Chronography of Nicaragua
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modified 23/6/2021
Graphic of Latin America 2010-19
socio-political
See United States
for Iran-Contra affair.
1996, Daniel Ortega won the
Presidential elections.
20/10/1996, Arnoldo Aleman Lacayo of the Constitutionaal
Liberal Party defeated Ortega and the Sandinistas, who also lost the
election of 2001.
10/7/1992. Ex-President Noriega of Nicaragua, forcibly brought into
the USA,
was sentenced to 40 years on drugs charges.
25/2/1990. Sandinistas (Daniel Ortega) defeated in Nicaraguan
elections. They were won by Violetta Chamorro, widow of a
Somozas opponent assassinated in 1978; he had headed an anti-
Somozas coalition.
7/5/1989, In Panama, General Noriega was defeated in elections.
However he ignored the result and remained in power.
10/1988, Hurricane
Mitch did severe damage to Nicaragua.
23/3/1988, In Nicaragua, Contra commanders and Government officials
signed a 60-day ceasefire agreement.
17/1/1988, The Nicaraguan Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega,
offered a ceasefire to the Contras.
1986, Nicaragua won a case at
the Internati0nal Court of Justice where it accused the USA of violating its
sovereignty.
1984, The USA mined Nicarguan
harbours.
5/11/1984. Daniel Ortega was elected President of
Nicaragua.
Daniel
Ortega becomes President
12/4/1984, The US Senate voted to cut
funding for the CIA to mine Nicaraguan harbours. This was an attempt to stop
arms being shipped to rebels in El Salvador, but was also seen as an attack on
the Nicaraguan economy.
1981, President
Reagan of the USA halted all aid to Nicaragua, after the Sandinistas
had sought aid from the Eastern Bloc (as well as from western European States).
The US began funding the rebel Contra guerrillas fighting the Sandinista
government.
Somoza Dynasty
17/9/1980, Anastasio
Somoza, 54-year-old former dictator of Nicaragua, was machine gunned
to death in Asunscion, Paraguay.
20/7/1979, Sandinista
rebels entered Managua, Nicaragua, and set up a 5-man junta. They began to
redistribute land to landless peasants.
17/7/1979, Anastasio
Somoza, dictator of Nicaragua, fled to the USA, taking with him an
estimated US$ 100 � 400 million.
9/7/1979,
General Somoza, whose family had ruled Nicaragua
for 47 years, was overthrown by the Sandinistas. General Somoza
had lost the support of conservative businessmen and the USA.
6/1979, The
Nicaraguan National Guard arrested ABC newsman Bill Stewart, and forced him to kneel whereupon
they executed him on the spot. The scene was reproduced across US TV screens.
Then, Carter
was forced to halt arms shipmemts to Nicaragua and the Somozas
were doomed.
29/5/1979, Sandinistas from Costa Rica invaded Nicaragua and succeeded in starting a
revolution against Somoza.
12/2/1978, In Nicaragua, the Sandinistas prepared for civil war.
10/1/1978, In Nicaragua, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, editor
of La Prensa, (The Press) newspaper, which is opposed to the Somoza regime, was
shot dead in Managua.
1977, Jimmy Carter became President of
the USA. His emphasis on human rights meant the Somozas could
no longer rely on bailouts from the US, although arms shipments continued from
there. See 6/1979.
1/9/1974, General Somoza was elected
as President of Nicaragua. However the Somozas now had powerful
enemies, including the middle classes and the Catholic Church. The Sandinista
offensive intensified, becoming full-scale civil war in 1978.
5/2/1967, Somoza�s son, Anastasio,
became President of Nicaragua.
1962, The Sandinista National Liberation Front
was founded.
1956, Somoza was
assassinated. His son, Luis, took over.
11/11/1945, Daniel Ortega,
President of Nicaragua, was born.
2/6/1936,
General Somoza, in Nicaragua, led a coup that
deposed President
Sacasa. The Somoza family were to rule
Nicaragua for 43 years.
22/2/1934, General Augusto Sandino of Nicaragua was
executed by rival USA-backed leader General Anastazio Somoza. Sandino�s guerrilla forces had opposed
a US occupation of Nicaragua from 1912; the US withdrew in 1933 after Sandino
agreed a ceasefire.
21/2/1934, Cesar Sandino,
Nicaraguan revolutionary, died aged 40. He was assassinated by Nicaraguan
National Guardsmen, who were angry at tye amnesty granted him by the
Government.
1933, US troops left Nicaragua.
2/8/1933, Martial
law was imposed in Nicaragua.
1932, Sacasa was elected Nicaragiuan president,
18/10/1929, Violeta
Chamorro, President of Nicaragua, was born.
4/11/1928, The Nicaraguan general election was held; Jos� Mar�a
Moncada (Liberal) was elected President. Sanbdino did not accept this
result and continued his guerrilla activity against US forces.
1927, US warships returned to
Nicaragua, and some 2,000 Marines landed. Sandino joined the foight against the USA the
USA prepared to supervise further Nicaraguan elections.
10/1926, Vargas was forced to resign by
the USA and left Nicaragua. Diaz (Conservative) was elected. However Sacasa
returned form Mexico and with Mexican backing established a rival Liberal
Government on Nicaragiua�s erast coast.
2/5/1926, In
Nicaragua, a revolt against the new President, Emiliano Chamorro Vargas was
underway. This day US troops landed in Nicaragua to protect US personnel and
property interests there.
25/10/1925, General
Emiliano Chamorro Vargas seized power in a� coup. Vargas became President 1/1926. US property in
Nicaragua was seized by General Augusto Cesar Sandino (1893-1934)
(Liberal).
1925, In Nicaragua, coalition Government formed with Carlos
Solorzano as elected (Conservative) President, and Juan Bautista
Sacasa, 1874-1946, as (Liberal) Vice-President. US Marines left the
country after 13 years occupation.
7/1912, Liberal rebellion against Diaz, who requested US military
aid to retain power.
5/1911, The Conservative Adolfo Diaz became Nicaraguan President.
2/1/1911, US President Taft
formally recognised the new Estrada government in Nicaragua and withdrew
its marines.
16/12/1910, US
marines forced the Nicaraguan President to resign.
21/12/1909, Dr Jose Madriz
became president of Nicaragua.
16/12/1909, US marines forced the resignation of President Jose
Zelaya of Nicaragua. He was rumoured to be about to permit Japan to
build a rival Panama Canal. Zelaya was replaced by Jose Madriz, but civil war
continued until 1912, when the US intervened again to secure the appointment of
the more compliant Adolfo Diaz.
For Honduran-Nicaragua War of 1907 see Honduras
1905, Nicaragua signed the
Altamirano-Harrison Treaty with the UK, recognising full Nicaraguan sovereignty
over its Atlantic coast; the UK had run a protectorate there until 1894.
1893, President Zelaya (1853-1919)
inaugurated after a succesful Liberal revolt.
1/5/1857, Nicaraguan President William Walker surrendered to
the US Navy. He was wanted for confiscating railway property in Nicaragua
belonging to a company owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. Eventually he was
executed by the USA in 1860.
1856, US adventurer William Walker
proclaimed himself President of Nicaragua. He intended to run a slave-owning
Republic there.
1856, After several years of
conflict between the Conservatives based in Granada and the Liberals based in
Leon, the neutral Managua was chosen as capital city.
19/4/1850, The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty between the USA
and UK was signed. It was an agreement on the terms for building a canal across
Nicaragua; under this treaty, neither party would exercise exclusive control
over such a canal or fortify it. The US
and the UK each had territorial interests in Central America, and were
suspicious of each other�s activities in the region. Ultimately this Treaty
was superseded by a similar neutralisation policy regarding the Panama Canal under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1902.
1838, The United Provinces of
Central America broke up, and Nicaragua became a Republic.
1821, Nicaragua declared independence from Spain, as part of the United
Provinces of Central America.
1544, Nicaragua became part of the Captaincy-General of
Guatemala.