Nicaragua Investment and Business Guide - Strategic and Practical Information

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Nicaragua Mineral & Mining Sector Investment and Business Guide - Strategic and Practical Information

Nicaragua is a country located in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The official language is Spanish, and the country has a population of approximately six million people. The capital city is Managua, which is also the largest city in the country. Nicaragua’s economy is primarily based on agriculture, with coffee, cotton, and bananas being the main agricultural products. Tourism is also an important industry, with visitors attracted to the country’s stunning scenery, including lakes, volcanoes, and beaches. Despite being one of the poorest countries in the region, Nicaragua has made progress in recent years and is considered to be one of the safest countries in Central America.

Intimate Activism tells the story of Nicaraguan sexual-rights activists who helped to overturn the most repressive antisodomy law in the Americas. The law was passed shortly after the Sandinistas lost power in 1990 and, to the surprise of many, was repealed in 2007. In this vivid ethnography, Cymene Howe analyzes how local activists balanced global discourses regarding human rights and identity politics with the contingencies of daily life in Nicaragua. Though they were initially spurred by the antisodomy measure, activists sought to change not only the law but also culture. Howe emphasizes the different levels of intervention where activism occurs, from mass-media outlets and public protests to meetings of clandestine consciousness-raising groups. She follows the travails of queer characters in a hugely successful telenovela, traces the ideological tensions within the struggle for sexual rights, and conveys the voices of those engaged in "becoming" lesbianas and homosexuales in contemporary Nicaragua.

In 2010, the Latin American and Caribbean region showed great resilience to the international financial crisis and became the world region with the fastest-growing flows of both inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI). The upswing in FDI in the region has occurred in a context in which developing countries in general have taken on a greater share in both inward and outward FDI flows. This briefing paper is divided into five sections. The first offers a regional overview of FDI in 2010. The second examines FDI trends in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic. The third describes the presence China is beginning to build up as an investor in the region. Lastly, the fourth and fifth sections analyze the main foreign investments and business strategies in the telecommunications and software sectors, respectively.