dangerous situations around the world. You can write for copies on
because yo
Central American countries, and travel agents, airlines, and passport agen-
in that cou
cies should have them as well. Once you're on your trip, local people you
one, and y
meet will be able to fine-tune that information, telling you exactly where
is heard, 01
to say away from and what roads have been closed. They will also be able
count on b
to fill you in on local quirks that you wouldn't otherwise know about. In
Panama is t
certain countries, for instance, tying a white handkerchief to the antenna
with the U
of your car indicates that it is a civilian vehicle and the guerrillas know
As we ha
to leave it alone.
officials trea
A number of countries have set up military and civilian checkpoints
ented, offici
along the roads. As a tourist, you should be able to pass through quite
and may pla
easily as long as you do what you are told. Usually you will be waved on
rettes, offici
without even being asked for your passport if it's obvious that you're
home.
tourist. In general while traveling in the region, but specifically at these
Conducti
checkpoints, never make derogatory remarks in English. People may un-
antiquities a
derstand more than they let on.
A variety of
Officials are very document-minded here. Make sure your papers an
for instance,
in order and always carry them with you. It is against the law not to have
coral as wel
proper documentation with you in Costa Rica, and you may be jailed
plied by eml
you don't.
ings
Bribing authorities is common in many parts of Latin America. But
don't try it unless you know what you're doing.
CLEARIN
If you're concerned about conditions where you will be traveling, you
at least 48 h
might consider registering with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate
days are entil
that officials can get hold of you in an emergency. If things go amiss
for their pers
friends and relatives at home can call the Department of State's Office a
travels, it is
Overseas Citizen Services at 202-647-5225 to find out if you're all right
next $1,000
Consular officials can be of great help to you if you run into trouble
will assess a
though they do have their limits. They can't get you out of jail, but the
different perc
can help find you a lawyer, try to get you relief from inhumane or UP
The $400 di
healthy conditions, and arrange for loans for a dietary supplement. The
goods, and y
can help you wire friends or relatives for money if you run short or
declaration if
robbed. The Department of State doesn't like to advertise it, but consult
all your purc
officials can make you a small reimbursable loan to tide you over whit
produce them
you wait for funds from home, and they can make you a reimbursable
emption, rega
tions.
patriation loan to get you back to the United States (not to continue
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
31
1g, as general
trip) if you can't arrange to get more money from home. They also deal
S.
with medical emergencies, deaths, missing persons, and various types of
traveling are
legal matters, such as notarizing documents that you hope you never
ers and into
need. If you want to know about this kind of assistance in detail, you can
o something
write for the Handbook of Consular Services from the Public Affairs Staff,
Belize border
Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC
as a country.
20520.
gee problem.
ers are tense
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. Drugs are not the problem in Central America
thin a coun-
that they are in Mexico and South America, but several countries in the
estern Gua-
e danger in
region are being used as trans-shipment areas, so illegal substances are
tack as that
around. Penalties in drug cases are stiff (years in jail under unsavory condi-
Department
tions, to say the least), and generally no distinction is made between hard
C St. NW,
and soft drugs and between possession and trafficking. If you are caught
$ that evalu-
with illegal drugs, you will receive no special quarter or treatment simply
r copies on
because you are a foreigner. You will be handled like any other person
ssport agen-
in that country arrested in a similar situation. The legal process is a long
people you
one, and you may be imprisoned without bail for years until your case
actly where
is heard, on the theory that you are guilty until proven innocent. Don't
also be able
count on being able to serve part of your sentence in a U.S. jail either.
V about. In
Panama is the only country in the region that has a prisoner transfer treaty
he antenna
with the United States.
rillas know
As we have pointed out previously, appearance has a lot to do with how
officials treat you on this score. If you look scruffy and act at all disori-
heckpoints
ented, officials may tend to suspect that you are carrying drugs with you-
bugh quite
and may plant some on you for good measure. If you roll your own ciga-
waved on
rettes, officials may view you as suspect, too. Leave the rolling papers at
it you're a
home.
ly at these
Conducting unauthorized archaeological excavations or trafficking in
e may un-
antiquities are illegal in many parts of the region. Stick to reproductions.
A variety of other activities are illegal in various countries, too. In Belize,
papers are
for instance, it is against the law to remove from a reef, and export, black
ot to have
coral as well as to pick orchids in forest reserves. Tourist literature sup-
e jailed if
plied by embassies and tourist boards usually includes appropriate warn-
ings.
erica. But
CLEARING U.S. CUSTOMS. U.S. residents who are out of the country
:ling, you
at least 48 hours and have claimed no exemption during the previous 30
isulate so
days are entitled to bring home duty-free up to $400 worth of gifts or items
go amiss,
for their personal use. If you buy clothing abroad and wear it during your
Office of
travels, it is still dutiable when you return to the United States. For the
all right.
next $1,000 worth of goods beyond the initial $400, customs inspectors
trouble,
will assess a flat 10 percent duty across the board, rather than hit you with
but they
different percentages for different types of goods.
e or un-
The $400 duty-free allowance is based on the full fair retail value of the
nt. They
goods, and you must have those goods with you. You may make an oral
rt or are
declaration if items don't exceed the $400 allowance, but it's best to keep
consular
all your purchase receipts together and handy in case you are asked to
er while
produce them. Every member of a family is entitled to the same $400 ex-
sable re-
emption, regardless of age, and members of a family can pool their exemp-
que your
tions.
32
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
You may include 100 cigars (not Cuban) and 200 cigarettes in your $400
exemption as well as 1 liter (33.8 fluid ounces) of alcoholic beverages if
you are 21 or older-all subject to the laws of the state in which you are
arriving. If you exceed these limits, you must pay duty, the internal reve-
nue tax, and possibly a state tax.
The U.S. Customs Service Know Before You Go pamphlet includes all
the information above and more. You can get a copy by writing to U.S.
Customs Service, Box 7407, Washington, DC 20044, or by calling 202-
566-8195.
Since 1976, under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), ap-
proximately 2,800 items from developing countries may be brought into
the United States duty-free. The purpose of this is to help the economic
development of such countries by encouraging exports. All the Central
American countries and Panama benefit from the GSP, so many items you
buy there will be exempt from duty. Write to the Department of the Trea-
sury, U.S. Customs Service, Washington, DC 20229, for the latest edition
of the pamphlet GSP and the Traveler, which explains the system and lists
types of products exempted.
Gifts that cost less than $50 may be mailed to friends or relatives at
home, but not more than one per day of receipt to any one addressee. Mark
the package "unsolicited gift" and list its contents and retail value. These
gifts must not include tobacco, liquor, or perfumes containing alcohol that
cost more than $5.
Packages mailed to yourself are subject to duty. Your best bet is to carry
everything with you, even if you have to pay for excess baggage. Mail out
of Central America can be slow and unreliable.
Do not bring home any agricultural items. They can spread destructive
pests and diseases, and it is illegal to import them. For details contad
APHIS, Department of Agriculture, 6505 Belcrest Rd., Federal Bldg.
Room G-110, Hyattsville, MD 20782; 301-436-8413.
In recent years many plants, birds, animals, and marine mammals have
come under protection as endangered species. They and their products
cannot be brought into the United States. For details contact the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240
703-358-2104.
VOLUME 20
Navajo to Opium
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
AMERICANA
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
1989
COMPLETE IN THIRTY VOLUMES
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1829
GROLIER INCORPORATED
International Headquarters: Danbury, Connecticut 06816
the
an
Hig
surow
the
LISA
A statue of the great Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío stands in front of the theater named for him in Manague
emplad
even 2
high
NICARAGUA, nik-e-rä'gwa (Spanish, nē-kä-rä'
United States to send Marines to Nicaragua
highs
gwä), a country in Latin America. Lying at the
was followed by 43 years of dictatorial rule
MI a for
geographic heart of Central America, Nicaragua
the Somoza family. In 1979 a popular revoluti
Lowland
is the largest and least densely populated coun-
led by the Sandinista National Liberation Fre
dopus.
try of that region. A tropical land of lakes and
(FSLN) overthrew the Somozas.
sistion (
volcanoes, cool mountains, torrid plains, and
but the 1
sweltering jungles, it is home to an ethnically
1. The Land
ettled.
diverse population of mestizos (persons of mixed
Nicaragua has three major geographic
The A
white and Indian ancestry), whites, Indians, and
gions: the Pacific Lowlands, the Central 111gh
costal lo
blacks. As in the rest of Central America, the
lands, and the Atlantic Coast. Each of they
try both
economy is based on agriculture.
zones displays dramatic physical, economic, and
Birth tem
demographic differences from the others.
bealing
The Pacific Lowlands. Western Nicaragua is CY
forest an
CONTENTS
Page
Section
sentially a low-lying plain crossed by a chain of
for culti
Section
Page
volcanoes and containing two large lakes. Alene
populate
1. The Land
302
4. Education and
Culture
the southwest coast is a narrow northward exte#
jerve. S
2. The Economy
303
315
5. History and
sion of the Costa Rican highlands.
ints, the
3. The People
304
Government
306
Eon.
The eruptions of western Nicaragua's volee
Natur
noes, many of which are still active, have devas
Pacific z
Though Nicaragua was never home to a high
tated the land but also have enriched it with loys
Indian culture comparable to that of the Maya
ers of fertile ash. The geologic activity that
cially via
farther north, the area had about a million inhab-
along wi
produces vulcanism also breeds powerful earth
and rich
itants living for the most part in relatively ad-
quakes. Tremors occur regularly throughout the
some sc
vanced agricultural societies when the Spaniards
Pacific zone, and earthquakes have nearly do
most im
arrived in 1522. In establishing colonial rule,
however, Spain destroyed both the indigenous
power fr
societies and most of their inhabitants, many of
INFORMATION HIGHLIGHTS
2. The I
whom were sold into slavery. During its three
Total Area (land and inland water): 46,430 square
Nicar
centuries as a colony Nicaragua developed an
miles (120,254 sq km).
export-based economy, and the foundations were
Boundaries: North, Honduras; east, Caribbean Sea:
around e
south, Costa Rica; west, Pacific Ocean.
tources.
laid for future political conflicts.
Elevations: Highest-Cerro Mogatón (6,913 feet, or
name inc
The 19th century brought independence to
2,107 meters); lowest-se level.
but in th
Nicaragua but also political turmoil and tempo-
Population: (1988) 3,600,000.
rary conquest by a North American adventurer.
Capital and Largest City: Managua.
the list 0
Major Languages: Spanish (official), English, and
pers or
The restoration of self-government in 1857 estab-
Miskito.
prices fo
lished a peace that encouraged economic and
Major Religious Group: Roman Catholics.
Monetary Unit: Cordoba (= 100 centavos).
though I
social development. But this quiet period was
For Nicaragua's flag, see under FLAG, both illus.
twice as
shortlived. A revolution in 1910 ushered in a
tration and text.
they do
quarter century of unrest, which prompted the
does not
302
NICARAGUA: The Land-The Economy
303
royed the capital city, Managua, more than
Agriculture. After 1950 the scope of capital-
intensive modern agriculture increased greatly.
enco. Much of the Pacific Lowlands is covered by
This growth was concentrated in export crops,
Central America's largest body of inland water,
while crops destined for domestic use continued
Lake Nicaragua. It is fed from the northeast by
to be produced by traditional labor-intensive
Ske Managua through the short Tipitapa River
methods. The shift to industrialized agriculture
and is drained from the southeast by the San
also significantly reduced the proportion of the
River, which flows into the Caribbean Sea.
population directly dependent on farming.
The southwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua lies
Commercial agriculture thrives in the Pacific
within 15 miles (25 km) of the Pacific Ocean.
Lowlands, where cotton and sugarcane are the
This the lake and the San Juan River were often
chief crops. Although coffee is grown in the
poosed in the 19th century as the longest part
Pacific zone at elevations over 1,000 feet (300
# canal route across the Central American isth-
meters), the most important coffee zone is the
pours.
northwestern part of the Central Highlands, from
Most of the Pacific zone is tierra caliente, the
Matagalpa to Jinotega. Cattle for the export of
of land" of tropical Spanish America at eleva-
beef are raised in the southeastern part of the
under 2,000 feet (600 meters). Tempera-
highlands. The overall expansion of export pro-
remain virtually constant throughout the
duction by large landholders pushed the small-
with highs ranging between 85° and 90°F
holders who produced the country's maize
-32°C). After a dry season lasting from No-
(corn), beans, and other dietary staples onto mar-
her to April, rains begin in May and continue
ginal lands, with the result that food production
October, giving the Pacific Lowlands 40 to 60
could not keep up with population increase.
thes (1,000-1,500 mm) of precipitation. Good
Forestry and Fishing. Just as agriculture is the
and a favorable climate combine to make
economic key to western and central Nicaragua,
term Nicaragua the country's economic and
forestry and fishing are the bases of the eastern
ographic center.
commercial economy. In national terms, howev-
The Central Highlands. Significantly less popu-
er, neither sector is important, the two combined
and economically developed are the Cen-
rarely accounting for even 1% of the gross do-
Highlands, which are broad in the north but
mestic product (GDP).
TOW southeastward between Lake Nicaragua
Mahogany was harvested commercially on
the Caribbean. Forming the country's tierra
the Atlantic coast beginning early in the 19th
SIBLACE STO
plada, or "temperate land," at elevations be-
century. In the 20th century pine stands began
inagua.
ven 2,000 and 5,000 feet (600-1,500 meters),
to be exploited. In neither case, though, was the
Ighlands enjoy mild temperatures with dai-
resource managed so as to ensure a sustained
agua and
the of 75° to 80°F (24°-27°C). This region
yield.
longer, wetter rainy season than the Pacific
Nicaragua's fishing industry operates off both
1 rule
evolution
lands, making erosion a problem on its steep
coasts and in freshwater Lake Nicaragua. The
ion From
Rugged terrain, poor soils, and low pop-
most valuable catches are shrimp and spiny lob-
ton density characterize the area as a whole,
ster. A turtle fishery thrived on the Caribbean
the northwestern valleys are fertile and well
coast before it collapsed from overexploitation.
Mining and Energy Production. Mining is not a
Atlantic Coast. The Atlantic (Caribbean)
aphic
major industry in Nicaragua, contributing only
tral HW
lowland differs from the rest of the coun-
about 0.5% of GDP. Still, gold and silver mines
of
the
oth physically and socially. It is an area of
in the north central and northeastern part of the
omie,
temperatures and heavy year-round rainfall
country are important elements of regional econ-
Dr more than 100 inches (2,500 mm). Rain
omies and constitute reliable sources of govern-
ers.
and poor leached soils make it unsuitable
ment revenue.
igua a chain
divation. Before 1894 most of this thinly
sted zone was called the Mosquito Re-
es.
So named for its Miskito Indian inhabit-
NICARAGUA
C. Gracias
ard
area was not under Nicaraguan jurisdic-
0
100 Mi.
a Dios
ua's
0
100 Km.
Resources. Besides the rich soils of its
ave
it with
zone, Nicaragua also possesses commer-
ctivity
viable deposits of copper, gold, and silver,
HONDURAS
erful
with valuable stands of tropical hardwoods
of fisheries. Although the country has
Cerro Mogoton
ughool
nearly
scope for hydroelectric development, its
EL'SALVADOR
important energy resource is geothermal
from its volcanoes.
Economy
Gulf
of
CARIBBEAN
430
agua's economy has always been built
Fonseca
ibbean
exports deriving directly from natural re-
Corinto
Corn Is.
an.
adigo, at one time a valuable natural dye;
The first major export was slaves; then
913
Puerto
Sandino
Man
El Bluff
head
.nglish,
pros-
a a commerce contribute
markets and
or fall. Even
PACIFIC
Nicaragua
S.
San Juan
)s) G, both
not much value to the national economy,
OCEAN
del Norte
produce and must obtain from abroad.
pay for the goods that the country
COSTA RICA
DIEGO
Cattle are driven to market in Nicaragua's Central Highlands, which produce beef for export.
About half of Nicaragua's energy is produced
3. The People
by wood, the most common cooking and heating
fuel in rural areas. Important domestic sources
Most of Nicaragua is mestizo, Roman C
of electrical energy are hydropower and geother-
lic, and Spanish speaking. About two this
mal power, the later from the volcano Momotom-
the people live in the Pacific Lowlands,
bo, near Managua. But most commercial elec-
jority of them in its cities. Cultural and cl
tricity, is generated by imported petroleum.
ferences are major social cleavages.
Manufacturing. Although the manufacturing
Ethnic and Cultural Distinctions. Although
sector of the economy contributes somewhat
population of Nicaragua is overwhelmingly
more to GDP than agriculture, it employs far
tizo (76%), the country has significant ethip
fewer people. Concerned largely with the pro-
norities of blacks and mulattoes (11%),
cessing of agricultural products, it supplies the
(10%), and Indians (3%). Ethnicity or race,
domestic market with foods, beverages, edible
ever, correlates with social conflict only in
oils, cigarettes, and textile goods. Also manufac-
as it involves cultural differences. The term
tured are light metal goods, construction materi-
dino ("Latin") frequently is used in reference
als, wood and paper products, and chemicals
the Hispanicized 95% of the population, W
such as fertilizers and pesticides.
includes the mestizos, whites, and mulato
Transportation. As is true of all public services
The remaining 5%, concentrated in the Atla
in Nicaragua, transport services are adequate in
zone, is black or Indian, is Protestant, and de
the west but poor in the center and east of the
not use Spanish as its preferred language,
country. Roads are the main arteries, although
The Atlantic Coast is often called Mosquith
only about one sixth of them are paved. Partic-
or Miskitia, because of its rural population
ularly important is the Inter-American Highway,
Miskito "Indians," a people of mixed Indi
which links Nicaragua to its neighbors. The
African, and European ancestry who have the
only railroad carries freight and some passengers
own language. In the Caribbean port town
between Corinto, the major Pacific port, and the
most of the people are blacks of West India
principal cities of the western lowlands.
ancestry and speak English. Ethnolinguist
No rivers are navigable in the west, but the
and religious distinctiveness, coupled with gov
Río Escondido in the Caribbean lowlands is im-
graphic isolation and a history of conflict, cause
portant for transportation. Domestic and inter-
costeños (inhabitants of the Atlantic Coast)
national air service is provided by the national
view the Hispanicized majority of Nicarague
carrier.
with suspicion and hostility.
Foreign Trade. Nicaragua exports primary
Religious Groups. Some 85% of Nicaraguam
products and imports manufactured consumer
are at least nominally Roman Catholic, a legacy
goods, machinery, and petroleum. The leading
of the Spanish colonizers. However, the Catho
exports are coffee, cotton, sugar, beef, and ba-
lic Church in Nicaragua never had the political
nanas. Foreign trade, which was once heavily
weight of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in many
dependent on the United States, became more
other parts of Latin America. Liberation theolo
diversified as commercial relations were devel-
gy became influential in the latter half of the
oped with the European Economic Community,
20th century, producing a cadre of radical Chris
the Socialist bloc, and the Central American
tians who were active in the overthrow of the
Common Market.
Somoza government.
304
NICARAGUA: History and Government
305
Protestantism arrived in the 19th century
4. Education and Culture
when Moravians established missions on the At-
lantic Coast. In the late 20th century fundamen-
As in many developing countries, access to
talist evangelical sects made greater headway
education in Nicaragua was long skewed in favor
than mainline Protestant denominations and be-
of the elite. Consequently, a literate, "high"
came the fastest-growing religious element in
culture attuned to Europe developed beside a
the country.
popular culture based on oral tradition and indig-
Social Structure. The traditional Nicaraguan so-
enous themes.
clal structure includes a very small upper class, a
Education. Nicaragua's first public primary
slightly larger technical-professional middle
school opened about 1837. By the late 1860's
class, a small industrial working class, and an
public grade schools existed in most of the larger
verwhelmingly large peasantry. Within the up-
cities. In 1877, Nicaraguan authorities accepted
ner class, rural landowners predominate over ur-
the principle that such schools should be nation-
ban merchants and industrialists. The peasantry
ally funded, and that attendance should be free
has both subsistence and market-oriented sec-
and compulsory. In 1881 education was formal-
lots, the latter having distinct rich and poor stra-
ly removed from religious control and turned
Other social categories consist of landless
over to government, but religious schools contin-
rural workers and a class of urban workers en-
ued to operate. Subsequently shortages of facil-
ited in marginal activities such as street vend-
ities and teachers, especially in rural areas, ham-
the "informal sector" of the economy. His-
pered educational development, a problem that
orically, opportunities for social mobility were
plagues the country even today.
limited unless a person belonged to a dictator's
Higher education dates from 1818 when the
tolorie. For the rural poor, two avenues of social
National Autonomous University of Nicaragua
mobility were open: migration to the cities, with
(UNAN) was founded in León. A major reform,
accption of an urban occupation, and enlistment
begun in 1980, reorganized the country's post-
the rank and file of the military.
secondary system into two universities: the
Urbanization. More than half of Nicaragua's
UNAN, with campuses in León and Managua,
people live in cities, and in the Pacific region
and the Central American University in Mana-
his proportion reaches two thirds. Managua is
gua. It also restructured the curriculum, giving
administrative, commercial, industrial, and
more emphasis to science and technology, and
cultural center as well as home to 30% of the
less to law and commerce.
Nonal population. No other city, even histori-
Culture. Nicaragua calls itself a land of poets,
By important León and Granada, is even a
and its outstanding cultural figure was the poet
th its size. Important regional commercial
Rubén Darío, a founder of Spanish American
like Matagalpa, Estelí, or Jinotega in the
Central Highlands and Bluefields or Puerto Ca-
modernism. (See MODERNISMO.) Among later
eminent writers, the revolutionary poet Father
THE on the Atlantic Coast are really only large
Ernesto Cardenal became minister of culture,
Nicaraguans in cities traditionally have en-
and the Sandinista novelist Sergio Ramírez
ad better health care, educational and cultural
served as vice president of the republic. Popu-
alities, and occupational opportunities than
lar culture has been built around religious
themes. Large processions are held on Good
in rural areas. One aim of the Sandinista
Friday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception
mment was to reduce such disparities be-
(the most important holiday), and the feast day of
town and country.
the patron saint of the town or parish.
c DIEGO GOLDBERG/SYGMA
Hay que cumplir
doubles as a bus on a
on road. The sign re-
EL SERVICIO MILITAR PATRIOTICO
chizens, "You must do your
ES TU OBLIGACION
triotic military service is
gation." Both men and
recruited into the
People's Militia
instrument for mass
mobilization as well as
A Managua hotel designed in the shape of a pre-Columbian pyramid withstood the devastating 1972
5. History and Government
and Costa Rica established the United Prov
of Central America.
When Columbus first sighted Nicaragua's At-
lantic shore in 1502, the country supported two
This federal union opened the way for
distinct indigenous cultures. In the Pacific
war in Nicaragua, as Liberals from León
Lowlands agriculturalists maintained extensive
Conservatives from Granada for supre
trade relations, lived in towns, and had complex
Withdrawing from the federation in 1838 did
political structures. The natives in the Central
end the conflict. Indeed, between 1821
Highlands and Caribbean zone were hunters and
1857, Nicaragua was beset by continual civil
gatherers whose societies were less sophisticat-
The violence took many lives, destroyed
ed. Nicaragua probably was named for a power-
property, and wrecked the economy.
ful Central American Indian chief, Nicarao.
But the country's chronic turmoil didnot
The Hispanic Period. The superior soil and cli-
courage foreign interest in Nicaragua as the
mate that permitted an advanced Indian society
of a possible canal between the Atlantic and
to flourish in the west also attracted the Span-
cific oceans. Both the United States and Cri
iards, led by Gil González in 1522. The coloniz-
Britain surveyed routes in the 1830's, and Fra
ers, seeking easy riches, began to export natural
tried to negotiate a canal treaty in the 1840
While the actual construction of a Central Am
resources, beginning with Indian slaves, causing
Nicaragua's native population to fall from around
ican canal would have to await the traffic to
one million to about 10,000 in 60 years. Slaves
tify the project's huge cost, everyone could
were soon replaced by a succession of other sta-
ly see that the great commercial powers had
ple commodities: hides, grain, cocoa (cacao), and
growing interest in Nicaragua.
indigo.
The attention of foreign powers was costly
In 1524 the conquistador Francisco Her-
Nicaragua. The British stake in the region dated
nández de Córdoba had founded two cities, one
from the 17th century when England began
assert military control over the Atlantic coast
on each of Nicaragua's great lakes. Granada, on
Lake Nicaragua, became the center for an elite
ensure the security of its Caribbean colonies.
that time England made allies of the Miskito-
engaged in hacienda agriculture. León, first lo-
cated on the shore of Lake Managua but moved
diplomacy that put the "Mosquito Shore under
direct British protection until 1787 and left Low
30 miles (50 km) to the west in 1610 after a vol-
don in effective control of the Atlantic zone until
canic eruption damaged the city, was built
1894.
around merchants and artisans. Conflict be-
tween these two cities and the social forces they
American interest in Nicaragua received
strong impetus in 1848 when the British seized
represented would shake Nicaragua until the
20th century.
San Juan del Norte at the mouth of Río San Juan
renaming the settlement Greytown. Washington
Independence and Conflict. Nicaraguans first re-
volted against Spain in 1811. As in all Spanish
was alarmed by new British activity in an area
America, rebels rose to free commerce from colo-
seen as vital to U.S. security. William Walker,
nial restrictions and to ensure that American-
Tennessee-born adventurer, had the greatest in:
born leaders would assume control of govern-
pact on Nicaragua of any American in the 19th
ment. Nicaragua's first rebellion was quashed
century. Brought to Nicaragua in 1855 to fight for
within six months, but ten years later all of Cen-
the Liberals in a civil war, Walker defeated the
Conservatives but then stayed on to make himself
tral America declared independence. Once sep-
dictator. It took the combined armies of all the
arated from Spain (1821) and Mexico (1823),
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Central American republics to defeat Walker and
his Phalanx of American Immortals in 1857.
306
NICARAGUA: History and Government
307
Modernization and U.S. Occupation. Peace
building the city, Somoza could not resist the
ened in Nicaragua for the next 36 years. A
temptation to enrich himself. His doing so
ries of Conservative governments maintained
alienated the elite, who had been his supporters,
ability, oversaw the building of railroads, and
and paved the way for his fall. The 1978 assas-
omoted coffee cultivation. This period of sta-
sination of an opposition leader, newspaper pub-
lity ended in 1893 when a coup brought a
lisher Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, further outraged
heral government dominated by José Santos
Nicaraguan opinion. By September 1978, Somo-
laya. Though called a dictator and a tyrant,
za faced a general insurrection involving all sec-
Jaya was notable for accelerating the Conser-
tors of society and led by the Sandinista National
lives modernizing schemes and succeeding
Liberation Front (FSLN). Within a year, Somo-
thout war in bringing the Atlantic coast under
za was out and the FSLN in.
caraguan control in 1894. Zelaya's downfall
The Sandinistas. The FSLN was founded in
fulted from his interference in the affairs of
1961. Inspired by the Cuban revolution of Fidel
lighboring countries and, even more, his insis-
Castro, the Sandinistas at first sought to organize
ice on planning a Nicaraguan canal with Ger-
peasant support in Nicaragua's Central High-
in and Japanese aid to rival the U.S. project in
lands. In this and most of their early efforts,
nama. In 1909, U.S. military forces supported
they were unsuccessful. Only in 1977, after the
successful Conservative rebellion.
death of their chief theoretician, Carlos Fonseca,
In 1912, faced with a rebellion against his
and a subsequent breakup of the organization
my government, the Conservative president
into three parts, did the FSLN revise its tactics.
olfo Díaz asked the United States to send
Two of these factions, or tendencias ("tenden-
ops to help him restore peace. The Marines
cies"), were dogmatic Marxists: Prolonged Peo-
ided in 1912, stayed until 1925, left for nine
ple's War, favoring peasant links, and the
onths, then returned and remained until 1933.
Proletarian Tendency, looking to urban workers.
even they could not keep order. A revolt by
After the reunification of the FSLN, the Third, or
Liberals in 1926 required U.S. diplomatic
Insurrectionist, faction emerged as the dominant
tervention to obtain a truce. One Liberal gen-
partner. Known for their ideological flexibility,
did not accept the truce: Agusto César Sand-
the Insurrectionists built a broad, multi-interest
instead took up arms to drive out the Ameri-
alliance of all groups who were against Somoza:
ns. For five and one-half years the Marines
workers, peasants, and the poor, but also politi-
the U.S. trained Nicaraguan National Guard
cally active Christians and many middle-class
issued him without success. Never defeated,
people.
adino laid down his arms only in 1933 when
After taking power on July 19, 1979, the
U.S. forces left. In return, the Nicaraguan
FSLN set up a Governing Junta of National Re-
vernment agreed to amnesty for Sandino's
construction (JGRN), an executive body with five
my, the Sandinistas, and give them land to set
(later three) members. By 1980 a representative
agricultural cooperatives. Though Sandino
body, the Council of State, was in operation.
repted the government's offer in 1934, the deal
Unlike most assemblies, the Council of State was
never put into effect. Just after signing the
not elected by geographic constituencies but was
cord, Sandino was kidnapped by the National
appointed by key groups in the society. Thus it
and and executed.
had representatives of business, the military, la-
The Somoza Era. Anastasio Somoza García,
bor, and the various organizations affiliated with
own as Tacho, entered Nicaraguan public life
the FSLN, such as the Sandinista defense com-
1927 when his command of English, learned
mittees. Overall, the original Sandinista ma-
tring three years in Philadelphia, got him a job
chinery of government was well suited for carry-
interpreter for the head of the U.S. delegation
ing out rapid social change.
to negotiate an end to the Liberal revolt that
These governmental institutions began to
an in 1926. He gained national office in
change by 1982 as more conventional instru-
02 when he was made commander of the Na-
ments of rule were developed. Elections held in
al Guard, Nicaragua's army. By 1937 he had
1984 led to the replacement of the Council of
patched Sandino and his guerrillas and
Hhed the republic's president, his wife's uncle,
State by a National Assembly, whose members
represented the voters of territorial districts. As
office. Thus he established the basis for a
illy dynasty that ruled Nicaragua until 1979.
well, the appointed JGRN gave way to an elected
The first Somoza was a traditional caudillo, or
president and vice president. A further step to-
in American strongman. Politically, this
ward giving the new regime a permanent basis
Nint staying in power by changing the consti-
came in 1987 when a new constitution was
Son, rigging elections, using graft, and em-
adopted. A mix of radical and conventional ele-
rying the National Guard as a coercive force.
ments, it recognized Nicaragua's multiethnic na-
WITH he was assassinated by a young poet in
ture and guaranteed political pluralism, a mixed
Somoza was the richest man in Nicaragua.
economy, nonalignment in foreign affairs, civil
Tacho was succeeded by his eldest son, Luis
liberties, and socioeconomic rights.
woza Debayle. The politically astute Luis
A similarly dramatic change occurred in
ated the family out of the spotlight of govern-
agrarian reform. Every agrarian reform aims to
(CB instrument of indirect rule. He failed in
and sought to make use of the Liberal Party
break up inefficiently large farms and redistrib-
ute them to the landless, either in cooperatives
goal because his brother Anastasio, another
or as private plots. The FSLN's reform, which
in Insisted on having his turn as president.
began with the confiscation of the rural holdings
1967. Anastasio Somoza Debayle duly be-
of the Somozas and their coterie, made the gov-
president of the republic. Although polit-
ernment owner of one fifth of Nicaragua's arable
land. Almost all of this land had been set up for
a his son but for the dev-
than his father and
large-scale agribusiness and thus was unsuitable
would have succeeded
for distribution as private peasant plots. This
Managua earthquake of 1972. In re-
was not seen as a problem, as Sandinista thinking
favored large-scale farming and co-ops over small
308
NICARAGUA: History and Government
individual farms. By 1985, though, it was appar-
the first five years alone. And this
ent that government policy had failed to meet the
demands of the rural poor, an important base of
ignored the human cost of the conflict: assessme 20,00
Sandinista support. Therefore the government
dead, counting both sides, and total casualties
amended its policy to permit individuals to re-
40,000. Further, perhaps 250,000 refugees
ceive land titles and gave less emphasis to coop-
created by the fighting. None of a series of
eratives.
ties proposed between 1983 and 1986 by
Most Sandinista social and economic policies
Contadora countries (Colombia, Mexico,
changed less dramatically, however. From the
ma, Venezuela) to resolve this problem as
a general resolution of the crisis in Central part
beginning the government aimed at building a
ica proved acceptable to all the parties.
mixed economy that the public sector would
gave a better chance of success to a 1987 Expe
lead, setting priorities for private enterprise. Al-
al made by Costa Rican President Oscar propo
though state ownership increased, the majority of
known as the Esquipulas II Treaty in
enterprises-and also the largest ones-re-
mained in private hands. These policies worked
America and the Arias Plan in North America
for a few years, but shortages and inflation soon
was signed by the presidents of the five Center
American republics.
plagued the economy. Economic failures, how-
ever, could not be attributed to the government
Overall, the changes wrought by the Sir:
alone. For example, a global fall in the prices of
nistas were less comprehensive than those Act
primary commodities left the country with a
ing from most revolutions. The economy
not entirely reorganized, though resources
chronic balance-of-payments deficit and a huge
redistributed toward the poorer classes
foreign debt. The goal of Sandinista social poli-
cy was to provide good health care, housing, and
general structure of society was not greatly
education to all Nicaraguans. Despite a promis-
tered, even though the old elite lost much of
influence. Meanwhile the FSLN moved
ing start-for example, a literacy drive that
from its original radical political structure
taught 400,000 people to read-efforts in these
areas slowed after 1982 as resources were divert-
which it monopolized power, toward one Tea
ed to fight a counterrevolutionary insurgency.
nizing as legitimate the existence of other poli
cal interests.
In 1981 a counterrevolutionary army (the
"contras"), founded on the remnants of Somoza's
DAVID CLUB
National Guard and organized by the U.S Central
Memorial University of Newfoundle
Intelligence Agency with Argentine and Israeli
Bibliography
help, launched a war of attrition against the
Black, George, The Triumph of the People (Zed 19811
Sandinista government. To combat the insur-
Booth, 1985). John, The End and the Beginning, 2d ed. (Westry
gents, the government had to build a huge army
Close, David, Nicaragua: Politics, Economics, and Social
and devote as much as half the national budget to
(Pinter 1988).
Diederich, Bernard, Somoza (Dutton 1980).
defense. Unofficial estimates put the total cost
of the war to the Nicaraguan government at over
Rudolph, 1982). James, ed., Nicaragua: A Country Study (USCR
$2 billion, or more than the annual GDP, during
Walker, Thomas, ed., Nicaragua: The First Five Yes
(Praeger 1985).
Sandinista troops guard against Contra attacks. A mother is depicted as "with my sons in defense of the country
© VIVIANE MOOS/THE STOCK
CON MIS HIJOS EN DEFENSA
DE LA PATRIA
NICARAGUA, LAKE-NICE
309
this assessment
CARAGUA, Lake, nik-e-rä'gwä, the largest lake
NICE, nēs, a resort city on France's Côte d'Azur
conflict: 20,000
(Central America, situated in southwestern
and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes depart-
tal casualties
caragua at an elevation of 105 feet (32 meters).
ment. Located on the Bay of Angels of the Med-
in shape, it measures about 100 miles by up
iterranean Sea, Nice (Italian, Nizza) is protected
0 refugees WHI
a series of tics
45 miles (160 by 70 km) and reaches a depth of
on the north and northeast by the Maritime Alps,
id 1986 by the
feet (70 meters). Its area of some 3,100
at whose base it lies. The city occupies the area
Mexico, Pass
scare miles (8,030 sq km) makes it the largest
that lies on both sides of the Paillon River, a
july of fresh water between the Great Lakes of
mountain torrent.
oblem as part &
with America and Lake Titicaca in Peru and
Nice's gentle climate and beautiful location
n Central Amer
barties. Experts
alivia:
on the bay, near pine forests and fragrant herb-
) a 1987 project
Lake Nicaragua is fed at its northwest end by
covered hills, have made it one of the most
ent Oscar Arian
Tipitapa River, which is the outlet of smaller
attractive resorts on the French Riviera. Al-
Treaty in Lath
Like Managua. It is separated from the Pacific
though tourism is its chief industry, flowers, per-
orth America,
rean by the Rivas Isthmus, only 12 miles (19
fumes, olive oil, and candied fruits are economi-
the five Central
across at its widest point. Because the Con-
cally important.
sental Divide follows this isthmus, Lake Nica-
The Old and New Towns. The Place Masséna,
it by the Sand
TUN drains by way of the San Juan River into
the focal point of the city, lies between the Old
than those Boys
Caribbean Sea.
and New towns, which are separated by espla-
The lake is dotted with hundreds of small
nades that cover the Paillon River for part of its
e economy No
ands whose scenic beauty is a major tourist
course. The Old Town, east of the Place Mas-
resources Well
r classes. The
exction. The largest island, Ometepe, has two
séna, is a district of winding, narrow, often hilly
not greatly or
canoes. Zapatera ("Shoemaker") is noted for
streets, old houses, and ruined palaces. Its col-
lost much of #
Epic-Columbian stone images and shoe-shaped
orful flower market is on the Cours Saleya.
N moved and
Patery: On the lake's northwestern shore
Bounding the Old Town on the east is a rocky
al structure,
tods the city of Granada, overlooked by the
promontory that was once the site of a castle and
ward one receipt
cano Mombacho.
is still called the Château. East of the promon-
e of other policy
Lake Nicaragua contains sharks, tarpons, and
tory is the small harbor Port Lympia. The New
fish usually associated with salt water. It
Town, to the west of the Place Masséna, is
DAVID CLIMI
believed that the lake was formed by the clo-
crowded with fashionable shops, hotels, restau-
Newfoundless
of an ocean bay owing to volcanic action and
rants, and cafés. The famous Promenade des
marine life adapted to new conditions as the
Anglais, so named because it was begun by the
ple (Zed 1981)
gradually became fresh.
English colony in 1822, runs along the Bay of
g, 2d ed. (Weshin
Angels and its pebbly beaches.
ARAGUA CANAL PROJECT, nik-a-rä'gwä, a pro-
The Resort City. Nice was first developed as a
omics, and Social
ship canal to connect the Carribbean Sea
winter resort. The English writer Tobias Smol-
the Pacific Ocean by way of southern Nica-
lett was one of the first to describe its attractions
80). itry Study (USCR)
The canal would follow the San Juan
to his compatriots when he published an account
First Five Years
from the Caribbean to Lake Nicaragua,
of his visit to Nice in 1764. Wealthy English-
cross the lake and cut through the narrow
men soon were drawn to the sunny coastal town,
Isthmus to reach the Pacific. The transit
to be followed in the 19th century by other Euro-
Lance would be 173 miles (278 km).
peans, particularly Russian aristocrats, and then
of the country,
pain, which long had considered an inter-
by the French themselves. With the completion
MOOS/THE
STOCK
canal, surveyed the Nicaragua route in the
of a railroad from Paris to Nice in 1865, Nice
century. After the breakup of the Spanish
became one of Europe's most fashionable winter
clean empire, the United States was at-
resorts. After World War I the tourist season
to the project. American interest led to
shifted from winter to summer. By that time
reaties with Nicaragua during the 19th cen-
writers and artists had begun to reside there or in
and to the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with
the city's environs; their numbers were to in-
Britain in 1850. The latter agreement in
clude Jules Chéret, Marc Chagall, and Raoul
provided for joint U.S.-British control of
Dufy. Henri Matisse was to spend the last years
canal that might be built across Central
of his life nearby.
vica, Panama, or the Tehuantepec Isthmus of
The Carnival City. The pre-Lenten carnival
It was superseded by the Hay-Paunce-
draws visitors to Nice in the slack tourist season.
Treaty of 1901, which gave the United States
It lasts ten days, ending on Mardi Gras with the
the to build its own canal in the region.
burning in effigy of the King of the Carnival. Its
American company started work on a Nic-
elaborate floats and skillfully made, larger-
canal in 1887; it failed through lack of
than-life papier-mäché figures, confetti battles,
From 1895 to 1900 the U.S. government
fireworks, and masked balls make this one of the
ored resuming the project, but political
most popular carnivals in Europe.
tons and other factors resulted in selection
Cultural Life. In addition to the Nice Opera
anama route.
and the Nouveau Théâtre de Nice, the city's
the Panama Canal was opened, the
major cultural attractions are its museums, partic-
States maintained interest in an alterna-
ularly the Matisse Museum, which was greatly
hipping route through Nicaragua in case
enriched in 1979 by the bequest of the artist's
hama Canal became inadequate. In 1916
son Jean. Works by Chagall are on permanent
Senate ratified the Bryan-Chamorro
exhibition in a museum devoted to his art. The
by which Nicaragua gave the United
Jules Chéret Museum contains not only works by
sole right to build and protect the pro-
Chéret but also by Dufy, Van Dongen, Vuillard,
canal. An international court ruled that
This of Costa Rica and El Salvador had been
and Picasso, as well as by artists from earlier
ed
periods.
but the U.S. government ignored the
History. Called Nikaia by the Greeks and Ni-
However, the United States never ex-
caea by the Romans, Nice was a Greek colony of
option, and the treaty was abrogated
Massalia (modern Marseilles) before it passed to
Rome. With the advent of the Middle Ages,