MANAGUA – Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, is to present a Citizen Action Plan that includes projects for next year, announced Rosario Murillo, Coordinator of the Council of Communication and Citizens of the government.
Government initiatives in economic, social, health, education, housing spheres among others are the result of careful planning, Murillo indicated.
He also explained issues [...]

After reporters corrected Nicaragua’s deputy foreign minister Manuel Coronel Kautz for calling Dutch Member of European Parlaiment Hans vanBaalen a German, Kautz proceeded to publicly dismiss Holland as a “crappy little country.” Now that’s what I call diplomacy.
The foreign ministry later apologized, but maintained its accusation that van Baalen was a meddler for holding a [...]

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega says Dutch MEP Hans van Baalen was in Nicaragua to see how the army felt about attempting a coup d’état, but found no officers willing to go along with the idea.
This is the Nicaraguan President’s explanation for the diplomatic row which has arisen since a visit by the MEP.
The European Union [...]

GUATEMALA CITY – Brazilian corruption busters, a “comfort-food” startup by California-based Mexicans and a Costa Rican doctor who treats Panamanian indigenous people won the top three awards Friday at the Fifth Social Innovation Fair at this Central American capital’s San Carlos University.
The winners – earning $30,000, $20,000 and $15,000 respectively from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation [...]

A landslide in San Vito de Coto Brus in Costa Rica’s Southern Zone killed a 15-year-old high school student on Friday afternoon.
The landslide occurred as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook much of Costa Rica’s Central Valley and Southern Zone at 3:20 p.m. Friday. Local firefighters and the National Police reported the landslide at 4:30. Shortly [...]

Costa Rica swallowed a tough pill Saturday night as the men’s national soccer team, affectionately called La Sele, lost 0-1 to Uruguay, making it nearly impossible for them to qualify for the World Cup.
The game was the first of two matches Costa Rica must play against “los charrúas” – the Uruguayan national team. Only one of [...]

When many Marin high school students hit the ski slopes during winter break, two dozen members of Terra Linda High School’s Nicaragua Service Club will venture to Managua to aid schoolchildren.
“I feel like it is really important for the students to see how most of the rest of the world lives,” said Laura Merlo, whose [...]

MANAGUA — Nicaraguan police have seized a large cache of weapons and explosives from suspected members of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel after a police car chase outside Managua, a spokeswoman said.
The weapons included 61 automatic rifles, mostly AK-47’s and four M-16s, two grenade launchers, 10 hand grenades, 20 sticks of dynamite and more than 19,000 [...]

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Magistrate Sergio Cuarezma, a member of the Supreme Court, spent Oct. 19 like any other Monday, quietly catching up on e-mail and fingering through stacks of rulings by sunlight when the court’s power went down, as it tends to do without explanation here in Central America’s poorest country.
Despite lingering in his office [...]

MANAGUA – Followers of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, leader of the official Sandinista party, attacked dissident Sandinistas who were protesting on the one-year anniversary of nationwide municipal elections they consider “fraudulent.”
The brawl took place outside the Supreme Electoral Council, or CSE, located in front of the central headquarters of the national police in Managua.
The protesters [...]

On October 20, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court removed a constitutional barrier to the re-election of leftist president Daniel Ortega in the 2011 elections. The court acted on removing the restriction after a petition from Ortega and a group of mayors was delivered to the court a week earlier.
By ruling to remove the barrier, the [...]

The Costa Rican men’s soccer team face Uruguay on Saturday, exactly one month since the Ticos’ match with the United States that missed them a ride to South Africa.
It’s been a tough month for the Costa Rican men’s soccer team.
In their last World Cup qualifying match on Oct. 14, the Tico team, or La Sele, [...]

Los Angeles, California-bred thrash metal rock stars Metallica will bring their 1980’s brand performance to Costa Rica next year.
New Central and South American tour dates released on the bands W eb site on Tuesday chart a stop in San José, Costa Rica on Sunday March 7, 2010. The band will play in Ricardo Saprissa stadium [...]

Foreigners looking to gain residency through a falsified marriage could face up to six years in prison under a new law signed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Wednesday.
The law looks to put an end to a practice by which foreigners pay a Costa Rican to act as a spouse in order to gain [...]

Nicaragua (MNN) ― A week ago, Category-1 Hurricane Ida struck Nicaragua around sunrise, affecting communities along the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts. Thousands were displaced by flash floods and mudslides triggered by Ida, but no casualties were reported. Speaking to us from Nicaragua, Kim Brown with Food for the Hungry said the storm hit without warning.
“It [...]

In 2006, Merck, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, UNICEF and leading health organizations established a three-year partnership to provide free vaccinations against rotavirus gastroenteritis to all eligible infants born in Nicaragua. Through the partnership – called the Nicaraguan Rotavirus Vaccination Program – Merck expects to donate more than one million doses of ROTATEQ® (rotavirus vaccine, [...]

GUATEMALA, November 11 (Itar-Tass) – Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander in Chief of the Nicaraguan Armed Forces Omar Halleslevens have concluded an agreement on cooperation in the sphere of coping with the aftermath of natural calamities. The agreement that expires next year was concluded on Tuesday within the framework of the Russian [...]

The fifth round of free-trade talks with China concluded Friday as representatives from both countries met in Beijing to further define the details of the pending agreement.
The discussions, which spanned four days, centered on defining the regulations for the exchange of products and services between the two countries. Negotiators also discussed which agricultural products their [...]

Amnesty International today expressed concern that the Nicaraguan Supreme Court continues to delay its judgment on the legality of new criminal laws on abortion which entered into force in 2008.
The Court was due to issue a judgment in May 2009 on the constitutionality of a complete ban on abortion, even when the life of the [...]

Part of a bridge that spans the Río Rincón in Puerto Jiménez, a fishing community in the southwest Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, collapsed on Friday when a 95-ton crane attempted to cross it, the daily La Nacion reported.
According to the national daily, the 50-year-old bridge was only meant to support 35 tons.
The crane sustained severe [...]