n the neighboring countries of Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south.

[80]

10th anniversary of the Nicaraguan revolution in Managua, 1989

They engaged in a systematic campaign of terror among the rural Nicaraguan population to
disrupt the social reform projects of the Sandinistas. Several historians have criticized the contra
campaign and the Reagan administration's support for it, citing the brutality and numerous
human rights violations of the contras. LaRamee and Polakoff, for example, describe the
destruction of health centers, schools, and cooperatives at the hands of the rebels, [81] and others
have contended that murder, rape, and torture occurred on a large scale in contra-dominated
areas.[82] The United States also carried out a campaign of economic sabotage, and disrupted
shipping by planting underwater mines in Nicaragua's port of Corinto,[83] an action condemned by
the International Court of Justice as illegal.[84] The U.S. also sought to place economic pressure
on the Sandinistas, and the Reagan administration imposed a full trade embargo. [85] The
Sandinistas were also accused of human rights abuses. [86][87][88]
In the Nicaraguan general elections of 1984, which were judged to have been free and fair, the
Sandinistas won the parliamentary election and their leader Daniel Ortega won the presidential
election.[89][90] The Reagan administration criticized the elections as a "sham" based on the charge
that Arturo Cruz, the candidate nominated by the Coordinadora Democrática Nicaragüense,
comprising three right wing political parties, did not participate in the elections. However, the
administration privately argued against Cruz's participation for fear his involvement would
legitimize the elections, and thus weaken the case for American aid to the contras. [91] According
to Martin Kriele, the results of the election were rigged. [92][93][94][95]
After the U.S. Congress prohibited federal funding of the contras in 1983, the Reagan
administration nonetheless illegally continued to back them by covertly selling arms to Iran and
channeling the proceeds to the contras (the Iran–Contra affair), for which several members of the
Reagan administration were convicted of felonies. [96] The International Court of Justice, in regard
to the case of Nicaragua v. United States in 1984, found, "the United States of America was
under an obligation to make reparation to the Republic of Nicaragua for all injury caused to
Nicaragua by certain breaches of obligations under customary international law and treaty-law
committed by the United States of America".[97] During the war between the contras and the
Sandinistas, 30,000 people were killed. [98]

Post-war (1990–present)[edit]
Violeta Chamorro in 1990 became the first woman president democratically elected in the Americas.

In the Nicaraguan general election, 1990, a coalition of anti-Sandinista parties (from the left and
right of the political spectrum) led by Violeta Chamorro, the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro
Cardenal, defeated the Sandinistas. The defeat shocked the Sandinistas, who had expected to
win.[99]
Exit polls of Nicaraguans reported Chamorro's victory over Ortega was achieved with a 55%
majority.[100] Chamorro was the first woman president of Nicaragua. Ortega vowed he would
govern desde abajo (from below).[101] Chamorro came to office with an economy in ruins, primarily
because of the financial and social costs of the contra war with the Sandinista-led government.
[102]
 In the next election, the Nicaraguan general election, 1996, Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas
of the FSLN were defeated again, this time by Arnoldo Alemán of the Constitutional Liberal
Party (PLC).

Flooding in Lake Managua after the Hurricane Mitch in 1998

In the 2001 elections, the PLC again defeated the FSLN, with Alemán's Vice President Enrique
Bolaños succeeding him as president. Subsequently, however, Alemán was convicted and
sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison for embezzlement, money laundering, and corruption;
[103]
 liberal and Sandinista parliament members subsequently combined to strip the presidential
powers of President Bolaños and his ministers, calling for his resignation and
threatening impeachment. The Sandinistas said they no longer supported Bolaños after U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told Bolaños to keep his distance from the FSLN.[104] This "slow
motion coup d'état" was averted partially by pressure from the Central American presidents, who
vowed not to recognize any movement that removed Bolaños; the U.S., the OAS, and
the European Union also opposed the action.[105]
Before the general elections on November 5, 2006, the National Assembly passed a bill further
restricting abortion in Nicaragua.[106] As a result, Nicaragua is one of five countries in the world
where abortion is illegal with no exceptions.[107] Legislative and presidential elections took place
on November 5, 2006. Ortega returned to the presidency with 37.99% of the vote. This
percentage was enough to win the presidency outright, because of a change in electoral law
which lowered the percentage requiring a runoff election from 45% to 35% (with a 5% margin of
victory).[108] Nicaragua's 2011 general election resulted in re-election of Ortega, with a landslide
victory and 62.46% of the vote. In 2014 the National Assembly approved changes to the
constitution allowing Ortega to run for a third successive term. [109]
In November 2016, Ortega was elected for his third consecutive term (his fourth overall).
International monitoring of the elections was initially prohibited, and as a result the validity of
the elections has been disputed, but observation by the OAS was announced in O