MANAGUA, Nicaragua—The amount of historical baggage that Nicaragua and the United States bring onboard when they travel together is usually too much to fit politely into the overhead bin. But like most cynical travelers, both countries would rather carry it...

(posted July 26, 3:30 p.m.)- U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized President Barack Obama today for extending the property waiver to Nicaragua, saying the move is part of the U.S. administration’s efforts “appease...

The proverbial “atomic bomb” that many feared would lay waste to Nicaragua’s budding economy was not deployed. Instead, the U.S. government yesterday dropped another property waiver on Nicaragua, successfully concluding another politically tense go-round between the two countries, this time...

(posted July 25, 11:10 a.m.)- The US government this morning announced that it has renewed Nicaragua’s property waiver until July, 2013, according to a press release issued at 10:45 a.m. by the U.S. Embassy. The government release said the waiver...

A week ago the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. published an article (also carried in The Nicaragua Dispatch) I had written with Dr. Ray Walser. In the piece, we argue that the United States should deny the property waiver to...

The cancelation of the U.S.’ fiscal-transparency waiver for Nicaragua has given President Daniel Ortega the perfect excuse to do something he’s wanted to do for years: turn the screws on civil society. In a fiery speech on Saturday night, Ortega...

(posted June 22, 11:28 a.m.)- In apparent response to the U.S. government’s decision to suspend the fiscal-transparency waiver for Nicaragua, the Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) is calling on its member nations to expel USAID...

(posted June 22, 9:00 a.m.)- U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, considered a rising star in the Republican Party, released a statement this morning taking partial credit for the cancelation of the transparency waiver. “The move stems from earlier negotiations involving Rubio...

(posted June 21, 11:00 a.m.)- The U.S. Embassy today confirmed what many already suspected: the U.S. fiscal-transparency waiver for Nicaragua—and the $3 million in bilateral aid attached to it—will not be renewed this year. Embassy spokeswoman Lillian Nigaglioni confirmed this...

MANAGUA—Over the past 19 years, Nicaragua has forked over nearly $1.28 billion in compensations to thousands of U.S. and Nicaraguan citizens whose properties were among the 28,000 confiscated by sticky-fingered Sandinista officials in the 1980s, according to official statistics. Since...