NicaNotes

December 4, 2025

By Becca Renk

[Becca Renk is originally from Idaho, USA. For 25 years, she has lived and worked in sustainable community development in Nicaragua. She coordinates the work of Casa Benjamín Linder in Managua and serves on the coordinating committee of the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition. This article was first published in Sovereign Media.]

“We were already struggling with 18% tariffs this year, I don’t know how we could export our coffee under 100% tariffs,” René Gaitan tells me as we watch the clouds clear out over a breathtaking expanse of Nicaraguan landscape. The view from the El Porvenir worker-owned coffee cooperative stretches from Lake Managua up toward the Honduran border, dominated by the smoking crater of the Telica volcano. Gaitán is the vice president of the 51-family cooperative. (You can purchase coffee from El Porvenir Cooperative here.)

The co-op is remote; its members hike or ride horseback eight kilometers to get the bus to the city of León, a three-hour ride away. But the news on 20 October that the U.S. may impose 100% tariffs on the Central American nation reached the co-op with the lightning speed of the internet on Gaitan’s smart phone, charged by solar panels.

A U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR) report alleges that the Nicaraguan government violates labor regulations, including “allowing use of child and forced labor, human trafficking, repression of freedom of association and collective bargaining.” Washington is using these allegations to threaten punitive measures, including 100% tariffs on goods imported from Nicaragua and suspension of all benefits for Nicaragua from the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

The USTR report’s allegations are opaque: most are cut and pasted from reports by the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Labor, which do not cite their sources, or from paid mouthpieces such as Manuel Orozco and Expediente Abierto. The report fails to produce evidence of the Nicaraguan government’s complacency in child or forced labor, describes chartered flights of migrants being allowed into the country on the $10 tourist visas granted to all visitors as “human trafficking,” and conflates industry trade associations with unions when describing “union arrests.” Those arrested in the description were not in fact union leaders, but instead two leaders of a business owners lobbying group who were arrested for acts of treason including requesting military interventions and planning terrorist acts with financing from foreign powers.

Although U.S. government sources cited in the USTR report claim that the Nicaraguan government does not adequately track and publish information, the Sandinista government’s own publicly available annual reports clearly show a track record of improvements in the area of labor rights since coming back into power in 2007.

According to the Nicaraguan Ministry of Labor, between January 2007 and December 2023, Nicaragua increased child labor inspections by 4600%, and 70,452 companies signed commitments to use no child labor and to respect the rights of adolescent workers. During that same period, 1,636 new unions were formed, making the total number of workers now affiliated in unions 1.2 million, or 38% of Nicaragua’s total labor force. There was a 300% increase in workplace labor inspections and 138,374 women who were working for less than minimum wage had their salaries raised to the minimum. In total, the government accompanied workers in filing successful claims against their employers that resulted in $8.8 million in claims for workers. There have been 3,010 sessions of tripartite labor negotiations among government, business and unions, and the minimum wage has increased 550% over 17 years.

U.S. wants Nicaragua out of CAFTA-DR

With so many measurable advances in Nicaragua, why is the U.S. now grasping at straws to claim the country violates labor laws?

For some time, the U.S. has been engaged in hybrid warfare against the revolutionary governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. To date, U.S. sanctions against Nicaragua are more limited than in the other two countries, in part because Nicaragua’s participation in CAFTA-DR makes imposing unilateral trade sanctions more complicated. In fact, the legality of the 18% tariff imposed on Nicaraguan goods earlier this year is questionable under CAFTA-DR rules.

While the U.S. freezes assets of Nicaraguan officials, imposes visa bans, and restricts U.S. citizens from doing business with certain Nicaraguan entities, they cannot impose full trade sanctions without the approval of the other five countries. To exclude Nicaragua completely from CAFTA-DR would require the agreement of all its member countries, which is unlikely to happen.

U.S. wants Nicaragua out of CAFTA-DR

With so many measurable advances in Nicaragua, why is the U.S. now grasping at straws to claim the country violates labor laws?

For some time, the U.S. has been engaged in hybrid warfare against the revolutionary governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. To date, U.S. sanctions against Nicaragua are more limited than in the other two countries, in part because Nicaragua’s participation in CAFTA-DR makes imposing unilateral trade sanctions more complicated. In fact, the legality of the 18% tariff imposed on Nicaraguan goods earlier this year is questionable under CAFTA-DR rules.

While the U.S. freezes assets of Nicaraguan officials, imposes visa bans, and restricts U.S. citizens from doing business with certain Nicaraguan entities, they cannot impose full trade sanctions without the approval of the other five countries. To exclude Nicaragua completely from CAFTA-DR would require the agreement of all its member countries, which is unlikely to happen.

Nicaragua beat the U.S. at its own game

While CAFTA-DR has modestly increased Nicaragua’s trade flows, those who benefited most are small producers who have been able to leverage the free trade agreement to access long-term purchasing agreements in direct partnership with U.S. markets. This has allowed farmers to negotiate a credit component into contracts to invest in adding value to their product. By purchasing machinery to process and package their own product, farmers and co-ops can cut out intermediaries, leaving more profits in the pockets of producers. (You can purchase coffee from El Porvenir Cooperative here.)

The FSLN returned to power in Nicaragua in 2007, shortly after CAFTA-DR went into effect. Combined with CAFTA-DR benefits, its efforts have turned small-scale production around in the country around. The Sandinista government designed its national development plan with poverty reduction at its center, and rolled out programs based on a trickle-up economic philosophy that focused on strengthening rural and creative economies with micro and small businesses and co-ops. Over 18 years, the country has worked to improve stability, quality and profit margins for those at the bottom of the production chain including training 95,000 farmers annually in value added products, building 800 new centers of crop collection and processing for coffee and cacao, and financing 19 agro-industrial processing centers.

Nicaragua’s resiliency strategy

In an ironic twist, U.S. consumers and corporations are likely to be the biggest losers in a trade war against Nicaragua. In a statement, the National Council of Textile Organizations pointed out that Nicaragua forms part of a $1.1 billion integrated supply chain: textiles assembled in Nicaragua use components from other CAFTA-DR countries with goods traveling up and down the isthmus to make apparel for the U.S. market. It warned that “destabilizing the U.S.-CAFTA-DR production platform would have serious implications for U.S. and regional workers, migration, economic development, and pending and future investment.”

While U.S. companies in Nicaragua rely on U.S. markets, Nicaraguan companies are poised to pivot to other markets. Over the past 18 years, Nicaragua has embraced a strategy of diversifying markets and as a result, the country is no longer dependent solely on the U.S. for selling its products. For example, in recent years, Panama has surpassed the U.S. as the leading investor in the country, and Nicaragua’s free trade agreement with China led to a 218.3 % increase in exports to China in its first year of implementation in 2024.

While René Gaitan and I are discussing strategies for selling El Porvenir coffee without being subject to 100% tariffs, 130 km away in Waswalí, Matagalpa, Nicaraguan Co-Minister of Foreign Affairs Valrack Jaentschke was speaking at the opening of the coffee harvest. In his remarks, Jaentschke noted that the U.S. is not the only market for coffee — this year, Nicaragua’s $1.3-billion coffee harvest will be exported to 55 different countries. He also addressed the punitive trade measures threatened by the U.S:

“The world has also been shaken by new – and old! – forms of imposition in international trade and politics…. A type of threat is emerging – or re-emerging, some would say – which respects nothing and no one in its eagerness to dismantle the international system that nations have been building over the last 80 years….

“The Nicaraguan people, who have faced throughout their history all kinds of difficulties, invasions, climate impacts, and political threats, have always been able to face them successfully, trusting in our own strengths and in the unity of our people.”

In the midst of so much insecurity, one thing is certain: Nicaragua’s diplomacy, economic policies and unwavering focus on poverty reduction have created a national resiliency that will allow the country to outmaneuver U.S. machinations once again.

Briefs

By Nan McCurdy

Doctors Save the Lives of 300 Babies with Complex Surgeries

Three hundred babies have now survived thanks to in-utero surgeries performed by the team at Bertha Calderón Hospital. The most recent case was a 23-week-old baby whose right lung was unable to develop and who would have died at birth without this intervention. Laser surgery corrected the malformation, and today both mother and child are stable. Since 2021, the country has been performing these surgeries in a maternal-fetal operating room, which has saved lives and strengthened the Sandinista government’s healthcare model. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/2025/11/29/sistema-de-salud-ha-salvado-vida-de-300-bebes-con-cirugias-complejas/ (La Primerisima, 29 November 2025)

New Supreme Court Justices Sworn In

The five newly elected justices of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) were sworn in on November 27 by the Board of Directors of the National Assembly. [The National Assembly officially elects supreme court justices.] Those sworn in were Ana Julia Guido Ochoa, Shura Bonylin Crawford, José Manuel Fuertes Toledo, Ernesto Leonel Rodríguez Mejía, and Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh Andino. The ceremony, held in the Rubén Darío Hall of the National Assembly, was presided over by Dr. Gustavo Porras, who took the opportunity to congratulate the justices for their commitment to upholding the law and administering justice in the country. He emphasized the importance for the future of the country of strengthening the Revolutionary State, of continuing the fight against corruption, and the expansion of the rights of Nicaraguans.

For her part, Judge Ana Julia Guido, who formerly served as Attorney General, stated that she assumes this great responsibility, committed to the Revolutionary State, to address the issues brought before the Supreme Court of Justice. “Now we must adapt to the new times, the new Constitution and laws. We will learn about the institution, but the most important thing is the commitment, the determination, the enthusiasm, and the discipline with which we will carry out our work—a new challenge for my life,” Guido stated. (La Primerisima, 27 November 2025)

Modernization of Nicaragua’s International Airport

Nicaragua is making steady progress in modernizing Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, the country’s main air gateway, through a comprehensive infrastructure and equipment program valued at US$16.4 million. This investment, carried out by the International Airport Management Company, brings the airport terminal into a new era of efficiency, operational safety, and energy sustainability.  The works include resurfacing the runway, as well as the taxiways and aircraft parking areas. This rehabilitation improves the quality of the surfaces, optimizes operations during periods of high demand, and strengthens safety conditions during takeoffs and landings. The cargo platforms, where a large part of the country’s air trade is handled, are also being modernized, allowing airlines and logistics operators to work with greater fluidity and precision.  As part of the investment, the airport added 23 state-of-the-art pieces of ground support equipment (GSE). These include baggage carts, tow tractors, escalators, conveyor belts, and specialized units for cargo handling and ramp services. (Informe Pastran, 28 November 2025)

Town Hall Meetings Will Determine 2026 Municipal Budget

The mayor of the Municipality of Managua, Reyna Rueda, announced the successful conclusion of the process of town hall meetings and public consultations for the 2026 Municipal Budget, which will be approved by the Municipal Council before December 15 and will include the execution of 502 projects prioritized directly by the population. “In compliance with the law, but above all in compliance with the families who have faith and hope in what our government does, we have completed the entire process of consultations. Attendance has been massive,” The last town hall meeting in District 7 was attended by 525 delegates from neighborhoods and communities, who both submitted written proposals and orally presented the main needs of the communities. The most frequent demands continue to be the Streets for the People Program, storm drainage projects, sanitary sewerage, and connecting families that still do not have connections to the sewage systems. In 2025, the Mayor’s Office has delivered 887 paved street blocks of the 1,270 planned (70% progress). By 2026, the construction of 1,238 blocks is already scheduled, maintaining the historic record of more than 1,000 blocks per year. “It’s historic. We are very happy when families express their trust in us,” said Rueda. (Informe Pastran, 28 November 2025)

Indigenous People of Tasba Pri Present Their Needs to the Regional Government

At the Taba Pri Territorial Assembly, held in Puerto Cabezas, the Indigenous people of that community presented their needs to the Regional Government of the North Caribbean Coast. Community leaders, political secretaries, elders, and the general population, numbering 230 citizens, participated. The goal is to provide timely solutions to local problems working in coordination with state institutions. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/2025/12/01/indigenas-de-tasba-pri-plantean-necesidades-al-gobierno-regional/  (La Primerisima, 1 December 2025)

Foreign Direct Investment Grows Indicating Monetary Strength

In the first half of 2024, Nicaragua recorded just US$789.2 million in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), compared to the same period in 2025, which exceeded US$818.7 million, a growth of 3.7%. It is projected that the country will close 2025 attracting approximately US$1.44 billion in foreign investment. While in 2024 monetary reserves totaled US$2.4 billion in the January-August period, at the end of October 2025 a new record figure of US$7.9 billion was reached. No government has ever had a financial cushion like the one that the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity has been building with great responsibility. (Informe Pastran, 28 November 2025)

San Juan de Limay-Pueblo Nuevo Road Inaugurated

Co-President Rosario Murillo announced that, with the completion of the second 12-kilometer section, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will complete the San Juan de Limay-Pueblo Nuevo paved road in the department of Estelí. This new 22-kilometer project is an alternate route linking Nicaragua’s Pacific departments with Estelí, Madriz, and Nueva Segovia. It benefits 126,457 people, contributes to the expansion of coffee, tobacco, fruit, and vegetable production areas, stimulates trade, boosts tourism, and provides better access to social benefits for families in the three departments that form Las Segovias. This is now the fourth paved road out of Limay in four directions. (Informe Pastran, 1 December 2025)

Nicaraguan Opposition Celebrates Release of So-Called Political Prisoners

The Nicaraguan opposition is celebrating the release by the Sandinista government of about 40 so-called political prisoners. They are being transferred from prison into house arrest. Here is an example of one of them, Carlos Vanegas:

Vanegas was found guilty of the torture and murder of police officer Gabriel Vado in July 2018. He was released in the amnesty of June 2019, then rearrested in 2022 for other crimes, thus becoming a “political prisoner”. He later received “protective measures” from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Vanegas was part of a group who captured police officer Vado as he was cycling home, unarmed and in civilian clothes. He was tortured for 24 hours, then dragged on a rope behind a pick-up truck before being set on fire at one of the barricades. Two priests and “human rights” expert Alvaro Leiva conspired to try to cover up the crime by urging the thugs who did it not to publicize the murder, and later attempted to take away the remains of Vado’s body in plastic bags. This was the worst of the crimes committed in Masaya in 2018 and there is a memorial to Vado and an annual commemoration of his death at the place where he was murdered. His photo, one of five murdered police Officers from Masaya, can be seen outside the Masaya police station.

The release of Vanegas and other prisoners into house arrest shows extraordinary generosity on the part of the government, but is being celebrated as a consequence of US pressure. Many, like Vanegas, have been released twice, but of course neither the US nor the international human rights industry acknowledges the amnesty carried out in June 2019, in which even murderers (like Vanegas) were granted freedom. Those who committed no further crimes, like some of the other leaders of the Masaya uprising, are still free. (John Perry, 1 December 2025)